Does Complaining Work or Not?

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Episcopal Church
September 21, 2014

20 Proper A

The grumbling Israelites and the annoyed vineyard workers leave us with a profound theological question this morning: "Does complaining work, or not?"  The Israelites sing their own version of "I'm starving, you are mean, why don't you just leave me alone" that perhaps many of us have heard or sung ourselves.  God's chosen people have left slavery in Egypt, where, apparently, they had plenty of good food to eat.  The people are quite sure that God will let them starve, despite the fact that God has already both led them through the Red Sea on dry land and provided water for them when they were sure they would die of thirst.  And, the story tells us, God heard the complaint of the people and provided them with quail and manna to eat.  So, complaining works.

On the other hand, however, the laborers who have worked all day in the hot sun complain when the laborers who worked just one single, solitary hour, after the sun had broken, by the way, got a full day's pay.  Their song also has three verses: "It's not fair," " You love them more than me," and "Can I work just one hour and get a full day's pay, too?"  Maybe some of us have heard or sung this song, too.  But in the case of the vineyard workers, their complaints are not heeded and the landowner, who we presume to be God, says "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or are you envious because I am generous?"  The landowner's response is the response given to many complaints: "Get over it."  Clearly, complaining does not work.

So, does complaining to God work, or not?  We all have times when we complain, or, in Biblical parlance, make lament to God.  Disaster strikes, loved ones are ill, jobs are frustrating or lost, or we just seem to be experiencing a bout of bad karma and life is not fair.  If we are people of prayer, we take our complaints to God.  God, I believe, does take all our complaints, our laments, into God's heart.  If God did not bear our complaints, a large percentage of the Psalms would be unnecessary.  But based on the story from Exodus this morning, and Jesus' parable about the landowner, however, our complaints seem to have about a 50/50 chance of getting us what we want or need.

However, I believe the question of whether or not complaining works is the wrong question to ask these stories to answer.  While people complain in both stories, complaining is only one thing that holds the two stories together.  The real point of these stories has nothing to do with the efficacy of complaining, or the unfairness of life.  The real point of these stories is God's abundant generosity.  When the Israelites are in the wilderness with nothing to eat, God provides abundantly for them, giving them quail in the evening and bread in the morning.  God does that, not because the Israelites complained, but because God is, by nature, generous.  When all the workers come in from the field to be paid, and the landowner gives each a full day's wage regardless of how long the worker toiled, the landowner is not being unfair.  The landowner is being generous.

In the letter to the Philippians, Paul encourages the Christians in Philippi to live their lives in a manner worthy of the gospel.  If these new Christians live in a manner worthy of the gospel, Paul will know that they are united, standing firm in one spirit.  In the story from Exodus, complaining divides: the people are separated from their leaders, Moses and Aaron, who they hold somewhat responsible for their hunger and misery.  The story begins "The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness."  In the parable, clearly the workers who labored all day have hard feelings against those who worked one hour and received a full day's pay.  The workers in the vineyard, who, of course, represent all who labor in God's vineyard, including us, are divided by their complaint over God's equal treatment of everyone no matter how long or hard some worked and how little others worked.  Complaining divides the vineyard.

Our complaints to God are real and often come from very real distress in our lives.  Scripture is clear that God hears our complaints and holds them in God's heart.   But the question of whether or not complaining works to get God to do what we want God to do is another matter. The stories of Scripture are unclear on the answer to that question. What scripture does make clear is that we are called to live, not like the first laborers who thought they had been cheated, but like the last laborers who understood the generosity of the landowner.  The lives we live in deep gratitude for that generosity will be lives worthy of the gospel of Christ.

Amen.