What IS the Deal? - Matthew 20:1-16 - Seventeenth Week after Pentecost

 

Matthew 20:1-16 NIV

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹² ‘These 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.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

What IS the Deal?

I love how Jesus begins this passage! “For the kingdom of heaven is like…”

It’s so nice to learn, to listen, to pause and visualize, Jesus’ words here. To let your mind wander from this world of sin, greed, power and selfishness, TO, thinking of the Kingdom of Heaven AS Jesus describes.

In these next few verses, we get to witness the generosity of God, for ourselves, AND for neighbor. So, for now, put away all of your competitive nature, and just listen to Jesus’ parable of the generosity of God.

We encounter a landowner that is compassionate for ALL workers, workers seeking a wage, who are standing in the marketplace, looking for work. We all need to work. And this work IS a part of what we pray for in the Lord’s Prayer --- “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Here I go again, back in my time machine, to a wonderful Saturday, standing by my classroom desk, before a few friends and Pastor Bergdall… reciting Luther’s explanation from memory… I wish my memory was still as good today… but I’m thankful for these good moments of memory…

What does this mean? – God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all people, though sinful, but we ask in this prayer that he will help us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanks.

(Here is the part that reminds me of our current passage of Scripture)

What is meant by “daily bread”? – Daily bread includes everything needed for this life, such as food and clothing, home and property, work and income, devoted family, and orderly community, good government, favorable weather, peace and health, a good name, and true friends and neighbors.

See, that bold and underlined part – or the part I emphasized while speaking? God IS generous to provide work and income.

But the question comes to mind… Will you, or I, work?... Will you, or I, accept the gift of work, and whatever income, God provides, for the day? Can we be happy with God’s supply?

So, in this passage, may I ask… Will you respond to God’s call? Or in the case of this parable, the call of the Vineyard Owner, TO, go to work? Or will you leave the marketplace, and either go back to bed, or stay in bed to begin with?

God comes to us with the gift of work! And that work, may just be, to seek work!

For those who accept the call of God to work, YOU WILL be provided for. Provided for in an immediate sense, as to what you need for the day, AND, even better, provided for in an eternal sense, of time. God calls us in the NOW, and HERE, and God gifts us with ETERNITY, in His Kingdom.

And there it is, “in your face.” The gift from God, that He openly gives to you, even in the face of your sinful life, on this sinful world. See it folks! Look at God in the face of the Owner, as He comes to you, in the marketplace of your life, to call you to work in HIS vineyard. God comes TO YOU! And that there is a BIG deal!

Notice how the landowner is the one seeking workers. Were these workers overlooked the first time? I don’t know, but he must have realized that he needed more workers, so he called them into his service.

This makes me think of the many times that God pursues each of us, over and over again. God calls us all our life long, to work in His vineyard. Maybe for this kind of job, or another kind of job. It’s God pursuing us. What would it be like if we pursued God to work for Him? What would it be like if we were willing to work, no matter when, or no matter how God has called others to work in His Kingdom?

And now for this second group of workers, the landowner agrees to pay “whatever is right.” No promises. Would we still be willing to go? Would we trust in this open-ended agreement, without knowing what our pay would be?

I think, when we have trust and faith in the landowner, we would be willing to go. But what if we couldn’t trust the landowner? What if the landowner was known to be a greedy person? Would we go?

But, in this parable, the landowner is God. And we know that God provides for all of our needs. So, the going, is a response to what God has already done.  And God has given us the faith to trust Him.

Well, rinse and repeat, this call to work. For the sixth and the ninth hour. So now we’re up to around 3pm. As the foreman goes back to the marketplace to gather more and more workers, it seems to me, that the need to work is becoming more and more urgent. This job has critical importance to accomplish what the landowner would like to have happen for that day.

This tells me that the work IS vitally important.

Next, we are up to the eleventh hour… that’s about 5pm. Not much time is left. As workers are still available, these workers are more desperate, and the foreman is just as desperate to meet the needs of the day.

I may jump to the conclusion that these workers were less favorable. I may jump to the conclusion that the workers, were perhaps lazy, but that just doesn’t seem accurate here. I also may jump to the conclusion that the foreman just doesn’t know how to plan the day, for the amount of work needed. But, how do I know this?

Each one of these people, the workers and the foreman, are responding to a call from the landowner, to get something done. So, it makes me think that this work is very important.

So, now I must reflect on God’s call. How the response is important. A response, no matter what time of day.

You know, God, or in the case of this parable, the Landowner, was a compassionate and kind person. He paid those who only worked about an hour, what he promised those who went to work at the beginning of the day. That’s generosity. These last workers were sought out just like the first workers, and the need must have been great, since the landowner kept sending the foreman back to the marketplace to hire more workers. And even though there was only an hour left to work, these last workers went to work instead of giving up and going home. So, it’s not like those called last were bad or anything, they were just the last to be called to go to work. I think sometimes, it’s easy to tag these last workers with some unjust label as being lazy.

And as each group comes forward to be paid, in order of the ones that worked fewer hours to the ones that worked all day; each group was paid the same amount. Even to the first hired, who had agreed to work for a denarius. But remember how all of the other workers agreed to be paid “what was fair.”

I suppose the ones who worked the most, but got paid what they agreed to be paid, felt like getting the union steward involved. But, how would that work? They did get what they agreed to be paid. So, the next day, would, perhaps those who worked all day, lay back in the crowd and wait till the end of the day, thinking that they would be paid the same as those who worked all day? I guess that would be the chance they could take, but perhaps the landowner’s need for workers wouldn’t be as great the next day.

Sometimes we look around ourselves, and evaluate our own worthiness as compared to the value of a co-worker, and declare that we are more valuable. But more valuable to whom? To self, or to the boss, or to the company? That’s a slippery slope to get on.

In the eyes of God, it seems to me, that He values ALL His children. Is this fair? Well, I guess, I’m not the one to decide what is fair and what is not, in the eyes of God. Who do I think I am to make that judgment FOR God.

And then when I pause and think of what God gave up, to give me life, I must stop all the comparisons with my neighbor, and live with a thankful heart, that God did what He did for any and all of us, in the giving of Jesus to draw us into eternal life, and eternal love, WITH Him in His Kingdom.

So, if I think about first and last, I can be overjoyed that first OR last, we receive this eternal gift of life. It’s NOT about how much I do, but rather about what God HAS done.

I’m so glad that my thoughts are NOT your thoughts, O Lord! For in your generosity, is mercy, kindness, love and forgiveness. Teach me Your way, that I may treat those You give to me, each and every day, with mercy, kindness, love and forgiveness.

Lord, my life is NOT about me. You alone are my light and my salvation. You alone are the stronghold of my life. And in this I seek to live into eternity from now, till then, WITH you, and in Your house. May I hear Your call, no matter when, in my life, You decide to call me, and respond in the joy and faith, that You give to me, to work WITH You IN Your Kingdom.

I guess, in the finality of it all, for those who receive the joy of working in the Kingdom of God for their entire lives, they are blessed. Likewise, for those who Christ calls at the end of their lives, they are blessed, as well. None of us deserve this gift of work, in the first place. So, be joyful, no matter the circumstances, the pain, the suffering, or even the blessing, that God comes to you, and calls you to work side-by-side, with other disciples and Him in His Kingdom.

When I get up close to this parable, it seems to be an injustice to some people. But when I pull back through all time; I’m so glad that God has the mercy to wait patiently. For, it seems to me, at this time, that I and you are in the later times. What if God had stopped calling people to work in His Kingdom 30, 80, 100 or even 1000 years ago?

But in His grace, love and wisdom, I think, God knows the beginning from the end. I think He knows the first and the last. I think God is aware of the Alpha and Omega.

Revelation 1:8 NIV

⁸ “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

 

This whole first and last thing is NOT about me, or where, or when, I think I place in the Kingdom of God. It’s not my decision, or up to me, as to where I belong. All I need to be concerned about is that God CHOOSES where I belong, and God gives me all I need to belong, or go, or work, in His Kingdom, when and where God chooses me to go, when and where. So, first or last, or somewhere in the middle, my obedience to God tells me to respond in the joy and blessing, that God gives me all the work I need, when I need it, and with His gifts that He creates in me, to DO His will, in the way He wants it.

 

It’s easy to get trapped in ourselves. It’s easy to play the comparison game with other people that surround us. It’s easy to fall in the “poor ol me” trap, thinking that MY work, or the sweat of MY brow, deserves so much more attention that the attention that is given to my brother or sister, standing in the workplace at my side.

This parable has reminded me to be thankful for work. For the work God gave me in the past, for the skills God grew in me to perform work, then and now. May my work, your work, and the work of ALL of God’s children, bring glory to God, as we live and work, in the here and now, and as we live and work, today… tomorrow… and forever… in the Kingdom of God. Thanks be to God for work!

This song was like a prayer… I love the idea that God came into time with Jesus, yet also was and is beyond all time with Jesus. So, sit back and pray this song… as you exist in your own time…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJeNUlNY7Iw&list=RDaJeNUlNY7Iw&start_radio=1