Topic BIBLE STUDY 1 “AM I BEING UNFAIR TO YOU?
The social context of the Bible story
The verses were written in the context of an agriculture-based economy. The grounds are pre-pared, the crops are planted and tended, and the community will wait for harvest time. If there is ample rain, the plants will grow, thrive and bear fruit. On the other hand, improper care including pests and insects, bad weather or other accidents, natural or human-made, will expose the crops and lessen their yield, or possibly wipe everything out completely.
Since the place is stony and hilly, preparing the ground and tending the plants can be exhausting work. In addition, the weather conditions (hot, humid, or cold) will add to the discomfort of the labourers (Matt 20:12).
The work is also seasonal and intense. Harvesting crops, such as grapes, has a strict timeline in order to reap the fruit in its prime and while it is juicy and sweet. When harvest time comes, the master of the vineyard starts to recruit people. In fact, the workers are milling around the marketplace waiting for an opportunity to work in the vineyards.
Some of them are already former labourers in the vineyard, however when there is a good harvest, more labourers are needed. So people wait in the marketplace in hopes that they will have some work that day and earn something to take home to feed their family. The labourers called for this purpose are hired hands for a certain period of time. They are not permanent workers.
The place of recruit is probably at a public venue, market, or pub. Those who are known to the vineyard master will probably be called from their homes or via word of mouth.
Similarity with the Philippine context
In Negros Occidental in the Philippines, where the economy is driven by the production of sugar, there are workers who reside on the plantations.
They are given a modest place for shelter with their families. During the off seasons, they hoe, weed and do other work to tend the crops. So they are the first ones to be hired during harvest time. One very out-standing feature of the hiring is the inclusion of women and children. Sometimes the baby is also brought to the field, with a minimum of shade and some prepared food. For the more intense job of harvesting however, where there is a time limit for a certain produce like sugarcane or rice, the workers are recruited by agents or contractors. They bring a large number of men rom another place to do the harvesting. The labour-ers have to leave their families for a number of months, so they usually ask some portion of the wage in advance to take care of basic family needs.
These monies are considered loans with inter-est. One can imagine that after harvest season, the interest will eat up their wages with very little to bring home to their families. One can also infer that the wages are far below the standards for a decent life.
They can only feed one or two persons at most. Taking into account the average sized Filipino family of six, the income of a typical labourer is not enough for his family. The economic injustice is evident— the landowner has a big house and enough food on the table, while the families of the labourers live below the standard of a decent life.
Agricultural economy in both contexts:
1. High unemployment in both the urban and rural areas—at the time of the writing, 12 million Filipinos were unemployed, with most of them in the agricultural sector;
2. Seasonal work: in an agricultural economy, there is work during planting and harvest time. In an industrial economy, there is work when there is an increase in demand for goods and services, like high demand for goods before and during Christmastime.
3. Contractual work: daily, pakyaw, or working on a project for a specific amount of time for an agreed amount, usually 5 months for every contract to avoid hiring the person permanently.
4. No work, no pay: no work on weekends, so no wages either; no paid time off, like holidays, sick days, or absences, and no access to health benefits.
5. In an agricultural economy, one hectare of rice land can only produce 24,000 pesos annually. Water is essential for rice fields. The irrigation system, rain harvest, and wells are essential to a good production.
BIBLE STUDY 2
TEXT: NUMBERS 27:1-11
The book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Old Testament. It is the chronicle of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. It starts with a census of males over twenty one years old that could be enlisted as warriors. It is a book of laws, such as the laws of purification. It also includes the arrangement of the tent cities. Here the division of inheri-tance was initiated. These all happened in the wilderness of Sinai at about 1410 B.C. The prominent personalities in the book are Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
This is the story of a family during that time of the Exodus. Zelophehad is the first born son of the tribe of Manasseh. During the journey to Israel Zelophehad died, leaving his five daughters behind. At the time of the census, it turned out that Zelophehad was no longer in the list because of his death. So his survivors – the five daughters – were non-existent, as no law provided for women to inherit. Therefore the family of Zelophehad is no longer part of the tribe of Manasseh.
So what is to be done? They are facing physical and social exclusion. They have no home, no family, and no means to support themselves. Poverty would mean hunger and homelessness. Furthermore, this situation will make them possible victims from opportunists because they are women. Therefore there is a real and urgent need for the sisters to address their situation and to work together for an alternative. They need to claim their rightful place in the community, and sustain themselves without being a burden to anyone else.
The daughters decided to approach the tent of Moses to raise two legal issues (Numbers 27:4a):
1. The name of their father, who was a descendant of the tribe of Manasseh and was no longer in the list because he had no sons to inherit;
2. To not be left without their father’s possession.
The daughters’ demand from Moses (Numbers 27:4b):
1. Give us a possession among our father’s brothers so that we can provide for our-selves. They need to inherit as women.
2. Reinstate the name of our father in the tribes of Israel.
Moses’ response (Numbers 27:5-7):
1.Moses took the case to the Lord and the Lord confirmed the rightness of the demand. The answer therefore was, “Give them a possession among their uncles and cause the inheritance of their father to pass onto them”
2. And that would be extended to others in similar situations (Numbers 27:8), so they helped change the law for all of Israel.
All over the world women live in the periphery of society. In this case, five brave women faced the legal issues and presented the problem to the elders. This action gives us an example of taking hold of our own lives so that the future looks brighter, not only for the present but for genera-tions to come. It is refreshing to know that a group of women can
change the laws for the benefit of women in the community.
Exercise for group conversation:
Swapping ideas:
• Use this exercise to motivate the group to find an advocacy action to support women in the community as an expression of faith, witness, and service.
• On a piece of paper ask the participants to share their ideas on how women might be able to equip themselves and others to fight for their rights.
• Discuss each idea; consider how WDP and church women’s organizations can be helpful.
• Get the group to agree on one advocacy idea which they might take on.
• Draw up a practical action plan with a time frame, to be engaged in WDP’s moto: in-formed prayer and prayerful action. Everywhere in the world women are left excluded in the home, work and even at church. The fact of the matter is that women, when given their rightful place, will double their capabilities. It makes a more productive and happier home, a more responsive church, an active women’s group, and a progressive community.
The question that begged to be answered throughout this story is: Am I being unfair to you? Is the family fair to its
mothers and daughters? Is the church being fair to her women members? Are women sitting as decision makers in churches? More importantly, do women know that they have such rights? How do women’s rights impact economic justice?
Is the community fair to its women? We do not need to prove that women can be influencers and decision makers. All around us women have proven to the world that they are leaders in their own right.
It is time that women claim their rightful place as provided for by the Creator.
Role play of the Bible Text: Matthew 20:1-16 (New
International Version)
Note: When planning the role play, ask the participants
to internalize the role of the landowner and the labourers,
thereby deepening the understanding of the people in the
Scripture.
Narrator:
For the kingdom of heaven is like a land-owner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them,
Landowner: You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.
Narrator: So they went. The landowner went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. At about five in the afternoon he went out and still found others standing around. He asked them,
Landowner: Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?
Labourers: No one has hired us.
Landowner: You also go and work in my vineyard.
Narrator: When evening came, the owner of the vine-
yard said to his foreman,
Landowner: Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.
Narrator: The workers who were hired last, at five in the afternoon, came and each received a denarius. So when those who were hired first came, they expected to receive more.
But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.
Labourers (the one hired first): These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.
Landowner: I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?
Narrator: So the last will be first, and the first will be last.
It is harvest time. Harvest time is a time of plenty. It is a time to celebrate. That is why in many of our churches, we celebrate thanksgiving and we bring to the altar the first fruits of the field as an offering.
A labourer is excited in anticipation of work. Work is not just a means to buy the basic needs for the family, but also a contribution for a just economy. Labour dignifies the person and the community, and should be a source of social equality and a decent life where basic rights are accessible. However,
in the Bible story, Jesus used the landowner’s generosity of paying the workers equally, though they laboured different hours, as a gesture to understand what the kingdom of heaven is like. Why are the ones who spent most of the day not working, paid same amount as the ones that worked all day?
What was the need of Matthew’s community to have Jesus telling a story such as this? What does it say to us today? What does the kingdom of heaven look like today?
Exercise for group conversation:
1. Freeze game for reality check
• Divide the participants in small groups to facilitate the conversation
• Ask each group to create a scenario based on a work situation, for example:
• child working on the field with parents
• workers that receive little pay for hard labor
• women working while tending a child beside her or on her back
• Allow five minutes to prepare and dramatize the scenario, then the leaders shout Freeze! Everybody freezes in the working situation.
• Give some time for the participants to observe each scene, and then encourage group conversation.
2. Suggestion of question for the groups:
• If you were in that situation, what would you do?
Thoughts for conversation: Where it all started:
God’s economic justice.
God, the creator provided the creation with the materials (earth, sea, sky, rain, sun, moon, air) to live a productive life. The provisions are for everybody to enjoy. Not one is excluded. God gave humankind the life, strength, intelligence, emotions, and discernment in order to make sense of and use God’s gift to the utmost.
In the Bible, we are told that each tribe of Israel was given a piece of land for their home and sustenance. The land was given to all. It could not be sold. That is why there was a year of jubilee, where all land must be returned to the original state or to the tribe where it was assigned. Nobody owned the land.
Where we are now: pakyaw
Somewhere along the way, the situation changed. There are those who own large tracts of land or vineyards, while others become labourers or hired hands. In effect, the Bible text pointed out this situation in an agricultural society. In the Philippines, situations like these are plentiful. Look at the large
sugarcane and banana plantations. There is plenty of work during planting and harvest time, but none in between.
Formerly, the work arrangement was that they were to be paid on a daily basis. Now the land owners engaged the laborers in pakyaw. Pakyaw is a con-tract between the worker and owner to finish a piece of work within the required time, and to be paid a fixed amount. The landowner prefers this method
because the worker is motivated to finish the work quickly and with minimum supervision. The worker also prefers this arrangement because they can schedule their work hours. However the worker has no permanent tenure. Fair payment is a challenge.
Cultural practice: dagyaw
In a community where many people cultivate rice farms, neighbors are called to help with the planting. Th e process is called dagyaw, and it is intense work because the planting must be fi nished within the day. Th e neighbors are only fed, and not paid for the planting; however the rice harvested is shared among the ones who planted together. This practice
continues until all farms are planted or harvested.
Dagyaw is a good way of building and sustaining a
community, an actualization of compassion and care for each other.
Am I being unfair to you? God’s call for justice!
A recent report of OXFAM in 2015 stated that 1% of the world’s population holds 99% of the world’s wealth. In the Philippines, 20% of the population owns 80% of the nation’s
wealth. In order to overcome, and gradually reduce, the gap between the haves and the have nots, we must plant the seeds of justice, so we can all share the harvest.
Exercise for group conversation:
1. Swap shop
• Divide the participants in small groups to facilitate the conversation
• The topic of the conversation is to discuss how churches, and especially women, can plant and nurture the seed of economic justice, which includes food, education, and better living con-
ditions for all.
• Each group is asked to present a new idea of planting and nurturing economic justice. Each idea should be written on a flash card.
• Ask some of the participants to form a panel of experts”. They will rate the group idea from -10. The idea with the highest grade will be chosen and discussed further for implementation.
2. Informed prayer and prayerful action
• Use the ideas discussed to motivate the local WDP community and churches to support and engage in the continuing struggle for justice for all of God’s creation.