Göttinger Predigten
Göttinger Predigten im Internet hg. von U. Nembach
Pentecost 16, 09/24/2017
Sermon on Matthew 20:1-16, by Brad Everett
A landowner is looking for day workers for his vineyard. He goes to the marketplace, first thing in the morning, roughly 6 a.m., finds some willing labourers, agrees on the wage of a denarius for the day, and sends them to his vineyard.
He goes back to the market place at 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m. and 5 p.m., each time finding workers and hiring them for what remains of the day. However, unlike the first hiring where a specific wage was negotiated (a denarius), at each of these subsequent hirings the landowner simply promises to pay “whatever is right”. There’s the sense here that the landowner has a good reputation—that labourers would be willing to work for “whatever is right”—trusting the landowners judgement to make that determination.
Perhaps that’s why when it came time for the wages to be paid out, the surprise wasn’t that those hired later received a denarius, but that those who were hired first received that sum as well.
And they grumbled. The first hired labourers had their own notions of what fairness and generosity should look like in this situation and when the landowner didn’t meet those expectations, they complained about his unfairness.
It quickly becomes apparent the real complaint isn’t about the landowner’s fairness (because as he points out he did honour the original agreement in full), but his generosity. Even though they received the usual daily wage, the first hired workers begrudged the landowner paying what he thought was right—which was his prerogative it being his money and vineyard.
The unsettling thing about this parable is that like all the others, Jesus starts it with the words “For the kingdom of heaven is like…” and within the following lines, in the words and actions of the landowner and the workers, we hear echoes and see images of life in the Church.
In parallels drawn between the landowner of the parable and God I’ve heard descriptions like extravagant, abundant and lavish, used to describe the generosity demonstrated in this parable. And at one time I agreed with such descriptions—that was until I realized such adjectives were based on my impoverished image of what generosity looked like i.e. the only reason this looked extravagant is because my expectations were exceedingly low to begin with. But for the Kingdom of Heaven this is the norm.
We come to Scripture with our own pre-conceived notions of what grace, mercy and divine generosity look like—operating under the illusion that our ideas are somehow close to how God truly works. And then a parable like this shows the Kingdom of God is nothing like we could ever imagine. A God who gives graciously to all, simply because He has decided, in the words of the landowner “to pay whatever is right”—that is, right in the Divine economy not necessarily right according to what makes sense to us.
And as evidence of our fallen sinfulness, rather that simply being overwhelmingly grateful to be called to live for and serve such a God, whose graciousness is more than we could have dared hope or imagine, we get distracted by comparing what we think we have been given by God, with what we think others have been given by Him. Note, the qualifier, “what we think”, because truth be told we have no clue just how much God has blessed us with. And yet we are tempted to try and compare, and then, God forbid, complain should we fear being “short-changed”—begrudging another the blessing of God because we think they ‘got more than they deserved’.
Truth is, none of us gets what we deserve—thanks be to God. Rather we get what God thinks is right. Should you wonder what that might be, the service of Holy Baptism in the LBW (p. 121) is a good place to start. E.g.
“Pour out your Holy Spirit so that the one here baptised may be given new life. Wash away the sin of the one cleansed by this water and bring them forth as an inheritor of your glorious kingdom.”
Or this prayer after the baptism:
“God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we give you thanks for freeing your sons and daughters from the power of sin and for raising them up to a new life through this holy sacrament. Pout your Holy Spirit upon (your name here): the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord, the spirit of joy in your presence.”
You might also want to play close attention to the words in the liturgy for Holy Communion in a few minutes, to hear how Jesus’ very body and blood are given for you. Of course if that’s not enough you can always go to Holy Scripture and read for yourself of God’s blessings.
Remembering of course that this all unfolds differently in each of our lives—given that we are all unique individuals in various and diverse circumstances this makes sense. We aren’t able to fully grasp all that God has done for us, how could we ever expect to figure out all He has done for someone else?
The only time we should give thought to how God has blessed another is if we are remembering them in prayer asking God’s mercy for them, or giving thanks for what God has done for them.
Beyond that, we would do better to keep our eyes on Christ, cultivating grateful hearts for all that we have received, and if there is any dissatisfaction in our prayers, it’s directed toward ourselves, asking that God might help us recognize, use and live fully in the graces bestowed on us as his children. Not because we deserve it but because in His love He determined this is what is right.