Telling wit from whinola.

 Telling wit from whinola. 

The Ted Radio Quarter-Hour

Years ago for a year or so I was on the radio. Local. I interviewed do-gooders, people who were “making a difference in our town, our area, our state!” Preachers, school principals, members of town councils and county boards, and mostly heads of non-profits. All whining about how difficult it was for the people they served - and they didn’t need to add, but they did - how difficult it was to serve them.

     Doing good is its own reward, of course. But only if you get a chance now and then to bitch about it. Other people need to know how hard you work, especially if God doesn’t care because he saves by grace. This is especially the case in an area originally settled by Presbyterians.*

     We sounded like NPR: “Jesus, this is hard but watch us soldier on!” What actually raised us above NPR: we only sounded like NPR for 15 minutes a week.

Speaking of grace. You remember the parable of Jesus about the workers in the field. How they were hired in the morning, at noon, and fifteen minutes before closing; then they were paid fifteen-minutes, noon, and morning bright and early - all the same wage. How those that were paid last complained, “Didn’t you see how hard we worked?” To which the steward (in the version in the apocryphal gospel of Bartholomew) answers, “No, gosh, I didn’t.”

     Now that’s wit. In any version,** the parable is witty. And at the expense of the whiners.

Who, however, do work like mad and nobody sees.

     But everybody hears.

04.17.20

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  * By grace alone! Presbyterians succeeded by Mennonites and Brethren. The problem with them, as a wise man once told me: They believe Jesus meant what he said.
 ** You probably read it last in Matthew's version, 20:1-16. Find that here in J. B. Phillips’ translation.