This week BibleWorm reads Matthew 20:1–16, often called the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, in which the kingdom of heaven is said to be like a landowner who pays the laborers a full day’s wage no matter how long they’ve worked. We wrestle with the abject unfairness of this wage system and empathize with the workers who have labored a long day in the hot sun. Yet we also marvel at the generosity of the vineyard owner, who gives everyone what they need for the day no matter how much work they’ve done. Maybe, we think, in the kingdom of heaven people are not rewarded for the labor they provide but rather receive what they need to live a full and abundant life. If we read ourselves as the landowners, this becomes a lesson on how we should conduct our own economic practices, not only paying fair wages but giving generously until everyone has enough. And if we read God as the landowner, then this becomes a parable about God’s radical and endless generosity that welcomes more and more people into the kingdom and treats us all as people of dignity and worth.
Episode 204 Ritual Preparation for Liberation (Exodus 12:1-13 and 13:1-8)
Episode 204 (EXTENDED) Ritual Preparation for Liberation (Exodus 12:1-13 and 13:1-8)
Episode 203 (EXTENDED) The Complexities of Being Family (Genesis 37 and 50)
Episode 203 The Complexities of Being Family (Genesis 37 and 50)
Episode 202 Anxiety and Promise (Genesis 15:1-6)
Episode 202 (EXTENDED) Anxiety and Promise (Genesis 15:1-6)
Episode 201 (EXTENDED)The Angst of Being Human (Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-10)
Episode 201 The Angst of Being Human (Genesis 2:4b-7, 15-17; 3:1-10)
Episode 152 Esther 3:1-11 and 7:1-10 Resisting Ethnic Nationalism
Episode 151 Esther 1:1-22 Resisting the Patriarchy
Episode 150 Ruth 1:14-18 and 3:1-15 Reading Ruth Against the Grain
Episode 149 Ruth 2:1-20 and 4:9-17 Making Ancient Israel Great Again
Episode 148 Song of Songs 5:2-9 and 8:5-10 Solidarity and Allegory
Episode 147 Song of Songs 1:12-2:6 and 7:1-13 The Joy of Sex
Episode 146 Lamentations 3 and 5 Trauma Has Many Voices
Episode 145 Lamentations 1:18-22 and 2:10-22 Trauma and Protest
Episode 144 Ecclesiastes 1:4-11 and 3:1-11 For Everything There is a Time
Episode 143 Ecclesiastes 1:1-3 and 8:16-9:10 Everything is Mere Breath
Episode 142 Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 12 Pentecost and the Body of Christ
Episode 141 1 Corinthians 15 Paul and the Resurrection of the Body
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