“Grumbling at Grace”
Matthew 20:1-16
David A. Shirey
Broadway Christian Church
We’ve reached the last of a half dozen Sundays listening to Jesus’ parables. Mark tells us “Jesus taught his disciples many things in parables” (Mark 4:2), so I hope we disciples of Christ have learned something from our Teacher, Rabbi Jesus, over these six weeks.
To learn something requires having what is called “a teachable spirit.” Not all people have one. But I know you do here at Broadway. You can’t name as one of your values “Broad Minds” and not have a teachable spirit. You can’t offer the smorgasbord of classes that are available here if you don’t have teachable spirits. We’ve sung before every reading of Scripture in this series “Open my ears, illumine me, Spirit Divine.” Sounds like a sung prayer for a teachable spirit. Good for you.
Which brings us to the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, which reminds me of Debbie, a girl in our St. Louis congregation years ago. Debbie’s voice could be heard above the din of the Sunday School or Vacation Bible School classroom. Time and again, you could hear Debbie shriek, “No fair!” If another child got seconds on cookies and there weren’t enough to go around: “No fair!” If someone got to go downstairs to get a drink and she was denied permission: “No fair!” If her twin sister Dottie got to be first in line relinquishing Debbie to second place, “No fair!” I can only imagine her reaction to Jesus’ parable. Some work 12 hours, some 9, some 6, some 3, some 1. All get the same paycheck. “No fair!”
What shall we say about this parable? For starters, the vineyard owner invites everybody to work in the vineyard. In the Bible, the vineyard is a metaphor for Israel (cf Isaiah 5:1-7; Jeremiah 12:10) or the church. God is the vineyard owner. In the parable, the vineyard owner looks for and hires laborers all day long. Apparently, in God’s work of redeeming this world, God is not a do-it-yourselfer. Rather, God invites any and all to roll up their sleeves and be partners – planting, cultivating, and bearing Gospel fruit in the vineyard. Whether it’s Sunday School teachers, candlelighters, Ministry Team members, deacons or singing in the Collective — the more, the merrier. Everyone’s invited to labor in the vineyard. The Habitat for Humanity Blitz Build – four houses in 10 days – has been a beehive of activity with an Everybody come! invitation. Some have come from across the country with skills in construction, while others of us worried that if we wielded a hammer somebody might get hurt. We all got the message: Everybody come and build. God’s not a do-it-yourselfer. God’s a do-it-with-us-er.
So, in terms of the laborers in God’s vineyard, with whom do you identify? The workers hired early? Mid-day? Late? In terms of the Christian faith, have you been at it for a while, did you come to faith mid-day, or are you new (or newly returning) to the vineyard? I know enough of your stories to know that many of you have been at it since early on — you’re cradle Christians. Raised in this vineyard. Others of you came into the faith at high Noon of your lives. Weren’t raised in church. Became Christians as adults. Some of you are relative newcomers to the vineyard of faith or are returning after a time away. We’ve all come to faith at different times of our lives. Likewise with this particular congregation. Many of you have been here since the crack of dawn Broadway time – 50 and 60 years. And there are a goodly number of you who were hired at Noon, if you will — you’ve been Broadway vineyard workers since before the turn of the century— the 21st century— 25 years or more. And judging by the bulletin board of new members over the past eighteen months or so and seeing guests come and come back, others of us, Jennie and I included, have only recently entered the Broadway vineyard. Both in terms of the Christian faith and this congregation, we’ve been laboring in the vineyard for varying lengths of time.
Which raises a question: What are you expecting to be paid? We’re talking about work, after all: laboring in a vineyard. What kind of compensation are you expecting? What kind of payment, benefits, bonuses, stock options, pension? What did you agree to do this for? – “this” being following Jesus, striving to live by the Golden Rule, the Great Commandment, the Great Commission, “doing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly” (Micah 6:8). Someone said of doing the Lord’s work, “The pay isn’t much, but the retirement benefits are out of this world.” What are you expecting for your labor in the vineyard?
The reason I ask is different people have different motivations and different perspectives on work.
One person parks his car and trudges into work. It has a bumper sticker on the back that says, “I owe. I owe. It’s off to work I go.” Another parks her car right next to his, gets out, and as she walks toward the place of her employment, says, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!” Same work, different perspectives.
Three brickmasons are working side-by-side on a construction project. When asked “What are you are doing?” the first replies, “I’m laying bricks.” The second responds, “It’s gonna be a wall.” The third answers, “I’m building a community center, a place that’ll improve the quality of life for everybody in this county for years to come.” Same work, different perspectives.
People have different motivations and different perspectives on work. So, what are you expecting for your labor in God’s vineyard?
In the parable, the first-hired expected a denarius - “the usual daily wage.” Verse 2: “After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.” To the others (Did you catch this?) he said, “You also go into the vineyard and I will pay you whatever is right” (vs. 4). I made a mental note: One set of workers contracted for a denarius. The others trusted their employer to do “whatever is right.” The vineyard owner then paid everybody the same thing, which provoked the first-hired to shriek, No fair! “They grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat’” (vss. 11, 12).
The fact of the matter is that the first-hired workers received what they were promised: a denarius. An honest day's work for an honest day's wage. They weren’t cheated. What they resented was that the vineyard owner, in their words had made others “equal” to them. Yep, the vineyard owner sure did – gave every laborer a denarius – which was the amount they needed to provide for their and their families’ daily provision. Consider this: the Lord of the Vineyard chose to give everybody their daily bread, gave the first-hired what they were promised and everyone else what they needed. Which says to me we have a God who keeps promises and who desires to make sure all God’s children’s needs are met — for food, shelter, clothing, health care, dignity, and all-encompassing love.
The first-hired laborers grumbled at that grace. No fair! Which suggests to me that if we think God pays by the hour, we’ll consign ourselves to living life with a perpetual peripheral stinkeye always looking for people who seem to be getting more than we think they deserve. And the vineyard owner will say to us, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a day’s wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ (vss. 11-15). I don’t know about you, but I want to work in the vineyard of a God who keeps promises and always does “whatever is right” — so that all God’s children are provided for, loved, graced and embraced. Sign me up for that vineyard!
A couple weeks before she died, I had an evening one-on-one with my mother. She reminisced about her life, told me things she’d never told me about herself, my dad who had died 30 years earlier, and her relationship with my grandparents and aunt. It was holy ground.
She said, “David, you’re the executor of my will. Honey, I’m sorry there’s not much. But it’s divided between you, your sister, and your brother. You’re all getting the same amount.”
I nodded my head.
She said, “But I don’t know if that’s fair.”
I asked, “Why?”
She then told me about several occasions across the years when she delved into her meager savings and investments and gave it to my brother during some difficult times in his life. Mom said, “Maybe I should have subtracted what I gave to him from his inheritance, divided it in two, and added it to you and your sister’s inheritance. But it was the right thing to do at the time and giving you each the same amount now is my way of saying I love all three of you and hope you’ll always love each other.”
Upon hearing that back story, I said, “No fair! He shouldn’t get the same as us!”
Not! I said no such thing. I said, “Mom, you always did whatever is right for all three of us. Jill, Mike, and I have been the beneficiaries our whole lives long of your goodness and grace and unconditional love.”
Jesus said “The kingdom of heaven is like a vineyard owner who went out to hire workers for his vineyard…” To think that we get to labor together in God’s vineyard as long as we live… and then some! And were that not enough, we’re inheritors of God’s promises and beneficiaries of God’s boundless love and amazing grace. And then, when all is said and done, we’ll receive from God’s hand “whatever is right.” My, my, my!
Let all who have ears to hear, listen to Jesus’ parables again and again.
Let all the laborers in the vineyard say AMEN
