On
\nThursday morning I opened an article about the impact of COVID on
\nhunger around the world. \u00a0The article started with a picture of a
\nmalnourished child reaching out to a caregiver.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
For
\nbetter or worse, I closed the article right then, my stomach already
\nroiling with horror and my whole being already feeling overwhelmed by
\nthe scope of the issue.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
As
\nthese things go, a few minutes later I turned to sermon research, in
\nthis case re-reading the chapter on Matthew 20:-16 from William R.
\nHerzog’s book, \u201cParables as Subversive Speech.\u201d \u00a0 Herzog reminds
\nus that the day laborers in Jesus’s day were people who died of
\nmalnutrition, people that society thought of as \u201cexpendables.\u201d
\nFurthermore, these \u201cexpendable people\u201d were the ones whose labor
\nenriched wealthy vineyard owners along with kings, emperors, the
\nmilitary, the bureaucrats, and the religious leaders. \u00a0The work of
\nagriculture was profitable, but as with any other industry, the
\ncheaper the labor, the more profits for those on top. \u00a0Thus, the work
\nof day laborers was considered so invaluable as to be worth less than
\nwhat a person needed to eat in a day.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
This
\ndid not make my stomach feel any better.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Then,
\nI thought of the book, \u201cWhite Trash: The 400-Year Untold Story of
\nClass in America\u201d by Nancy Isenberg that the Intersectional Justice
\nCommittee book club read recently. \u00a0In that book, \u00a0Isenberg explains
\nthat this country was colonized and founded while assuming that ~15%
\nof the WHITE population was \u201cexpendable,\u201d in this case referred
\nto as \u201cwhite trash.\u201d \u00a0This is IN ADDITION TO the dehumanization
\nof Native Americans as their land was stolen, the enslavements of
\nAfricans and their descendants, and the consistent dehumanizing of
\nall people of color.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
When
\nI read \u201cWhite Trash,\u201d I was horrified to realize that the people
\nwho were considered \u201cexpendable\u201d as our country was founded and
\nas it has continued \u2013 the ones sent to work in mines regardless of
\nsafety conditions, the ones sent to build the railroads and to
\ndynamite mountains, for example, whose safety didn’t matter because
\nthere were always more people who could be brought in to work \u2013 and
\nwhose wages didn’t matter because there were always people willing to
\nwork for anything, the ones who died young after hard lives — were
\njust the same as those day laborers that Jesus talks about. \u00a0AND
\nthey’re the same people who live with food insecurity in the richest
\nnation in history, the same people for whom subpar education is
\ndeemed sufficient, the same people from whom wages are often stolen
\nwithout recourse.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
We
\nstill have \u201cexpendable\u201d people in our society, we just don’t talk
\nabout it explicitly. \u00a0Worse yet, our country’s policies exacerbate
\nwealth inequality around the world, so that there are even more
\npeople even more desperately poor and \u201cexpendable\u201d outside the US
\nthan in it (and within the US the number of people we deem unworthy
\nof sufficient nutrition is a moral atrocity.)<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
And,
\nof course, the pandemic has made this all worse. \u00a0Were we once had
\n10-15% of the population of the US going hungry, at least double that
\namount are now estimated to be hungry. \u00a030% of our population.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Now, \n<\/p>\n But, \n<\/p>\n Because, \n<\/p>\n Because \n<\/p>\n Which \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n Another \n<\/p>\n The \n<\/p>\n However, \n<\/p>\n The To \n<\/p>\n Jesus \n<\/p>\n Our \n<\/p>\n May \n<\/p>\n Questions \n<\/p>\n What How In What <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron <\/p>\n September 20, 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nthere are some things we can do, if we are able. \u00a0We can give to
\nSICM, to help the food pantry provide food in Schenectady. \u00a0(They
\nalso need volunteers.) Similarly we can give to or help with the
\nSunday Morning breakfast here, or at the Regional Food Bank. \u00a0The
\norganization \u201cBread for the World\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>
\nis our long term partner in education and advocacy to end hunger, and
\nthey have many ways for us to respond.<\/p>\n
\nfor now, I want to look at this parable.<\/p>\n
\nnot only do I believe Herzog that this parable was about the
\nstruggles of day laborers and the ways that vineyard owners and the
\nsystems they were a part of excited to oppress the poor and extract
\nwealth for the wealthy \u2013 I think Jesus TOLD THIS STORY to day
\nlaborers.<\/p>\n
\nI think that God and Jesus are on the side of the people the world
\nsees as \u201cexpendable.\u201d \u00a0And, in particular, I think Jesus’s
\nministry was PRIMARILY to the poorest of the poor. \u00a0So, his teaching
\nwas teaching for those who were struggling, including this story. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nshould impact how we hear it.<\/p>\n
\npeople the first hearers of the story associated with was the day
\nlaborers \u2013 the people who had lost their ancestral land, had no
\nnotable trade or craft, and had fallen through the safety net. \u00a0The
\npeople waiting and hoping to be needed in the fields and paid so they
\ncan eat that day.<\/p>\n
\nfirst shock in the story is that the landowner comes out to hire them
\nhimself. \u00a0That didn’t happen in real life, but it helps the story
\nexemplify WHO is benefitting the most from their labor. \u00a0The second
\nthing to note is that while the laborers hired first got to agree to
\na wage \u2013 not a good one, but the normal one \u2013 the next sets of
\nlaborers went into the fields without even an agreement. \u00a0The final
\nset didn’t even get a say \u2013 they were SENT to the fields without
\nbeing told if they’d be paid.<\/p>\n
\nthing to notice is that this a VINEYARD and not a wheat field or
\nvegetable plot. \u00a0The owner of a vineyard had to be wealthier than
\naverage, because a vineyard took 4 years of intense labor as an
\ninvestment before profit would come in. \u00a0That said, it was more
\nprofitable than other land use. \u00a0So wealthy people liked to buy other
\npeople’s ancestral sustainable farmland and make it into vineyards.<\/p>\n
\nowner’s response to the complaints of those who worked 12 hours being
\npaid the same as those who worked 1 is to dismiss the value of their
\nwork. \u00a0That was especially insulting because WORK was all that day
\nlaborers had to offer. \u00a0That is, the owner told the laborers they
\nwere worthless.<\/p>\n
\nthe parable tells us something else. \u00a0The landowner had to keep
\nhiring people all day because there was so much work to do that he
\nwasn’t even able to estimate how much labor he needed. \u00a0The vineyard
\nwould not have been able to exist, much less produce anything,
\nwithout labor. \u00a0The sub-subsistence wages of the laborers were part
\nof making the vineyard owner even wealthier, but moreso, the LABOR of
\nthe day laborers was IMPERATIVE to his wealth. \u00a0Wealth that, again,
\nhe is making off of the land that they once used to LIVE and not just
\nstruggle to survive.<\/p>\n
\nparable also makes clear that the owner’s actions aimed at keeping
\nthe day laborers competing with each other. \u00a0Herzog says,\n<\/p>\n\n
\nensure a timely harvest, the landowner needed their labor. \u00a0Yet the
\nlack of cohesion so evident among the day laborers allowed the
\nlandowner to conquer them by dividing them. \u00a0This is why the owner
\nspoke only to ‘one of them.’ \u00a0The banishment of that one served to
\nintimidate the others and put them in their place. \u00a0\u2026 [The owner]
\nsmothered the truth that he was dependent on them and, as as result,
\nthat they could have power but only a power tha grew out of their
\nsolidarity. \u00a0Divided, they would fall one by one before the withering
\nhostility and judgement of the elite. \u00a0(Herzog, 96)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\ntold a story that let his hearers see more clearly the power they
\nhad, the worth and value they had, and the need they had to work
\ntogether instead of competing with each other. \u00a0The system is was
\ndesigned to oppress. \u00a0The system today is too. \u00a0And opting out isn’t
\nreally an option for most people \u2013 at least not alone. \u00a0But
\ntogether we can choose a different system.<\/p>\n
\ncountry has more than enough food for all the people. \u00a0Our WORLD has
\nmore than enough food for all people. \u00a0The issue is not food, the
\nissue is distribution. \u00a0And Jesus reminds us that people working
\ntogether can work for the common good.<\/p>\n
\nJesus inspire us to work for the common good, and may God strengthen
\nus and offer us wisdom so our work is productive. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n
\nfor reflection:<\/p>\n
\ndo you see being done for the common good?<\/p>\n
\nshould food be distributed?<\/p>\n
\nwhat ways does society treat some people as \u201cexpendable\u201d?<\/p>\n
\ndo you see being done to change that?<\/p>\n
First United Methodist Church of Schenectady
603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305
Pronouns: she\/her\/hers
http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n