Sermon: Septuagesima and Baptism of David Kononov - 2019

17 February 2019

Text: Matt 20:1-16 (Ex 17:1-7, 1 Cor 9:24-10:5)

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

Is God fair?  Does he give us what we deserve?  No.  And for that, we should be grateful.  And to illustrate this point, our Lord Jesus tells a story, a parable, to teach us how His kingdom works.  

In this story, which we call “The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard,” a boss goes out in the morning to hire workers.  As the sun rises, he strikes a deal with some laborers for the standard rate of a denarius a day.  Today, we call this a “contract.”  And “he sent them into his vineyard.”

Two hours later, about eight in the morning, he hires another group, and their contract is for “whatever is right.” And “so they went.”

The same thing happens at about noon, and then about three.  Finally, at five in the afternoon, with only a single hour left in the workday, the boss hires one last group, and sends them into the vineyard too.

As the sun sets, the foreman brings the workers in to get paid.  The boss says, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.”  The guys that worked one single hour received their pay: “each of them received a denarius,” that is, a full day’s wage.

Imagine that!  They were paid for 12 hours, but only actually worked one hour.  So the guys who worked twelve hours, were really looking forward to getting paid.  Surely, they would receive much more, maybe as much as 12 days pay for a single day’s work (if the pay rate were to be equal).  At very least, they should be getting a lot more than what they originally contracted for. “But each one of them also received a denarius.”

Ouch!

Clearly, Jesus can’t favor such unfairness.  After all, they “have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” unlike those Johnny-come-latelies who were sitting idle all day, and who then only worked an hour in the cool air, and got paid for twelve hours.  When you look at it from the point of view of “equal pay for equal work,” this is outrageous.  Maybe this unfair boss is going to be punished in the story.  Maybe he will be forced to pay his workers more fairly.  Jesus has to fix this, right?

But instead, Jesus sides with the boss.  “Friend,” says the business owner to one of the men who worked twelve long hours for a single denarius, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong.  Did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what belongs to you and go.  I choose to give to this worker as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?  Or do you begrudge my generosity?”

This is not what most people would expect.  Jesus sides with management over the workers, with capital over labor.  The workers are to be content with the contract that they had originally agreed to, and if the boss pays others more, that is his right – since the business and the money belong to him.  

Jesus is no Socialist, and He does not advocate the right of workers to seize what does not belong to them, or to violate their contracts.  Having said that, the main point of this parable isn’t property rights and contract law, not labor relations or economic theory.  Jesus told us that this is what “the kingdom of heaven is like.”  Jesus says that in God’s kingdom, “[T]he last will be first, and the first last.”  Jesus says that “fairness” according to the ways of the world is not how His kingdom operates.  If God gives someone something that He doesn’t also give us, if God shows undeserved mercy to someone else and does what He wishes with what belongs to Him, are we to begrudge His generosity?

By no means. 

In fact, we should thank God that He doesn’t judge us by what is fair; He doesn’t give us what we deserve.  For we deserve death and hell.  We deserve His wrath.  We justly deserve His temporal and eternal punishment.  Unlike the rigid laws of our fallen world, God is free to show mercy to us.  Yes, He is unfair.  Though justice demands that we die, Christ’s death pays our debt.  Though the Lord Jesus bears the burden of hour after hour suffering under Pontius Pilate, though He endures the scorching heat of exposure to the elements upon the cross, though He does not deserve to bear this punishment that is rightfully ours – He willingly does so.  He does what he chooses with what belongs to Him, even His very body and blood, offered and shed for us as our all-atoning sacrifice, given to us us here at this altar, paying each one of us a “denarius” of salvation whether we have been Christians for years, or only for minutes.

God is not “fair,” and He does not give us what we deserve.  Instead, He shows us mercy.  He gives each and every worker in the vineyard a “denarius” of salvation, as we hear the words: “the body of Christ, given for you; the blood of Christ, shed for you.”  For we are not being paid for our own work, but rather for our Lord’s work upon the cross.  God is merciful and generous.  He keeps His end of the bargain, His covenant: which is our salvation, which is our redemption, which is eternal life to those who have been baptized and who believe.

David, on this day, you are among all of us latter workers.  Like us, you don’t deserve it.  And you are made equal to all of the Lord’s redeemed.  For you have received that which is right, not in the eyes of the world, but according to the contract, the covenant, that God made with us.  

He has given you everlasting life as a free gift, by grace, through faith, poured out upon you by water and the Spirit.  God has called you to this font.  He has cleansed you of your sins.  He has placed His Son’s righteousness upon you, according to His Word and promise.  He has given you the sign of the holy cross.  He has written your name in the Book of Life.  He will not revoke, renege, or refuse to honor His covenant.  Verbum Dei manet in aeternum, that is, the Word of God endures forever.  And His Word is truth. 

It was His will to bring you to this font on this day.  He arranged this to happen before the foundation of the world.  You are not the inferior of any Christian on the planet, for you, like all of us, are a sinner who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.  You are a saint, not by virtue of your work, but rather by the Lord’s work in the vineyard of His Church.

The Lord Jesus is the true Passover Lamb, whose flesh we eat under the form of the bread that he Himself broke and shared with His disciples “for the life of the world.”  His blood is the cup of the New Testament: the same spiritual food and the same spiritual drink: the Rock that is Christ.  The partaking of the body and blood of Christ is your Passover, even as your baptism is your watery escape in the ark of the church, your crossing of the Red Sea to the Promised Land, a salvation through water.  You have been “baptized into Christ’s death” so that “you might walk in newness of life.”  You have gone from being in the position of grumbling about God’s unfairness, to one who rejoices in His mercy, in His generosity.  

For we are all beneficiaries of His grace.  We are all those last fortunate workers who squeaked by according to His loving kindness, though we do not deserve it. 

“So the last will be first, and the first last.”  Thanks be to God, now and even unto eternity!  Amen.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.