The Passage<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.\u00a0 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for a day, he sent them into his vineyard.\u00a0 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; and to them he said, \u2018You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.\u2019\u00a0 So they went.<\/p>\n
Going out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.\u00a0 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing; and he said to them, \u2018Why do you stand here idle all day?\u2019\u00a0 They said to him, \u2018Because no one has hired us.\u2019\u00a0 He said to them, \u2018You go into the vineyard too.\u2019<\/p>\n
And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, \u2018Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.\u2019<\/p>\n
And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius.\u00a0 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius.\u00a0 And on receiving it, they grumbled at the householder, saying, \u2018These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal who have borne the burden of the day and the searing heat.\u2019\u00a0 But he replied to one of them, \u2018Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?\u00a0 Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I gave to you.\u00a0 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?\u00a0 Or do you begrudge my generosity?\u2019\u00a0 So the last will be first, and the first last.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Revised Standard Version, Oxford University Press]<\/p>\n
\u201cBless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.\u00a0 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.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0[Psalm 103.2-4]<\/p>\n
\u00a0 In the Name of Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/p>\n
The run-ups to today\u2019s startling Gospel have been heavy: there is the parishioner struggling with his wife\u2019s 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\u2019s people have concerns over the coarsening and vulgarity of today\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
Then we come to today where the Gospel appears to pile even more into our minds and hearts!\u00a0 As we turn into it, though, it is vital to catch what occurs before this passage from Matthew 20.\u00a0 In chapter 19 our Lord encountered a young, wealthy man who could not let go of his instinctive self-absorption.\u00a0 That led our Lord to comment on the difficulty of a wealthy person entering his Father\u2019s kingdom.<\/p>\n
Jesus went on to point out that for salvation to rest on a person\u2019s actions is an impossibility.\u00a0 Peter then asks what will they receive since they left everything to follow him?\u00a0 Jesus notes they will receive the hundreds of things they left, along with the riches of his eternal Life.\u00a0 He points out that the many who are first will be last and the last will be first.<\/p>\n
He then relates this parable from Matthew 20 to illustrate his point!\u00a0 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. \u00a0[The denarius was a standard Roman silver coin for nearly four hundred years (from 211 BC to AD 244).\u00a0 Using the approximate starting pay at Chick-Fil-A of $15 per hour, we\u2019ll use those numbers to illustrate what occurs as parable unfolds – $15 per hour for 12 hours day totals $180.]<\/p>\n
With the workers knowing what they will be paid for their twelve hours of work, the owner sends them into his vineyard.\u00a0 Going out around the third hour (about 9 am), the owner sees others standing by themselves, not doing anything.\u00a0 He says to them, \u201cYou go into vineyard, too, and whatever is right I will give you.\u201d\u00a0 They go!\u00a0 Going out again around the sixth hour (about 12 noon) and around the ninth hour (about 3 pm), the owner does the same thing.\u00a0 Around the eleventh hour (about 5 pm) the vineyard owner goes out again and finds more people standing around!<\/p>\n
He says to them, \u201cWhy do you stand here idle all day? \u201c They respond, \u201cBecause no one has hired us.\u201d\u00a0 He tells them, \u201cYou go into vineyard too!\u201d<\/p>\n
When evening comes (after 6 pm), the owner says to his manager, \u201cCall the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first.\u201d\u00a0 When those hired around 5 pm come, each one receives $180!\u00a0 When the first hired come (the ones from 6 am), they think they will receive more!<\/p>\n
Using pay of $15 per hour for twelve hours, their thinking runs like this:<\/p>\n
Those working three hours will get $540 (180 times 3)<\/p>\n
Those working six hours will get $1,080 (180 times 6)<\/p>\n
Those working nine hours will get $1,620 (180 times 9)<\/p>\n
Those working twelve hours will get $2,160 (180 times 12)<\/p>\n
However, when those who worked twelve hours receive $180, they grumble at the vineyard owner, saying, \u201cThese last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have done most of the work in the scorching heat!\u201d<\/p>\n
But the owner replies to one of them, \u201cFriend (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? \u201c\u00a0 The owner goes on to lay out his attitude and his action,\u00a0 \u201cTake what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to those working what I am giving to you.\u00a0 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?\u00a0 Or do you begrudge my generosity?\u00a0 So the last will be first and the first last!\u201d<\/p>\n
Ouch!\u00a0 This parable\u2019s point is a difficult one to absorb!\u00a0 What is going on?\u00a0 \u00a0It is a full and honest reality for those who are baptized into the Holy Trinity \u2013 it is the LORD God alone who dominates the lives of his people (not only their doing, but also their thinking!).<\/p>\n
Although we are the Lord\u2019s baptized people, the attitudes given us by the world at birth really take issue with what our Lord is telling us this morning.\u00a0 That probably explains why, when we look around this culture, we see the Lord\u2019s Life being ignored or watered down or distorted (streaming programs titled \u201cGod, Family and Football\u201d or parishes watering down their biblical, sacramental and liturgical roots)!\u00a0 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!\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n
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).\u00a0 He interpreted Matthew 20 in this fashion.<\/p>\n
He noted that \u201cday\u201d in the parable refers to all of the world\u2019s life, ranging from Adam\u2019s sin in the Garden of Eden to the End-of-Time.\u00a0 He described how Jesus went out early in that life, summoning Adam and all those with him.\u00a0 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\u2019s people.\u00a0 He is giving to all people their denarius, that is, their daily wage \u2013 the grace and mercy flowing from him, the Father and the Holy Spirit!<\/p>\n
Looking at the parable from Cyril\u2019s 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.\u00a0 If salvation is a serious matter for the people of our parish communities, namely, that Jesus\u2019 crucifixion and resurrection breaks us free from the grasp of sin, Satan and death, we will spend our time in this world\u2019s life learning to quit pushing the Lord\u2019s thinking and doing to the side.\u00a0 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!<\/p>\n
When all of us are baptized, we are called to a Life of obedience to the Lord who redeemed us.\u00a0 That sharply differs from the calling of the world\u2019s life when we are born into it, but it is the difference that sweeps us from death to Life!\u00a0 We may not like that difference instinctively, we may resist it, but the parable\u2019s point is directing us to a full and honest reality of those who are immersed in the Life of the Holy Trinity.<\/p>\n
From the beginning of this world\u2019s life when Adam and Eve thought it was better to live for one\u2019s self, the LORD God promised to give the world\u2019s people his Life and he did, in the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of his Son!\u00a0 The run-outs from today\u2019s startling Gospel will continue to be heavy in the coming weeks but its impact will keep us centered and sustained!<\/p>\n
Drawn into the Lord\u2019s 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\u2019s Life on his terms, and, gratefully, not on our own terms!\u00a0 Our own terms lead to death; the Lord\u2019s terms lead to Life, eternal Life in the Father, Son and Spirit!<\/p>\n
Now may the peace of the LORD God, which is beyond all understanding, keep our<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0 hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus Our Lord<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
Pr. Carl A. Voges, STS, Columbia, SC; carl.voges4@icloud.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Pentecost Seventeen (Revised Common Lectionary) | 09.20.26 | Matthew 20.1-16 | Carl A. Voges The Passage \u201cFor the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.\u00a0 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for a day, he sent them into his vineyard.\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26686,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,157,853,108,110,139,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-26692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-matthaeus","category-beitragende","category-bibel","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-20-chapter-20","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26692"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26693,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26692\/revisions\/26693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26692"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=26692"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=26692"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=26692"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=26692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}