18th Sunday after Pentecost
September 18, 2005
Matthew 20:1-16
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These 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.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (NRS).
Grumbling at Grace.
Today, Jesus wants to teach us a lesson about grace. Grace is a gift. It’s when you get what you don’t deserve. In the Bible, grace is the fact that God loves us and is merciful to us even though we deserve neither his love nor mercy. By an act of grace, God made his Son suffer and die for our sins so we would not be judged and condemned to hell. Instead, we will rise from the dead and go to heaven. All this happens because of Jesus Christ. It is free, undeserved, unmerited. That’s grace, one of the fundamental concepts of the Christian faith.
But how well do we really understand grace, particularly that it is undeserved love and mercy? To help us understand, Jesus tells this story of the workers in a vineyard. Some of the men got a full day’s pay for virtually no work. They got what they did not deserve. The other men recognized that and complained that it was not fair. They grumbled at grace.
Jesus says that the kingdom of heaven is like this. There are people who will get to heaven who in no way deserve it: thieves, cheaters and liars, pimps, prostitutes and wife-beaters. God, by grace, will forgive them. Thinking about that may make us grumble. But that can be good! Because, when we grumble at grace, perhaps we have finally understood it is undeserved mercy!
You see, despite what we may say, you and I think we’re pretty good people. We’re not thieves and murderers and pimps. We’re nothing like Willie Pickton or Karla Homolka. So if God is gracious to us, if he overlooks our minor faults and blemishes and lets us into heaven, well that’s understandable. But what if he shows the same kind of mercy to someone who is really bad? Think of the worst person you know, the person whom you consider to be the most dishonest, cheating, two-faced, liar ever. What if that person heard Jesus’ word, was truly sorry for his sins and God forgave him? Would you be happy? Or would you grumble and say that it’s not fair? You’ve tried hard to lead a good life. This other didn’t try at all. How can God forgive him and accept him into his church just like you? You’d be a bit upset like the men in Jesus’ story. They grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These 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.’
We easily identify with the men who grumbled because, honestly, the idea of grace offends us. Yet Jesus says the kingdom of heaven is like this story. Entrance into the kingdom of heaven is by grace. As Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God--not the result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9). That means that you and I, like these one-hour workers, have received what we do not deserve. Our good behaviour doesn’t earn us even one single ‘heaven’ point with God! Our efforts to keep God’s commandments don’t make up for past sins. Everything is fully erased--even for really evil people--through the death and resurrection of Christ, that is, by grace! Like the workers in the story, we got a full day’s pay for only one hour of work! That is, something for nothing.
That can upset and confuse us at times. It doesn’t seem right that people should receive what they so obviously don’t deserve. When it happens to us of course it’s fine. We love gifts and I suppose that in our own secret thoughts we think that we deserve gifts. But when we see someone else get what they don’t deserve, like these one-hour workers in the parable, that upsets us. No doubt that’s why it’s a recurring theme in the Bible.
For example, in the parable of the prodigal son, the older brother grumbled at grace. Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' (Luke 15:29-30). In the shoes of the older brother, you and I would almost certainly have felt the same way. Or consider God’s grace to the wicked king Ahab, something that always amazes me. Ahab embraced idolatry and killed the true prophets of God. He killed Nabath so he could have his vineyard and did every other imaginable evil. Yet when Elijah the prophet went to tell him God’s judgment, Ahab repented and God forgave him! You just want to scream, "That’s not fair!"
Such incidents let us see what grace really is: totally undeserved love and mercy! God’s love for sinners, for his enemies! It’s not God’s love and mercy for basically decent people. It’s not a matter of God just overlooking our rough edges. Not one of us--by himself or herself--is good enough for the kingdom of God. We see that when we look in the mirror, the mirror of God’s Law. If you hate your brother, you have already murdered him in your heart. If you look at a man or woman with lust you have already committed adultery in you heart. Those evil thoughts are sins for which you will be judged. Yet, through faith in Christ, those sins are forgiven. We too have received grace!
And that’s the most important lesson of all. Jesus finishes his story with those strange words, So the last will be first, and the first will be last. He’s trying to make us see things from a different perspective. In this case, those who are like the last workers who only worked an hour are the blessed ones who will end up being great in the kingdom of heaven. They recognize that they have received grace; that they got into the kingdom by grace alone. Those who are grumbling are the ones in trouble. They’re beginning to dispute with God about what is fair. You don’t want to go there! If God gave you and me what our behaviour really deserves, it would not be pretty. We would not only be last, we would be excluded from the kingdom. We do not want what we deserve. We want what God offers for free. We want grace!
So grumbling when others receive grace is an alarm that tells us we are forgetting that we all live by grace alone. Jesus asks the grumblers, Are you envious because I am generous? Envy is a feeling of ill will, jealousy, or discontent because another person possesses something that you keenly desire to have or achieve yourself. If we find that we are discontent because unworthy people are forgiven and admitted into God’s kingdom, it’s probably a sign that we no longer think of our own standing with God wholly in terms of grace. No doubt we are beginning to consider our own merit, the fact that we have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. To do that is to fall from grace. To fall from grace is to be excluded from the kingdom.
Instead of grumbling at grace, we need to recognize how amazing it really is. The thing that makes us grumble, the fact that God gives people what they don’t deserve, is the heart of the Gospel. Grace is our guarantee of always being acceptable to God. Grace means that we never have to doubt our place in God’s kingdom. If we think of our work and what we deserve, there will always be days or times in life when we don’t know if we’re worthy of eternal life. But if we think only in terms of grace, that Jesus has made us acceptable to God through no merit of our own, then doubt and fear disappear. For everything depends on Jesus and nothing on you and me!
Grace is the power that transforms our lives and behaviour. Grace means that we’re not working for pay, not working to stay in the kingdom. Rather we work out of gratitude because we are in the kingdom!
"There was a woman whose husband didn’t really love her. Yet he was very demanding. He prepared a list of rules and regulations for his wife to follow. He insisted that she read them over every day and obey them to the letter. Among other things, his ‘do’s and don’ts’ indicated such details as what time she had to get up in the morning, when his breakfast should be served, and how the housework should be done. After several long years, the husband died. In time, the woman met another man who dearly loved her and they were married. This husband did everything he could to make his new wife happy, continually showering her with tokens of his appreciation. One day as she was cleaning house, she found the old list of commands her first husband had drawn up for her. As she looked it over, it dawned on her that even though her present husband hadn't given her any kind of list, she was doing everything her first husband’s list required anyway. She realized she was so devoted to this man that her deepest desire was to please him out of love, not obligation." That’s what grace does to us!
Grace is really a simple concept: something for nothing! So when you grumble at grace because someone else got something for nothing, remember that you too have received grace. By grace, Jesus lived, died and rose for you. By grace you have received a full day’s pay for one hour of work.