Proper 20 A
“The Right Wage for the Workers”
St. Matthew 20:1-16
21 September 2014 – Redeemer
It is harvest time at Carlos Creek Winery. A beautiful September has brought the grapes to perfection, but Dave Dahl has issued a frost warning for tomorrow night. The owner has a day. There’s a deadline.
At first light he goes down to Manpower and hires two van loads of workers. They seem to have a spokesman and a wage is agreed upon. It will be a twelve hour day and the wage is $180 – $15 per hour. Everyone agrees – the owner, the workers. That is a good day’s wage for a good day’s work.
The grapes are even more plentiful and beautiful than the owner thought. He needs to get them in, so throughout the day he returns to Manpower. Each time he hires a few more workers. “Go to the vineyard. I’ll pay you what is right.” By six o’clock in the evening it is obvious that he needs a few more hands to harvest all those grapes. By this time Manpower is closed for the day, but there’s a group across the street. You know the kind, smoking cigarettes they can’t afford, more tattoos than skin, drinking something out of a bag. “Heh, why aren’t you guys working?” asks the owner. “Oh man, we’ve been waiting here all day and no one hired us.” “Sure you were,” thought the owner, on his fifth trip to hire folks that day, but never mind. “I need my grapes harvested. Go to my vineyard.” They looked the owner over. He drove a nice truck. It had a fancy logo on the door. They heard from friends he paid a descent wage – an hour’s work and they could buy a few more packs of smokes and a bottle of something to get them through the night. Sure, we’re in.
The last of the grapes are in. No need to watch Dave Dahl tonight – who cares if it freezes? The Lord, owner, master of the vineyard, gets his payroll office to cut the checks and then instructs them, “Pay the last first and the first last.”
Now, what do you think those last-to-be-hired guys expected to see on their check? They expected $15. Every worker in the field knew what the first guys were promised. The owner said he would do the right thing – They worked an hour. He would pay them $15. That was the right wage. So what do you think that first worker thought when he opened his envelope and there was $180 in it? He immediately returned to the office and said, “You paid me too much.” No – he was hoping he could get to the bank before it closed and cash it before someone realized the mistake. But one of his not too bright friends couldn’t resist the chance to brag to the bedraggled crew who had sweated and strained for 12 hours, “Man, are you guys fools! I wasted my whole day, worked an hour and got $180. Who’s the loser now?”
What do you suppose those “first-to-be-hired-men” did? They started figuring and calculating. Maybe the harvest was so good we’re getting bonuses. If they got $180 for an hour, we’re going to make over 2000 bucks. Imagine the excitement as they neared the head of the line. And then the first one opens his envelope and finds exactly what they had all agreed upon with the owner – $180. (Story adapted from Robert Farrar Copone – Parables of Judgment)
Jesus is preaching this Kingdom parable to two different people – those who work all day and those who get in at the last hour. In the Kingdom of heaven who are these two people?
Well, Jesus has been teaching the Apostles, the 12, about the Kingdom for several chapters here in Matthew. Remember how they asked about who was the greatest in the Kingdom and Jesus put a helpless, little, needy child in their midst. Peter asked how often he should forgive his brother and Jesus said – oh, about 5,000,000 times ought to do. The apostles were going to give up everything. They had left work and home and Jesus had sent them into the vineyard of the world to harvest people for the Kingdom by the preaching of God’s Word. They were the “all day guys.” Would it be worth it? Would they get what they deserved? Jesus was preaching to them.
The other group Jesus was preaching to are the broken and beaten souls in this world who don’t believe they have a chance of getting into the Kingdom. They might look back over how they have wasted their lives, sinned against their parents by rebellion and their bodies with pills or alcohol or sex. They cringe at their sins and cry out in anguish at what they have done – and they have no expectation, no hope. There’s not a chance in all the world that God could love me or choose me or welcome me.
So which are you? Someone who thinks you’ve done your share in God’s Kingdom and deserves a little payback? Or someone who is so far gone even God could not love you?
Both kinds of people to whom Jesus is preaching are looking at themselves – the man who worked all day is looking at his work. The man at the end of the day is looking at his sins, but Jesus began the story with “The Kingdom of heaven is like the Lord of a house.” The Kingdom of heaven is not about the all day workers or about the late comers. It is about the Master who makes promises, keeps His Word, is righteous and generous.
In the Kingdom of heaven the last will be first and the first will be last. That truth points us away from ourselves to Jesus.
The first will be last – God takes last place in the flesh of Jesus Christ. He takes our place – the place of a damned sinner. The innocent lamb of God becomes sin for you. The Lord of Life dies your death. The One who was shut in a tomb opens heaven’s door. The last will be first. Sinners are forgiven. Apostles are brought into heaven the same way prostitutes and tax collectors are brought in. Pastors go in the same way as politicians. We are called to faith by the Holy Spirit. We are given what God has promised us in His Son Jesus Christ. Whether you work all day in His Kingdom or you squeak in during the last hour of the day, whether you were baptized as an infant or God’s Word grabbed hold of you late in life – your reward is what the Master gives you. He gives you Jesus. It’s not your work all day or your wasted life – it is Christ who is the Kingdom, Christ who is our reward, Christ who earned forgiveness for our sins and who graciously gives us His paycheck, the resurrection and the life.
When you leave church this morning you will not hear any news of this wonderful kingdom in the world. And the Devil will do his damnedest to divide you like the vineyard workers. You might have a week where nothing seems fair – your hours get cut, your daughter gets cancer, your mother has an accident. The Devil will lead you to grumble and complain against the Lord because He isn’t giving you what you deserve. Or the Devil might tempt you down the road to hell, bringing up your past sins, weakening you to commit your favorite sin, rubbing your face in the stench of your filthy deeds. The Devil loves to whisper sermons full of lies all week long out there.
To combat his vile preaching I am asking you to do something very specific in your life, a matter of stewardship. Stewardship of God’s Word in your daily life. If you don’t do family or personal devotions I want you to try, to start, to have devotions in your home. This is not an easy ritual. You will find a hundred excuses and they all sound good. It may make you uncomfortable. But let’s give it a try. It is something I need to work on myself. I’ve included a sheet of helps in the bulletin to assist you. In the Kingdom of God we are not given what we deserve. We are not treated fairly. God gives us His own Son and Jesus gives us Himself, His death, His life, His forgiveness. You will never hear that in the world. You will only hear it in the Word of God so let us be people who are in that Word even as we live in the world. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
20 September 2014 anno Domini