What the Church Should Be (Matthew 20:1-6)

By Rev. Emily Larsen

One of my all-time favorite characters in literature is found in Les Miserables. Whether you’ve read the book, seen the movie, or watched the hit Broadway play, you’ve seen this character as he is absolutely pivotal to the plot of the story. That favorite character is the Bishop.  At the beginning of Les Miserables, the main protagonist, Jean Valjean, after serving 19 years in prison is released and sets out to find his way in the world again. All the while, he must carry a yellow passport that proclaims to everyone that he is, in fact, a convict. This severely limits Valjean’s attempts to find work and he finds himself destitute. Finally, he comes across the Bishop, who trusts him, welcomes him in, and gives him food and shelter for the night. In spite of the Bishop’s incredible generosity, Valjean wakes up in the middle of the night to steal away with the silver spoons and plates. 

The next morning, the police drag Jean Valjean back to the home of the Bishop, who, instead of admonishing Valjean for stealing the silver and telling the police to lock him up and throw away the key; he looks to Valjean and tells him that he is very upset that he left in such a hurry because he forgot to take the silver candlesticks he gifted him as well. The Bishop gifts all of the silver to him along with a pardon.  Instead of doling out the punishment that Valjean deserves for being a thief, the Bishop instead grants him this extraordinary gift of grace, forgiveness, and generosity. The Bishop could have simply told the police that Valjean was a thief and he would have received his precious silver things back. Valjean would have gone to prison or worse for the rest of his life. The Bishop would have been justified in doing so. Instead, he tells Valjean to go, and to use the money and this second chance to become a better man. Valjean does go on to do great and generous things with the second chance at life that has been bestowed upon him. 

Victor Hugo–the author–aptly names the Bishop “Monseigneur Bienvenu.” His name literally translates as “Bishop Welcome.”

 This Bishop chose to give this poor man the opportunity for a better life instead of the just punishment he deserves. He is the very personification of mercy and compassion. And this character of the Bishop was written during a time when there were a lot of anti-clerical views in the world. Hugo’s own son, Charles, upon reading the original script, urged his father to change the character because, in his viewpoint, no clergy would actually act like that. Hugo insisted on keeping Bishop Bienvenu as written, stating that he hadn’t written him as the church is, but as the church should be.

Hugo was right. The Church, and God’s representatives on Earth who claim to be a part of it, should be the epitome of grace and mercy and compassion. 

Those of us who say the Lord’s Prayer pray for this each time we ask for God to “forgive our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.” 

 Because we have been forgiven much, we are called upon to forgive those who have wronged us…whether or not they deserve it!

Easier said than done, right? We would rather see those people who have wronged us get their comeuppance. We would rather that good guys always win and the bad guys always fail.That’s just human nature.

But that’s not how the world always works. And, fortunately for us, that’s not the way that the Kingdom of God works. We aren’t given the death sentence that we deserve for our sins and transgressions. Jesus-the good guy..the best guy really- took that punishment for us. Because we have been given much, much is expected of us in return when it comes to the forgiveness game. 

Like the workers in the vineyard who all received the same pay for unequal work, we can choose to grumble and complain when things don’t go our way. But God gives good gifts of grace to all of God’s children, regardless of when they came to join the party.  

This parable can help all of us to reflect on our ideas of equity, equality, and justice in the world; and on how we live out those ideals in our day-to-day lives. This parable invites us to dream about God’s abundance beyond our expectations and predictions. This scripture offers assurance that God is not bound by our limited insight or capacities for “justice” or for what we think is fair.  God's Kingdom doesn’t work like that. Instead, God’s Kingdom is marked by grace beyond our imagining and generosity beyond our deserving. 

Thank God that we are all covered by this undeserved, abundant, extravagant grace of God!