Pentecost Seventeen (Revised Common Lectionary) | 09.20.26 | Matthew 20.1-16 | Carl A. Voges

The Passage

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.  After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for a day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’  So they went.

Going out 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, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’  They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’  He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’

And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.  Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.  And on receiving it, they grumbled at the householder, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal who have borne the burden of the day and the searing heat.’  But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, 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 as I gave to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or do you begrudge my generosity?’  So the last will be first, and the first last.”                 [Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]

“Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.  He forgives all your sins and heals all your infirmities; He redeems your life from the grave and crowns you with mercy and loving kindness.”                                                                         [Psalm 103.2-4]

  In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord

The run-ups to today’s startling Gospel have been heavy: there is the parishioner struggling with his wife’s death; in the week before last Sunday, the people of this country were drawn into the anniversary of 09.11; more and more of the Lord’s people have concerns over the coarsening and vulgarity of today’s culture; on the day after 09.11, Jewish friends and acquaintances stepped into Rosh Hashanah and the ten days to Yom Kippur; there are parents burdened to love a grown son whose thinking and doing has torn his family apart and put himself in jail; television commercials are swarming us with endless pharmaceutical and political advertisements; and friends are walking away from the Life given them by the LORD God.

Then we come to today where the Gospel appears to pile even more into our minds and hearts!  As we turn into it, though, it is vital to catch what occurs before this passage from Matthew 20.  In chapter 19 our Lord encountered a young, wealthy man who could not let go of his instinctive self-absorption.  That led our Lord to comment on the difficulty of a wealthy person entering his Father’s kingdom.

Jesus went on to point out that for salvation to rest on a person’s actions is an impossibility.  Peter then asks what will they receive since they left everything to follow him?  Jesus notes they will receive the hundreds of things they left, along with the riches of his eternal Life.  He points out that the many who are first will be last and the last will be first.

He then relates this parable from Matthew 20 to illustrate his point!  A vineyard owner goes early in morning (about 6 am) to hire workers for his vineyard, agreeing with them that the pay would be a denarius for the day.  [The denarius was a standard Roman silver coin for nearly four hundred years (from 211 BC to AD 244).  Using the approximate starting pay at Chick-Fil-A of $15 per hour, we’ll use those numbers to illustrate what occurs as parable unfolds – $15 per hour for 12 hours day totals $180.]

With the workers knowing what they will be paid for their twelve hours of work, the owner sends them into his vineyard.  Going out around the third hour (about 9 am), the owner sees others standing by themselves, not doing anything.  He says to them, “You go into vineyard, too, and whatever is right I will give you.”  They go!  Going out again around the sixth hour (about 12 noon) and around the ninth hour (about 3 pm), the owner does the same thing.  Around the eleventh hour (about 5 pm) the vineyard owner goes out again and finds more people standing around!

He says to them, “Why do you stand here idle all day? “ They respond, “Because no one has hired us.”  He tells them, “You go into vineyard too!”

When evening comes (after 6 pm), the owner says to his manager, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.”  When those hired around 5 pm come, each one receives $180!  When the first hired come (the ones from 6 am), they think they will receive more!

Using pay of $15 per hour for twelve hours, their thinking runs like this:

Those working three hours will get $540 (180 times 3)

Those working six hours will get $1,080 (180 times 6)

Those working nine hours will get $1,620 (180 times 9)

Those working twelve hours will get $2,160 (180 times 12)

However, when those who worked twelve hours receive $180, they grumble at the vineyard owner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have done most of the work in the scorching heat!”

But the owner replies to one of them, “Friend (Greek word signals not an anonymous acquaintance, but a friend, a companion), I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for $180? “  The owner goes on to lay out his attitude and his action,  “Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to those working what I am giving to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or do you begrudge my generosity?  So the last will be first and the first last!”

Ouch!  This parable’s point is a difficult one to absorb!  What is going on?   It is a full and honest reality for those who are baptized into the Holy Trinity – it is the LORD God alone who dominates the lives of his people (not only their doing, but also their thinking!).

Although we are the Lord’s baptized people, the attitudes given us by the world at birth really take issue with what our Lord is telling us this morning.  That probably explains why, when we look around this culture, we see the Lord’s Life being ignored or watered down or distorted (streaming programs titled “God, Family and Football” or parishes watering down their biblical, sacramental and liturgical roots)!  We are so imbedded in ourselves, we cannot imagine giving up our thinking and doing so it can be dominated by our Lord and God!  Thus, this parable is making us squirm and forcing us to take a long look at the Life into which we have been immersed, the Life streaming from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

In researching this passage several years ago I ran across Cyril of Alexandria (an early Church father who served as the patriarch of Alexandria, Egypt, from the late 300s to theearly 400s).  He interpreted Matthew 20 in this fashion.

He noted that “day” in the parable refers to all of the world’s life, ranging from Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden to the End-of-Time.  He described how Jesus went out early in that life, summoning Adam and all those with him.  At 9 am, he summoned Noah and the people around him; at 12 noon, he came to Abraham; at 3 pm, he summoned Moses and David; at 5 pm, he is calling us and all the world’s people.  He is giving to all people their denarius, that is, their daily wage – the grace and mercy flowing from him, the Father and the Holy Spirit!

Looking at the parable from Cyril’s perspective, we realize we have no business commenting on the workings of the Holy Trinity unless we do not want to take our salvation seriously.  If salvation is a serious matter for the people of our parish communities, namely, that Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection breaks us free from the grasp of sin, Satan and death, we will spend our time in this world’s life learning to quit pushing the Lord’s thinking and doing to the side.  Instead, we will clamor to be exposed to the holy places of his Scriptures and Sacraments so we can be deepened in the rich Life he has mercifully given us!

When all of us are baptized, we are called to a Life of obedience to the Lord who redeemed us.  That sharply differs from the calling of the world’s life when we are born into it, but it is the difference that sweeps us from death to Life!  We may not like that difference instinctively, we may resist it, but the parable’s point is directing us to a full and honest reality of those who are immersed in the Life of the Holy Trinity.

From the beginning of this world’s life when Adam and Eve thought it was better to live for one’s self, the LORD God promised to give the world’s people his Life and he did, in the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of his Son!  The run-outs from today’s startling Gospel will continue to be heavy in the coming weeks but its impact will keep us centered and sustained!

Drawn into the Lord’s Life through Baptism and surrounded by his Scriptures along with the Sacraments of Forgiveness and Eucharist, may we continue to remain faithful and obedient to the Lord’s Life on his terms, and, gratefully, not on our own terms!  Our own terms lead to death; the Lord’s terms lead to Life, eternal Life in the Father, Son and Spirit!

Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our

   hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord

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Pr. Carl A. Voges, STS, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com