Sermon: Septuagesima - 2020

9 February 2020

Text: Matt 20:1-16

In the name of + Jesus.  Amen.

In His Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, Jesus taps into the source of a lot of today’s division and anger and rage: fairness.  Is it fair for people to be paid at different hourly rates – even for the same job?

In the story, the owner of the vineyard hires workers to work all day for a denarius (which was a silver coin).  That was the standard market rate for a twelve-hour day’s work.

But the owner also hires more workers as the day goes on, obviously for less time – as the work can only go on until sundown.  The boss promises to pay these more recent workers “whatever is right.”  Of course, this is the set-up of the story.  Our notion of fairness would be that everyone would be paid the same hourly rate, because we believe in equal pay for equal work.  And in fact, the last group of workers are hired so late in the day that they only work for one hour.  

But to their amazement, the owner pays everyone – starting with the last group that only worked for an hour – the same denarius, as if they all worked all day.  The 12-hour workers who “have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat” thought they would receive more, but to their amazement, they were given a denarius just as they were promised.

So the ones who worked longest were paid only a bit more than eight percent of the rate paid to the guys who worked only an hour.  And so they “grumbled.”

Today, they would probably do more than grumble.  There would be complaints lodged with government agencies.  There would be outrage on social media.  There would probably be protests and accusations of bias and “unfair labor practices.”  At any rate, our sense of unfairness today is the same as when our Lord told the parable.  

And that’s the point!

For how did our Lord begin this parable, dear friends?  He said, “The kingdom of heaven is like…”  God’s kingdom does not work like the world.  In the world, we expect employers to treat people fairly according to our own perceptions (although, as the owner of the vineyard points out, even that perception doesn’t consider that the owner is indeed allowed to do what he chooses with what belongs to him, and the workers’ outrage is indeed begrudging his generosity).  

The kingdom doesn’t work like the world, because salvation is not a wage.  It isn’t something that we deserve.  Our Lord makes this point by comparing God to the vineyard owner in the story.  God is the owner.  God owns everything.  And so He is indeed allowed to do what He chooses with what belongs to Him.  We are not the owners, dear friends.  We are merely workers in the vineyard.  God owns the vineyard.  He is not unfair, because even those whom we perceive to be paid unequally, are paid according to the contract.  But to some, He shows unearned kindness.  He shows grace.  He gives them what they have not earned.  It is a gift.  And who are we to begrudge His generosity?

Many years ago, there was a terrorist in this country who planted a bomb in a federal building in Oklahoma.  He killed 168 people, including children at a daycare center.  Before he was executed, he met with his pastor.  When some suggested that this terrorist had salvation, there was grumbling and outrage – for if anyone deserved to suffer in hell, it was this guy.  About the same time, there was also a famous serial killer who was caught and sent to prison for life.  He converted to Christianity, confessed his gruesome crimes, was baptized, and lived the rest of his life as a Christian – until he was murdered in prison.  After his death, when his pastor wrote about this killer’s conversion (which he believed to be genuine), the pastor was met with grumbling and outrage – even vitriolic hatred – for suggesting that there could be a denarius for this undeserving worker in the vineyard.

For what did these mass murderers deserve?  Of course, they deserved death and hell.  Or as we say in our confession “temporal and eternal punishment.”  In other words, they deserved what we deserve.  The denarius for what we have earned in this life is death and hell.  That is what all of us would be paid if God were fair according to our perceptions, dear friends.  As St. Paul teaches us, “the wages of sin is death.” 

So do you really want God to be fair, to pay you the wages you deserve?  Or do you want grace?  Do you want a kingdom of God where a serial killer can begin to labor in the vineyard late in the day, even working a single hour, and still be given salvation by the owner of the vineyard?  Will you grumble about it?  Will you begrudge the Owner’s generosity?

For that’s what this perceived unfairness is, dear brothers and sisters.  It is not unfairness, but generosity.  It is grace.  It is the opportunity for all of us to receive that which we don’t deserve, because in fact, we are in debt.  We owe the owner for our sins and transgressions.  As Jesus teaches in other parables – and even in the Lord’s Prayer – we are in debt, and we cannot pay it back.  But the owner Himself pays our debt by means of the blood of Christ shed on the cross.  Your debt is wiped out, and you are paid even though Jesus (not you) has “borne the burden of the day” on Good Friday, and the “scorching heat” of the cross.  And so we are paid a denarius of salvation, we “who believe and are baptized” as our Lord promises, regardless of whether we were baptized just after drawing our first breath, or even just before drawing our last.  In God’s kingdom, the “last will be first, and the first last.”

And as St. Paul says, “the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

And there is something else about this remarkable parable, dear friends.  Our grumbling and outrage at a sinner being forgiven exposes our own sins.  For we perceive ourselves as deserving more than other “poor miserable sinners.”  We don’t.  And that is why our Lord tells this parable.  It is a wake up call.  It is a call to humility and appreciation of His grace.  We do far too much grumbling about others when we need to get to work ourselves.  We are too concerned about what others are paid for their work, and not concerned about our own work.

For our Master is generous, dear friends.  He does what He chooses with what belongs to Him.  And in His mercy, He chooses to save us.  He chooses to pour His grace upon the world.  He chooses to save us through baptism and preaching.  He chooses to give us His blood by means of the Lord’s Supper.  He chooses to come to us in His Word.  He chooses to absolve us of our sins and forgive all of our debt.  And even at this late hour, by grace, He continues to hand out the denarius of salvation to any and all who call upon His name.

That is what the kingdom of heaven is like, dear friends.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

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