The Bible Story That Makes Me Mad Every Time I Read It

Exploring the Radical Economics of Grace in Jesus’ Most Infuriating Parable

Image by Deagreez on iStock

Growing up with three siblings, there was one law in our house. It was the law of fairness. Everything was measured, compared, and tallied, not by my parents, but by us.

I can still picture the kitchen table on dessert nights. Mum would cut the pie or cake into slices, and suddenly all eyes were locked on the plates. My youngest sister leaned forward, eyes narrowed like a detective on a case. “Why does he get the bigger piece?” she’d ask, finger pointing straight at me.

The thing was, I hadn’t even noticed. I was too busy staring at my own slice, making sure it wasn’t the smallest. If it was, I’d make my protest too. That’s how it went. Every spoonful of ice cream, every Easter egg, every Christmas present. Fairness wasn’t just a hope, it was the scoreboard of our little world.

And looking back, I realise something: to us as kids, fairness wasn’t really about dessert. It was about love. Equal slices meant you mattered. Uneven slices meant someone else was more important. We weren’t fighting over sugar, we were fighting over worth.

Psychologists call this “equity theory:” the instinctive belief that the value of a relationship…