Ephesians 2:14-18
For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups
into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between
us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he
might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making
peace, 16 and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross,
thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed
peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through
him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father.
***
Matthew 20.1-16
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out
early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After he agreed with the
workers to pay them a denarion, he sent them into his vineyard.
“Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others
standing around the marketplace doing nothing. He said to them, ‘You also go
into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ And they went.
“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he
did the same thing. Around five in the afternoon he went and found others
standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here
doing nothing all day long?’
“‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.
“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his
manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last
ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ When those who were hired at
five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. Now when those hired
first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also
received a denarion. When they received it, they grumbled against the
landowner, ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the
same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’
“But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong.
Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? Take what belongs to you and go. I want
to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have
the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful
because I’m generous?’ So those who are last will be first. And those who are
first will be last.”
SERMON (PASTOR)
I remember leaving the volunteer night shift at the homeless
shelter in downtown San Antonio with my dad, and as the dawn was rising on W.
Commerce and N. Frio streets, dozens of men huddled against the dew and freshly
cool air of the city that had been sleeping, as most of it still was. Yet they
were there, my dad said, as day laborers looking for work. I, exhausted from
being up so early, had a hard time comprehending how these men rose and were
ready for work just as we were heading home before the sun had even risen over
the horizon. I didn’t know much about immigration papers or the struggles of
cartel corruption countries, or the deaths across the border but I have a
feeling these men wanted work more than I have ever known.
Article in the San Antonio Express News details more of
their reality.
“When a large white pickup wheeled into the empty lot of the
Golden Star Cafe, a group rushed over and began beseeching its occupants in
English and Spanish for a day job.
“You got work, bro? I’ll go, homey, you’ll get a straight
shooter. I can use a pick,” a man in a red hoodie pleaded to the driver. On the
other side, others made their case in Spanish to the passenger. But after
a bit of back and forth, no one was hired, and, their hopes crushed, the
workers drifted back to the curb. Before pulling away, the pickup driver
explained why things hadn’t worked out. “We’re leveling a house. It’s
foundation work, but none of them know how to use the tools, how to do it, so
we couldn’t hire them,” said Gustavo Hernandez, who said he pays $100 a day
plus lunch.
And so, as the rest of San
Antonio rushed to work early Wednesday, thinking of
turkey, football and Black Friday, those on the bottom rung of the employment
ladder were hunkered down on the rough side of town. Although most of the
day workers are undocumented immigrants, they fear tickets from the police more
than they do being picked up by the Border Patrol, which last year closed its San Antonio station.
Asked about the day laborers, a spokesperson for Immigration and Customs
Enforcement in San Antonio
said the agency’s enforcement focus is on “serious criminal aliens” and human
trafficking organizations.
Several of those waiting on Houston Street were U.S. citizens,
among them the desperate man in the red hoodie, who shared his hard luck tale.
“I get a disability check. This girl I’m with took my check and kicked me out.
I almost went to jail. That’s why I’m here,” he confided, asking that his name
not be used.
Such is the life of San
Antonio day laborers, who regularly wait around for
many more hours than they work and sometimes go a week or more without landing
a $10-an-hour job. During two visits by a reporter this week, few employers
were seen stopping, and most of the men looking for work went home with empty
pockets.
“We get here at six. I’ve been here for two hours already,
but there is no work, no one is coming by,” groaned Javier Gallegos, 48, a
native of Michoacán, Mexico, who has been doing this for
years. “And then the police will come by and chase us away,” he said. Like many
others, Gallegos is not a U.S.
citizen. And, he said, for people like him without proper documentation, day
labor is one of the few chances to find work. “Most of us are from Mexico and Central America.
A few have papers, but the majority, no. That’s why we’re here,” he said.
Down the block, Jose Lopez Escobar, 47, a small, grizzled
man from Monclova,
Coahuila, described some of the perils of the life, learned the hard way over
six years on the curb. “A lot of us are looking for work to eat. I come out
here seven days a week. I might get two or three days of work,” said Lopez, who
does roofing, painting, masonry and tile work. On the top of his list are
abusive “patrones,” as the employers are known. “They’ll say, 'We’ll work all
week, and I’ll pay you at the end,’ but then after a couple of days, they don’t
come back and you don’t get paid,” he said. Others, he said, put workers in
harm’s way without a care. “Painting and roofing are the worst. They put you on
a ladder several stories up, and pay you $8 an hour to risk your life. If you
get hurt, it’s just too bad,” he said.
Another curb veteran, Camilo Silva, 47, who said he is a U.S. citizen,
was still feeling the pain of the latest ticket he received. “I went to court
and told the judge that all I was doing was looking for work, but he fined me
$300. I’ve got six months to pay,” he groused. “But I have no choice. If I put
in an application somewhere, no one calls me. Maybe it’s because of my age.
They want younger people.”
Asked about the city’s policy toward the day laborers, a
spokeswoman for the Police Department said by e-mail that problems can arise
with traffic or private property. “If the sidewalks are being blocked or
traffic is affected, then citations such as impeding traffic or pedestrians in
the roadway can be given,” Officer Misty Floyd said. Those who prompt
complaints by loitering on private property can be given a warning for criminal
trespass or even arrested for that offense if they do not leave, she said.
One of those waiting for work Wednesday lamented that San Antonio does not have a system like Austin, which manages a day labor center with
a bilingual staff. The system matches workers with employers, who can request a
specific worker or even make arrangements online. In San Antonio, workers are entirely on their
own, and they spend as much time watching out for the law as for prospective
employers.
“The authorities here won’t let us look for work. It’s pure
discrimination. Here we are struggling to survive and send money home to our
families,” said Isaiah Vasquez, a towering, middle-aged Colombian with a
teardrop tattoo beneath his right eye.
“I was a dangerous man. I killed someone in self-defense,
but now I am a Christian,” said Vasquez, pulling a worn black Bible from his
backpack. Even on Thanksgiving, some of these weathered, hungry men will likely
be found waiting on West Houston, hoping to
put some money in their empty pockets. “I’ll be here tomorrow. There might be
work. Maybe moving furniture. I don’t have any choice. I’ve been broke for a
year,” said Gallegos of Michoacán.
“All of us will be here. We don’t have money to buy a
turkey. Maybe someone will come by, and bring some turkey for us,” he said with
faint hope.”
This is whom I imagine in the payment line at the end of the
day when the owner tells his managers, to give them their wages, beginning with
the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’
Those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, maybe
they were undocumented immigrants, maybe they were older and out of work, maybe
they were formerly criminals and now Christians, maybe they had relationship
troubles and had no place to stay, maybe they had a kid who was sick, or legal
fees simply from looking for work. Maybe someone in their family struggled with
alcoholism or addiction and their saving had been traded for rehab centers and
legal fees. Maybe they were the disabled, maybe they were developmentally
delayed, or spoke a different language, or mentally ill. Maybe they were the
now adult kids from Open Door who show up early because their home life is bad,
or maybe they are those who received backpacks filled with food for weekend.
Maybe they are sitting in our pews as hard workers, or amazing musicians, or
writers, or caregivers but the right truck hasn’t pick them up for the day,
until late, at five in the afternoon, they were hired for an hour’s work after
standing for eleven. Those are the ones in the beginning of the line and they
are paid a denarion. Enough for one day’s food for a small family. Shouldn’t
everyone be given the opportunity to work for their pay and feed their
family?
If the opportunity is lacking, let us be generous. Let us be
generous and go through the Safeway line before Thanksgiving and give money
toward Turkey bucks no matter to whom the feast goes. It is more likely to go to
the Baker City
version of people in that San Antonio
day labor line, than the line shaking hands out our sanctuary door. Moreover,
let us be generous and try to change the system, to make systemic change, like
the employment center in Austin
which matches people, their skills, with employers, who need laborers for their
field? Let us be generous with those seeking to work the potatoes or the wheat.
Let us be generous with our countries borders, so that more, rather than less
can find a place for safety and for work. Let us be generous desiring universal
healthcare to be available for the elderly poor who day-labored their whole
life, as much as those of us who were able to save at the end of the day? Let
us be generous, as we do programs like Open Door which makes sure each
middle-school kid has a chance to eat breakfast before a day of learning. Let
us be generous, in our love and support of all youth a children who call this
church home and we their family no matter from what background they come. Let
us be generous as we show up providing for families after illness and death.
Let us be generous in our time and skills filling boxes at the Food Bank and
through other nonprofits in town. Let us be generous in our love for our church,
our community and our world. Let us be generous, so, "those who are last
will be first. And those who are first will be last." Let us be
generous because we have a generous Lord. Alleluia.
