Sermon Index
September 24, 2017
GOSPEL LESSON: Matthew 20:1-16 [The landowner and the hired workers.]
gFor the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, eYou go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.f So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, eWhy do you stand here idle all day?f They said to him, eBecause no one has hired us.f He said to them, eYou go into the vineyard too.f
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, eCall the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.f And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, eThese last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.f But he replied to one of them, eFriend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?f
So the last will be first, and the first last.h
There is trouble brewing in vineyard. The workers who were hired first are grumbling. They are incensed that the workers who were hired last and only worked for one hour got the same wage as they did after working hard all day in the scorching heat. They said it was unfair. By modern employment regulations, it may have even been a violation of the law. Yet, they were not wronged; they had agreed to the terms when first hired. But now that they see the last-comers are given equal wage, they are furious. They themselves could also have been idle all day, resting and enjoying sitting in the cool shade, and then if they came and worked just one hour, they could have gotten the same, one-day wage. Perhaps they thought they had wasted the day by working all day rather than loafing in the market place.
It is not just that they were lazy. Worse than that, they were envious. Worse than that, they had contempt for the owner. The landlord was generous, literally in the Greek, good. And this exposed their envy, literally, their evil eye. Their jealous eyes were evil and so they could not see the goodness of the landlord. They could only seem themselves and so could not appreciate the generosity given to others
But the owner calls them gfriends.h Although he says gTake what belongs to you and go,h I am sure that he wants his friends to stay, and to come back tomorrow and work again in the vineyard. But perhaps their envy and disappointment and anger would make them take what they earned, leave the vineyard and never come back again. They would be leaving the service of the Lord and forsaking his generous nature. The Lord of the Vineyard is the Lord Jesus Christ. If you do not accept his goodness and generosity, then you are working in a world where you get nothing until you have earned it; where the last are last and the last are lost. And in leaving the vineyard, these workers would be lost to God.
But even for these grumbling, envious, lost laborers there is hope. There is hope because the Person telling the parable really is good and generous, always, from first to last. There were other workers in Jerusalem that grumbled about the Lordfs kindness and generosity: that generosity that helped the sick and forgave the sinner. They put Jesus on the cross because they thought that that was his proper wage. They thought that that was the way of Godfs Law. And Jesus accepted that wage without grumbling, because that is why he had come to this world. And on the cross he accepted the wage of all sinners, the first, the last, the lost, the least, the hopeless. He puts them first on his agenda of salvation. And in his resurrection from the dead, the wage scale is completely revised. Pay equality has a new meaning. We are not paid according to our work. In the Vineyard of the Kingdom of Heaven, goodness and generosity and grace are pure gospel
Jesus comes to us with the words of Gospel, gFriend, I am doing you no wrong.h Rather, Jesus is doing the right thing for us. We could work all day long, all our lives, and it would never be enough to earn salvation. He asked, gAm I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?h We do appreciate his generosity. We thank Him for giving us what belongs to him because he paid for it with his life blood on the cross. And so we look again, not with evil envious eyes, but with eyes opened to the truth and love by the power of the Holy Spirit. And so Jesus becomes more than just the owner of the vineyard, the employer, the boss, the slave driver. Jesus is not just a paymaster who gives us wages according to our work. He is not someone to dread on the great Payday at the End of the World. He calls us friends and we trust him.
With fresh eyes, we now see the vineyard and our fellow work differently. We no longer compare our work to others, we do not judge them, or begrudge them, but we work cheerfully, serving one another as our Lord serves us. Faith, therefore, is never idle. The Lord calls us for a lifetime of faith and trust.
Amen.
The basic outline and many of the wordings for this sermon are from a text study by Steven Kuhl. Thank you very much!
Michael Nearhood, Pastor
Okinawa Lutheran Church