Jesus Goes to the Denominational Meeting

Jesus decided to visit the denominational conference.  Of course, the leaders invited him to speak, especially on the issue of inclusion of QUILTBAGs (LGBTQ) as members.  They knew he would straighten this whole mess out.

Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is like a business that needed a number of day laborers for some temporary work.  The day manager went out at 6am and noticed some workers getting up early, ready for work, dressed in appropriate clothes.  The manager hired them and they worked all day.  At 12pm the manager found that although those he hired were hard workers, he still needed more help.  So he wandered out to the corner and found more workers, who had arrived late.  He hired them as well.  At 4pm, he found that if he had another set of day laborers for the last hour, he could get the project finished.  So he rolled up to the corner and found some kids skateboarding, barefoot and without shirts.  He called out to them, "Do you want some money?  Just an hours' worth of work."  They agreed and they worked for the final hour, although the other workers were irritated that they weren't dressed property, weren't a part of the union, and thought they could just get paid for coming in so late, when the others had put in extra time.

"At the end of the day, the project finished, the day manager that he had run under budget.  So he paid all the workers the same amount-- a full day plus overtime-- no matter what time they arrived, no matter how hard they worked.

"The union workers were furious.  'If OSHA showed up, you'd be shut down!  How can you even hire such lazy bums who showed up so late?  And how can you put them on the same level as we?'

"The manager said, 'You have no right to complain if I am generous and welcomed them and honored them more than they were worth.  How do you know their worth, anyway?  I would recommend that you just shut your mouth and take the money.'

"The skateboarders were furious at the words of the union workers.  They complained to the manager, 'We wouldn't work for you if this is the kind of people you are hiring.  We didn't come here to be disrespected.  We won't come back.'

"The day manager then spoke to everyone, 'Look, I have called you all here to work together.  You don't have to agree with each other, you don't have to like each other's opinions.  All you have to do is work and you get the reward.  If you leave, you won't get paid-- it's as simple as that.  If you want to get paid, just keep your disrespectful opinions to yourself.  Because I have called all of you to do this work.  So work together.  And you will learn to respect and love each other. That's how the project will get done.' "

And Jesus walked off the stage.