Thou Shalt Pay Thy Workers a Living Wage

The penny, the smallest unit of measure in our United States currency, or what has become the pence in British money, has paled into insignificance in our hectic modern days.  However, thousands of years ago it symbolized the amount necessary for decent room and board for a person, with some to spare, either for personal needs or for the folks back home. 

The fact that the penny is so devalued in our current time is due to the extreme corruption and dishonesty of humanity on the average, practicing an immorality known as "inflation"; more money for less product.  The modern money is corrupt according to the standard of the ancient Phoenician traders who sailed to many ports in search of business.  They carried with them "touch stones" by which they could test the nobility of the metals used in a nation's coinage.  If the metal was "cut" with baser metals, such as the United States' dime, which is no longer silver, but rather a "copper sandwich" -- and so on -- they would not trade with that nation, deeming them corrupt and unreliable.  They had other tests, such as seeing if the death rate of the population exceeded the birth rate.  That was also a sign of corruption and therefore unreliability.

The penny unit, about what it would take for a night at a mid class, decent modern motel, three good hefty square meals for the day including a good breakfast the next day, and extra money for clothing and savings, is the symbol of what it takes to keep today's Christian Economist going.  "Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content", the scriptures admonish.  But God is generous and usually includes housing as well. 

It's a concept known as sufficiency.  This opposes the concept of wealth.  Jesus left a message for the wealthy that they were in reality desolate, naked, and needy, unbeknownst to them, because they had too much of something and necessarily therefore, not enough of another.  It's of utmost importance to know that opulence is the worst form of poverty, because it clouds out insufficiencies which the owner cannot understand for him or her self which only God can supply.

But all that is nothing compared to the indictment the scriptures bring against modern business.  "Thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting".  Therefore you should not be surprised that the resultant penal actions should come upon you who are practicing such corruption, especially and foremost those of what is called in the Bible "The Household of Faith".  Among these punishments is the curse of Byzantium and the Backslidden Daughters of Zion:  the scourge of God known as "God's Razor".  More on that later.  But The Lord wanted to emphasize how grievous this was to "withhold the wages of your laborers".  -- Plus the fact that anything less than 100% employment is unacceptable to God.

There was an honest man who built a thriving vineyard.  He worked hard to nurture the vines of the grapes and prepare the vat for the juice to be made into fine wine.

When all was done, and the grapes were fully ripened on the vines, he set about to organize the work force to harvest the fruit.  The workers and the owner entered into arbitration and came to the agreement that each would get paid a penny, which in those days was about what in our day was enough for room and board plus more for expenses, which could be as much as eighty to one hundred dollars after taxes in this month of October of 2006 when this article was being written.

The day of harvest came and all the workforce set to it's task.  It was sufficient for the job. 

But then the owner did an unusual thing.  He went into town where workers congregate just to check if every one was okay.  They weren't.  There were still lots of unemployed laborers.  He got them all together and sent them to work in the fields for the same penny wage.

The owner kept doing things that wouldn't make sense to worldly business:  He'd go back out every couple of hours, even to a few hours before the end of the work day and employ everyone he found that was out of work, even, finally, at the end of the day.

A little while later, the time came to call it a day.  The whole group of workers were assembled to get paid, as this was done on a daily basis.  The last workers got a penny each, and so on until the first workers got up to receive their salary. 

It was also a penny.  They all became disgruntled, as the saying goes.  They discussed amongst each other the wage, objecting that the ones who hadn't worked as long should have either been paid less or they should have been paid more.  They should have been happy that the other workers would have enough to get by -- room and board and so on.  Instead they presumed to openly criticize the boss and got fired.

Or as it is said in the Bible, the owner said, "... Take that which thine is and go thy way.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?  Is thine eye evil because I am good? ..."

In this parable or illustration the Lord is showing us the key to prosperity.  It is the job of the Christian whose ministry happens to be that of business to assure that his or her locale has one hundred percent employment and that everyone has at least a "living wage".  The work day is during the day -- one shift only, not two or three.  No one is to get underpaid so that he or she will have to get other jobs to make ends meet.  Certainly there must be no such thing as "the working homeless".

Do these things and you shall prosper.  Go thou and do likewise.

But if you're in business just to make a profit, become wealthy, and be a success at what you do, you're in the wrong line of work.  If you're a Christian, you need to get into some other ministry.  We all should be satisfied with sufficiency.  "Having food and raiment let us therewith be content." 

Revelation chapters 17 and 18 describe a great religious prostitution whose merchants were the "mighty men".  In other words the ones who were endowed with the great talent to care for the people had slumped to the dregs of corrupt mercantilism where they only thought of using their abilities to take care of themselves and their cronies.

The dainty and the delicate ensnare the seeing blind.  When asked if they would know the truth, they just say, "Never mind." 

"No thanks!" say they, triumphantly.  Destruction's road they take.  After all, it's called "prosperity" -- with chaos in it's wake.