Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost (A) 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Matthew 20:14
Theme: A Gift, Not A Wage

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Assumption is the mother of all blunders. When our assumptions hold things may go smoothly. But when our assumptions fail the consequences can be disastrous. We might assume other drivers will stop at a red light, but it’s the better part of wisdom to wait for verification. More generally, we may assume we are sailing along in life basically under our own steam, setting our own boundaries, and reaping the benefits of our own investments and ingenuity. Suddenly we are made aware of some vulnerability; even our mortality. We become more conscious of the brokenness of our lives and our world. We may even cry “Unfair!” God demolishes our assumptions more quickly and completely than anyone. Then, God has an opportunity to speak truth into our lives. He does so with unapologetic honesty and compassionate generosity. God never acts inconsistently with His own nature.

It’s the essential nature of God that Jesus wishes to illustrate in today’s gospel reading. Jesus tells a parable about workers in a vineyard. It begins in a straightforward manner and relates to circumstances everyone understood. During the grape harvest those needing seasonal work would go to the marketplace in hopes of being hired as day laborers. The average wage was one denarius for a full day’s work. In the illustration workers are hired throughout the day right up to the last hour.

The twist comes when the day ends and it’s time to get paid. “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.”1 Now, it’s not hard to predict what the response might be. Certainly, the practice wouldn’t hold up under any modern fair work legislation. “They began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’”2

The response of the vineyard owner is telling, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius...are you envious because I am generous?”3 Herein lies the trouble for sinful human beings. We have certain expectations of God. We’d like His actions to benefit us in preference to others, or at least not slight us. But we cannot dictate the parameters of fairness to which God must comply. If we could put stipulations on the expression of God’s grace, draw up boundaries and enforce them, cry foul when the lines were crossed, it wouldn’t be grace. Then we would be the ones making the definitions.

You see, the owner wasn’t actually paying those who were hired last a wage, he was giving them a gift. Why did he do it? He was generous. Wages are a debt that is owed. What wages are due us? Would we really like to receive what we deserve? We might think so if we are making self-righteous comparisons to others. But when the mirror of God’s holiness is held before us it’s an entirely different matter. If we look in that mirror- the one that peers with transparency right into our hearts- and see a beautiful image of ourselves, then we’ve turned a blind-eye to our own sinfulness. We don’t really want what we deserve. The Bible says, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”4
These core truths, realities about sin and grace, judgment and forgiveness, what that means for us in the here and now and eternally, are under great dispute in our age. You don’t have to be a genius to recognize that the influence of Christianity is in precipitous decline in our society. Apathy about Christian truth and Christian presence is turning to antagonism and antagonism is moving towards hostility in some circumstances. We might be just at the beginning of a time of purging- the sorting of those who have associations with Christianity in name only. Persecution has always proven to be a reliable sieve.

The reasons are ancient even though they find new expressions. People have other gods they prefer to worship. Technically, everyone has either the true God or idols, even those who claim to be atheists. Luther reminds us that, “A god is that to which we look for all good and in which we find refuge in every time of need... That to which your heart clings and entrusts itself is…really your God. ”5 The Scriptures tell us that from conception we are separated from the true God and only He can mend the relationship. The saving work of Christ accomplishes that task. The Bible says, “Now He has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in His sight, without blemish and free from accusation- if you continue in your faith, established and firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”6

The gospel is the incomparably good news of God’s grace in Christ. Baptism is one specific means by which God gifts us with that grace. If baptism depended on us it wouldn’t be the work of God. In baptism, the Holy Spirit works repentance and grants the forgiveness of sins. We might understandably query how an infant can come to repentance. It’s a logical question to which the Bible gives a mystical answer. God gifts the child with repentance. The gift of repentance goes hand in hand with the gift of faith. Just as with the gospel in general, baptism is a means by which God’s word works in people’s hearts and minds. The fact is, even the most mature Christian adults cannot repent on their own; it’s an act of spiritual crucifixion and resurrection by the Holy Spirit. The same blessing is continually received in Holy Communion.

Truly, the parable today also teaches us to be content with the place we have in God’s vineyard. In our vocations, each of us makes a unique and essential contribution to the common good. God rewards our efforts even if it’s not in the way we’d like. But in the big picture the main message is about a particular kind of generosity- divine grace. If God were not gracious far beyond human imagination we either wouldn’t exist at all, or we’d be separated from Him eternally- that’s called hell. The specificities of God’s grace are revealed in the incarnation of Jesus, His humble life, sacrificial death, and glorious resurrection. In terms of the parable of the vineyard workers, Jesus is actually the one who bore “the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’”7 In fact, He shouldered all the burden of our sins and endured the fiery crucible of the cross. So, the grace of God and all His blessings to us are cross-shaped.

God doesn’t leave things to chance and He’s never burned by false assumptions. Our salvation is not in doubt because it is in His hands. The grace of God is completely unmanageable by humans. We can’t control it. You can’t secure the love of God in a vault, you can’t lock it up in a prison- the entire universe cannot contain it. You certainly can’t keep it sealed in a crypt. Death put Christ in a tomb but it could not hold Him. Nails were driven into His hands and feet; a spear was thrust into His side, He breathed His last and gave up His spirit, but it was all in sacrifice for us. It wasn’t the end. It was the inauguration of His eternal kingdom. He is the owner of the vineyard. We’re privileged to benefit from His grace. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
24 September 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Matthew 20:9-10 2 Matthew 20:11-12
3 Matthew 20:13, 15 4 Romans 6:23
5 Martin Luther, Large Catechism 6 Colossians 1:22-23
7 Matthew 20:11-12