Labor Day thoughts: Remember the oxen!

Photo by Ana Cernivec on Unsplash

On Labor Day, I can’t help but think about my granddaddy.

He didn’t finish high school, but after his service in the U.S. Army, he went on to work on the railroad for about 40 years.

Granddaddy did not get rich, but he earned enough to give his family a comfortable life. He earned enough to save and share.

Granddaddy used some of his savings to pay for part of what it took for my sisters and me to go to one of the best private Christian universities in the country. Our education and experience there formed our faith and prepared us for our careers in the helping professions.

And even though Granddaddy died 19 years ago this week, the pension and savings he earned still support my grandmama to this day.

Granddaddy believed in hard work, but he also believed in organized labor. He knew that his legacy and standard of living would not be the same if he did not belong to a union.

I think Granddaddy believed that men and women should get a fair share of the value they create through their work.

I wish that Granddaddy lived longer than he did, but I’m glad he did not live to see some things that would upset him.

For example:

Labor productivity in the United States–the average hourly output for all workers in the country–increased 299 percent from 1950 to 2018. Think of labor productivity as how much value or wealth people are making and pumping into the economy.

Meanwhile, between 1979 and 2019, median wages grew just 8.8 percent. If productivity growth means production of wealth, think of wages as the share that workers receive from that wealth.

So, while workers are making more value–more wealth–than ever before, they are getting a smaller and smaller share of that wealth.

If Granddaddy started working on the railroad today, he would be three times as productive as he was when he started in the 1950s. But does anyone believe that he would be able to enjoy the same standard of living today that he earned from his labor back then?

The Bible has a lot to say about this.

So much that I could fill an entire book about it.

But on this Labor Day, I’ll stick to just one verse that makes the point well.

In the Book of Deuteronomy 25:4, God says: “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.”

I was a grown man before I finally figured out what that verse means.

When an ox is turning a millstone to grind grain, God wants the ox to be able to eat the grain he is grinding.

In other words: Do not keep the ox from eating his fair share of what he is making for you.

Later, the Christian apostle Paul quoted this verse:

For it is written in the Law of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain.” Is it for oxen that God is concerned? Or does he speak entirely for our sake? It was indeed written for our sake, for whoever plows should plow in hope and whoever threshes should thresh in hope of a share in the crop (First Letter to the Corinthians 9:9-10).

The big idea–the biblical idea–is that God expects workers to get their fair share of the value or wealth they create.

God does not care how much an economy grows unless all who contribute to that growth enjoy their share of the benefits of that growth.

This is biblical fairness and justice.

Prosperity must benefit everyone who contributes to that prosperity. To God, that means that everyone who contributes to the economy–even the lowest level workers–should be able to meet their household needs and save some for emergencies and the future.

If God cares even for the oxen, how much more does God care about human beings who often do the dirtiest, hardest, most thankless work to keep our lives comfortable and keep our world running?

So, this Labor Day, let us give thanks for those whose work makes and supports the lives we enjoy as persons and as a society.

Let us pray that they receive their fair share of the value they make for us.

More so, let us commit to use any influence or power that we have to advocate and take action for our neighbors who labor.

This is the Way.

Grace and peace.