One of my favorite characters in the HBO show The Pitt is Dr. Mel King. Mel is a
brilliant doctor in the emergency room. She exhibits autistic and ADHD coded
behaviors. She’s able to handle high-pressure situations with precision and an
eerie calm. There was one scene in the first season when her ADHD matched
perfectly with having to remove 1000 pieces of gravel from the leg of an injured
motorcycle rider. She was giddy at the prospect of doing it.
A big part of Mel’s character is her relationship with her neurodivergent sister,
Becca. Mel is Becca’s guardian. Though Becca lives in a group home, they are
together every Friday night. At Becca’s request, they always eat pizza or spaghetti
and always watch the movie Elf. Mel has seen Elf exactly 154 times.
In a recent episode, Mel was planning to watch the Fourth of July fireworks with
Becca, as they always did. But this year Becca wants to watch the fireworks with
her boyfriend and his parents. Mel didn’t know Becca had a boyfriend. Mel didn’t
know Becca had a sexual relationship – as Becca says, “lots and lots.”
Mel – who apparently doesn’t have a boyfriend or any kind of relationship at least
in part because of the combined demands of being an emergency room doctor and
Becca’s guardian, is in a state of shock. Becca has a life she doesn’t have and
Becca hadn’t even told her about it. Mel sits it a stairwell with a colleague and lets
out her repressed rage that Becca has a life outside of hers. It isn’t fair. The
colleague quietly reminds Mel that Becca’s life isn’t about her. Mel needs to check
herself and stay in her own lane. Since she wasn’t going to the fireworks with
Becca, Mel goes to a karaoke bar, where she sings Alanis Morisette’s You Oughta
Know, with the famous lyric (and 90’s anthem) that “It’s not fair to deny me of the
cross I bear that you gave to me.”
In this morning’s Gospel, Jesus gives us a rather pointed lesson about our
discontent.
Just before He tells today’s parable, Jesus tells the disciples about the rewards for
following him. Peter, of course, wants to know what’s in it for him, and reminds
Jesus (no doubt not for the first time) that he left everything to follow Him. Jesus
describes great rewards, for the disciples and everyone that left their lives behind
for His sake. But Jesus also makes the cautionary statement that “many who are
first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” What?
Jesus explains that with today’s parable. We meet some day laborers. Folks living
hand to mouth, day to day, to make enough for their families to survive. They areeconomically and socially marginal. Many in Jesus’s time would have known
what it was like to be at the mercy of someone else for work and survival.
You know the parable: The day laborers work for various amounts of hours yet are
all paid the same. The grumbling occurs when the first-hired day laborers notice
that the last-hired day laborers are paid the same wage as them and are paid first! It
isn’t fair!
Discontent comes from our comparison with others and our own hope that things
will be fair. Those who worked fewer hours should not be compensated the same
as those of us who have worked all day. Who are they that should get what they
got? Aren’t I more deserving? Speaking for myself, I am hyper-aware of my place
on the salary grid at the county. I have had at least my share of discontent about
who makes what.
Discontent feeds on these comparisons. We seethe when we see those around us
with things that we want; we grow envious when we see others living the life we
want or experiencing our long-sought dreams. Social media amplifies the
comparisons. Does everyone in the world have an updated kitchen? A fancy car?
Is everyone in better shape than I am? Comparison robs us of our happiness. Our
contentment. It stymies our gratitude. The ninth commandment tells us not to
covet for this very reason.
And what of me? When I was here “early” as a cradle to grave Anglican, am I
here on Sundays expecting that the place Jesus has prepared for me will be a little
extra special? A nice room, a nice view? When I prepare a meal for the homeless
am I expecting a little extra dessert when I get to the heavenly banquet? Do I insist
on being first, and not last. Or can I listen to Jesus and accept my reward? God
gets to do what God wants.
I hope that I am here to receive the discipline and teachings I need to lead the life I
am supposed to lead. What I need to survive each day.
True contentment requires that we trust in the love of God and in what we receive
from Him. Contentment is the spiritual discipline of accepting our reality, even
while we pray for God’s kingdom to come. Gratitude is realizing that everything
we are and all that we have comes from God. Contentment realizes that it is God
who has given us our very breath. It is God who has given us the laughter of ourchildren and the smiles (and even the tears) of our loved ones. It is God who has
filled our lives with sufficient grace—with enough for the day.
We need to say thank you for all that God has given us, for all the burdens that
God has brought us through, and for all that God will continue to do in our lives.
Thank you God for the wonders of this world and for the lives we are living. Thank
you for our daily bread and grace sufficient for today. And thank you for gratitude.
Amen.