There is something wonderfully uncomfortable about placing Jonah 4 alongside Matthew 20. In both stories, people receive something from God and then become angry when others receive generosity too.

Jonah has experienced extraordinary mercy. When he runs from God, God does not abandon him. God rescues him, calls him again, and allows him to participate in the work of bringing Nineveh to repentance. Yet when God extends that same mercy to the people of Nineveh, Jonah is furious. Apparently, grace is wonderful when Jonah receives it. It becomes much more complicated when grace reaches people Jonah does not believe deserve it.

Jesus’ parable of the laborers in the vineyard exposes the same instinct. Workers hired early in the morning agree to their wage. At the end of the day, they receive exactly what was promised. The problem begins when they discover that those who worked only an hour receive the same amount.

Nothing has been taken from the first workers. Their agreement has been honored. Their anger comes from seeing the landowner’s generosity toward somebody else.

That may offer us an important stewardship question: How do we steward abundance when it does not benefit us more than somebody else?

We often talk about stewardship through the language of generosity, encouraging people to give more freely from what God has entrusted to them. But perhaps faithful stewardship also requires learning to receive God’s generosity without trying to control its distribution. God’s grace is not ours to ration. Neither are compassion, welcome, forgiveness, dignity, or belonging.

Scarcity convinces us to compare. Who worked harder? Who has been here longer? Who gave more? Who deserves recognition? Who has earned a place at the table? Once we begin measuring ourselves against one another, another person’s blessing can begin to feel like our loss.

But that is not how God's abundance works.

Psalm 145 describes God as “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” The psalmist does not describe a carefully measured supply of mercy reserved for the deserving. God abounds in steadfast love.

That abundance challenges churches, too. Congregations can easily develop an unofficial economy of deserving: longtime members over newcomers, large donors over occasional givers, those who volunteer constantly over those who cannot, people whose lives look familiar to us over those whose stories we do not understand. These texts ask whether we can celebrate when God's generosity disrupts those calculations.

As preachers, we can invite congregations to examine not only what they give but how they respond when others receive. Can we celebrate when someone else is welcomed, forgiven, supported, or entrusted with something good? Can we give without needing our generosity to establish our importance? Can we trust that another person's abundance does not create our scarcity?

Stewardship shaped by grace recognizes that everything begins with God's generosity. We are not owners standing over the vineyard deciding who deserves what. We are recipients ourselves. And perhaps one of the greatest signs that grace has transformed us is when we stop keeping score and begin rejoicing that God's goodness has reached somebody else.



In worship
Worship offers an opportunity to practice receiving God's gifts without comparison. The table may be the most powerful image already available to us: everyone approaches with different stories, resources, accomplishments, failures, and needs, yet everyone receives the same promise of grace. There is no larger portion for the longtime member or smaller portion for the newcomer. There is simply gift.

Consider allowing that image to carry the day rather than adding another elaborate ritual. In the prayers of intercession, name God's abundance and pray for freedom from the instinct to ration compassion, forgiveness, food, opportunity, or belonging. Psalm 145 could become a recurring refrain, particularly the words, “gracious and merciful…abounding in steadfast love.”

Hymns such as There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy, For the Fruit of All Creation, or We Come to the Hungry Feast can reinforce the theme. At the sending, invite worshippers to leave asking not simply, “How can I be generous?” but, “Where can I celebrate God's generosity toward someone else?”



With youth
Fairness matters deeply to young people. Try a hypothetical: “You spend three hours working on a project. Someone else joins for the last twenty minutes. Then you both receive exactly the same grade. How would you feel?”

Let them react before introducing Jesus’ parable. The workers’ frustration is understandable. Jesus uses that discomfort to reveal something about grace: God's generosity cannot always be reduced to our calculations of who deserves what.

Then shift the conversation from fairness to comparison. Ask where comparison shows up in their lives: grades, playing time, followers, clothes, friendships, attention from adults, opportunities. When does someone else's success start feeling like something has been taken from us?

Invite each person to name or write down something good happening for someone else. Then challenge the group to celebrate those things together. Stewardship isn't only appreciating our own gifts. It can also mean becoming people capable of delighting in the gifts, opportunities, and grace another person receives. God's goodness to somebody else does not diminish God's goodness to us.



With children
Bring a bag of identical treats, stickers, or another small item, but don't hand them out immediately. Tell the children a simple version of Jesus’ story: some people worked all day, some worked half the day, and some arrived near the end. Then everyone received enough.

Ask, “Do you think the people who worked all day thought that was fair?” Let the children respond. Then ask a different question: “Did anybody get less because the last people received the same amount too?”

That distinction can open the story for us. Sometimes we worry that if somebody else receives something good, there will be less for us.

Give each child the same small item. But then invite them to turn to another child and say, “I'm glad you got one too!”

Explain that God's love isn't something we have to compete for. We don't need somebody else to receive less so that we can have enough. One way we care for God's gifts is learning to be happy when others experience goodness, kindness, welcome, and love too.



Previously published reflections for Proper 20, Year A:
2023 – ‘But it’s not fair!’
2020 – Life’s not always fair (but God is still good)
2017 – Just give already!
2014 – The problem with generosity
2011 – It’s not fair! God’s grace and human nature