September 18, 2011 14th Sunday of Kingdomtide
Exodus 16: 2-15, Psalm 105, Philippians 1: 21-30, Matthew 20: 1-6
When you become a Boy Scout one of the first things you learn is the Boy Scout oath or promise. If you are a Boy Scout or were a Boy Scout you can probably recite this promise with me:
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help others at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
The Girl Scout promise is very much the same:
On my honor, I will try:
To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.
Today I would say that to live by promises such as these would help us to be the kinds of citizens that would make the world a better place. Problem is, not everybody has been a scout.
For example, have you ever had anybody cut in line ahead of you? Maybe you are in the checkout line at the grocery, Walmart, drugstore; or at the doctor's office waiting patiently for your turn to go we in; standing in line at a restaurant waiting for your name to be called; or maybe you've been in traffic, and had someone cut you off. I know that a scout would never do such a thing, but not everybody has been a scout.
I don't know about you, but when people cut some people off in traffic, or jump ahead in line, most of the time those who have been affronted that way have a very strong reaction. I'm not saying that you get angry, give dirty looks (or hand signs), or think to yourself,' just who do they think they are', but a lot of people do.
I believe the reason why we get upset over such injustices is because most of us believe in a system of fairness. It's kind of how we perceive that our world works. We even have slogans for it: tit for tat; what goes around comes around; a fair day's wage for a fair day's work; you get what you pay for; and from the business world--FIFO (first in, first out).
Today's parable from the gospel of Matthew contains one of Jesus' hard sayings. I have a feeling that when Peter heard Jesus say, "the first will be last, and the last first," his head probably swiveled around like ours would have, thinking that he had miss heard Jesus.
Jesus was responding to Peter who had been wondering about the rewards that people would be getting in the future because of their sacrifices for God. Peter, who is often a spokesperson for the disciples, seem to always be asking Jesus those really human questions that we all have at times.
The question Peter asked reminds me of a conversation I overheard in the post office about a month and half ago. I was standing in line between two people who attended the same church. They were "sharing information" (gossiping) about some members of their church, and were discussing some of the activities that these church members were involved in. Soon they began to speculate whether or not the activities that these people were involved in would be the kind of activities that would or would not get them into heaven.
Finally, one of the two said, "Well, I hope I get to go to heaven." I couldn't be quiet any longer. I turned to the man and said, "Brother, if you want to know how to get to heaven, I can tell you how." At that, the man laughed and said, "No it's not that. I go to church, it's just that I hope I have been good enough that the Lord will let me in, s'all."
It was at that moment that the line moved and it was my turn to go to the service window. I walked on thinking, that's a big question for many people. I also felt sad that even though this man attended church regularly, he still wondered whether or not he was going to heaven. That was Peter's question...what's the reward for us who have sacrificed for God.
The parable Jesus told about the kingdom of God was the story of a vineyard owner whose grapes were ready to harvest. Apparently the grapes were at their peak, and so they needed to be harvested all on the same day. The landowner went to the marketplace to find men to work early in the morning. He contracted with them to work for the standard day's wage of one the denarius.
As the day continued, the vine grower supervised the picking, and continued to go to the marketplace to find additional workers in order to have enough men to finish the work. He contracted with them at 9 AM, 12 PM, 3 PM, and 5 PM. At 6 o'clock, the harvest was completed. The workers lined up to receive their pay, and the land owner paid each one the standard day's pay of one denarius.
When those who had worked the whole day realized that those it only worked one hour had receive the same pay, they began to complain to the landowner. They said, "these last guys you hired only worked and hour and you're going to give them the exact same pay as us who worked all day long in the hot sun?" To which the landowner replied, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. I have paid you what we agreed upon. What I do with my money is none of your concern."
Well I have to admit, that when I read this parable, I am about as perturbed with the landowner is those who had to work. It's kind of like when a student shows up for the last day of class, and is awarded an "A" for just showing up one day. Or when a fellow worker works only a year, and then retires a full benefits. Or when a real deadbeat's rich relative dies and she gets a huge windfall of cash. It just doesn't seem fair.
Now if this parable is representative, as Jesus says, of life in the kingdom of God, then it's kind of important for us to understand what it means. So the question is: Is God being fair? Well it may not seem so to us, because the world we live in is a world of rewards based on merit, competence, social or economic status and so on. But the kingdom of God is different.
God's kingdom is where all things are just. Here is what the parable says about God. The vineyard owner gave the early workers exactly what he promised, a full day's wage. And to the late arriving workers, he also gave what he had promised.
One of the complaints that right living and religious people made about Jesus arose from how he treated the more disreputable members of society. How was it that people who did not keep the laws of Moses should be given the same mercy as those who had kept the law? Of course, such people were not beyond the reach of God. Maybe those who repented and mended their ways, and started to live right, maybe they could be accepted.
Jesus, however, accepted them immediately; Jesus never waited to see the outcome of their lives before he committed himself to them. It even seemed that Jesus thought more highly of them than of those who had been in church all their lives. Sometimes Jesus even gave the impression that he preferred the company of the rejects of society.
I wonder, do we always take our queue from Jesus, or do we sometimes act like the Pharisees who bristled when Jesus gathered with the Judean low-lifes. Do we make distinctions between ourselves, who have been in the church since we were children, and those who have never been to church. Do we believe we are more deserving of Jesus' attention and love and blessing, than those are just now hearing about God's love? Have we ever been guilty of expecting people to turn their lives around before they can be a full part of God's family? I wonder, do we grumble when God begins to use people who have only been working for an hour?
Thing is. God extends the invitation to people indiscriminately, and repeatedly. "Come on into the kingdom." "Come be a part of this family." "Come be with us here." "Come, come, come." Some get in early, and some get in at midday, and some get in at 5 o'clock, an hour before quitting time. But thanks be to God, because of God's merciful policy of fairness and justice for all, we are all rewarded in the same way. We all get grace, with equal measure, in spite of who we are, what we've done, or what we think we might deserve.
Friends, we cannot work our way to heaven. Our way to heaven is freely open to us through the grace of God. None of us are deserving of the gift of grace. But nevertheless, it is there for us. Don't be like the man I met at the post office. Don't believe for a second that your place in heaven is dependent on what you do. Your place in heaven is already guaranteed through the blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Rest assured... That by placing your faith alone in Jesus Christ, you will be saved from the wrath to come.
I believe God wanted me to learn this lesson of grace very early in my ministry. I want to tell you the story about the first person whom God allowed me to baptize. I had just begun my very first appointment in the ministry. It was an associate position on a three-point charge. My senior pastor on the charge had gone on vacation and a call came in from the hospital.
Apparently a man was asking for the pastor of one of the churches I served to come to the hospital to see him. I'll call the man Willie Coleman. Willie was dying. So I took off to the hospital to see how I could be of help.
The friends who had gathered round him began to tell me about his life. He was a very unique person. At the time I met him, he was 93 years old. Willie lived alone in a small, very small, house with his cats. He was what many people would've called a recluse. He made what little money he had as a gunsmith. Willie was never married; never had any children; never drove a car; never had a checking account; and did not attend any church.
So you might be wondering why he had called the pastor of the church I served to visit him. Well, turns out that Willie's mother at one time had attended ------------- UMC for a short while, and she and Willie's father were buried in the -------------- Cemetery. The one and only time Willie had been in church was when he was a small child. It was where he heard about Jesus.
Though Willie was a recluse, he had friends, and they were gathered there around his bed. One of his friends said to me, "Willie wants to be baptized." Now you have to understand that Willie was very low. He was very sick, but he wasn't unconscious. In fact, he was hearing everything that was being said.
I asked Willie's friend how he knew that Willie wanted to be baptized. Willie's friend told me that Willie had said for him to call the preacher at -------------- because he wanted to be baptized. And so with little ceremony, but with angels singing, Willie Coleman received the sacrament of baptism that day. With shallow breath, and almost inaudible sound, Willie responded to my questions and committed his life to God and placed his faith in Jesus Christ for his salvation. Within a few hours, Willie met Jesus face to face.
Willie was one of the laborers who came into the vineyard at 5 o'clock. And I know that all of us, who have come in earlier in the day, want Willie to receive the full measure of God's grace. Willie spent his whole life outside the vineyard. I'm sure he had heard God's invitation numerous times. But for whatever reason, he was late to receive God's great gift.
Jesus never forgets about the Willie's of the world; those people who are still at the marketplace looking for work. God is reminded of them every time we pray for them, every time we offer a word of encouragement to them, and every time we show God's love for them in any way.
Next time we are fixin' to grumble about them out there who don't do right, who live like the devil, who are lost and wandering, let's remember this story about Willie. Let's remember that we have been given the gift of the kingdom, and it's our life's work to spread the news about it. Let's remember that God has call us to issue God's invitation...in the highways, byways and marketplaces of the world. Amen.
© 2011 Judy H. Eurey 