Matthew 20:1-16
An Eye of Evil
by Vicar Luke Otten
In the name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. The text for our sermon today comes from the holy Gospel according to St. Matthew the 20th chapter… The laborers in the vineyard, it’s one of Jesus’ most well-known parables. The master of a vineyard goes out and hires some workers at the start of the day. They agree on a wage, and the workers start working. As they day goes on, the master of the vineyard continues to hire more workers serval times, promising to them “whatever is right, I will give you” (vs 3). At the end of the day, everyone is paid “whatever is right” and that “whatever is right” is one denarius. We all know this. Everyone received the same wage, and then we hear of the cries of injustice by the grumbling workers who were hired first. “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” (vs 12). It’s a cry for justice, for things to be fair. But the master of the vineyard isn’t having it, and in his reply, he asks them this, “Do you begrudge my generosity?” (vs 15). “Do you begrudge my generosity?” It’s a simple enough question, well at least it is in the ESV translation. The NIV translation is a long the same lines, but it’s a little more fun. “Are you envious because I am generous?” Look it rhymes, that’s fun, right? Envious, generous. I love it.
Yet, while these two translations do indeed work well, there are some interesting things to be gleaned from what is lost in translation. Just hear how the King James Version translates this verse literally: “Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” It’s quite the different set of words, right? In the KJV version we get the literal words of good and evil as found in the Greek text and how they relate to the eye. So yes while me might know the story so well, the deeper the look the more we discover.
Look, discover, these are words we might often use when we describe sight. You look and see with your eyes, and maybe when you have seen something new, you’ll say you discovered it with your own two eyes. Eyesight has to be one of the best gifts the Lord has given you. With eyes you see the world that the Lord made. You see all of its beauty. You see the spring flowers, the rich greens of summer, the golden colors of fall. You see wildlife and admire it. You see your spouse, your children, your friends. All great gifts of the Lord’s creation. And within this creation are the creations of men. Great art and architecture are beautiful to look at. With your eyes you see all of the beauty of this world, all the beauty of the Lord’s blessings.
You see all the blessings in your life, but “Is thine eye evil?” Is your eye evil with covetousness? Do you take your blessings for granted and are envious for the blessings of others? You look with your eyes and what do you see? You see people with larger houses and a better lawn than you. You see people with nicer cars than you. You see people make more money than you. You see people catch bigger fish than you. Shoot bigger bucks than you ever will. You see people with better looking spouses than yours. You see parents with better behaved children than yours. Is your eye evil when you see such things? Are you full of covetousness because of it? If so hear the words of Christ’s sermon on the mount. “If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matt 5:29). Sight is a blessing, but if it leads you to sin, it’d be better to go without that blessing than to abuse it for sinful purposes.
But how you can you not at least lament over the prosperity of others, when you are faithful Christian. You might come to church every Sunday faithfully, and yet you see those who come to church sporadically and you see that they are more worldly blessed than you. You read your Bible every day, and yet pagans who could care less about God prosper. Just look at all the unchristian things that certain governmental leaders, especially in this state, do with their power they have been blessed with. They pass laws that promote, encourage, and allow the slaughter of babies in the womb. It’s just not fair; why can’t you have that position? You’d protect the lives of the innocent, not end them. Here you are doing everything right, but others who are so wicked have more earthly power and blessings than you.
This is even something the prophets lament over. They accuse God of being unjust and unfair. Jeremiah cries, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” (12:1). Habakkuk questions, “Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (1:13). In the books of Wisdom, Job asks, “Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?” (21:7). The psalmist states, “I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (73:3) And lastly, in Ecclesiastes, it is said, “There are righteous men who get what the actions of the wicked deserve, and there are wicked men who get what the actions of the righteous deserve” (8:14). Indeed, to see anyone less faithful or less righteous than you succeed in ways that you never will or be blessed greater than you ever have stings. It makes you question if God is really good.
But should God’s goodness, his generosity, cause you to be evil? “Is thine eye evil, because I am good?” He causes the rain to fall on all nations, good or evil. He provides offspring for all people, good or evil. He gives everyone their daily bread, good or evil. He does this out of generosity and mercy for Christ’s sake. For when Christ was crucified, the whole world was reconciled. Hear the words of St. Paul in 2 Corinthians, “In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (5:19). The whole world is under the grace of God for the sake of Christ’s death. God can bless everyone with earthly blessings as He deems fit for it’s a time of grace for all mankind on account of the merit of Christ.
And so that’s what the church preaches, “The message of reconciliation” that Christ won in two ways. First for the whole world that it may be earthly blessed and that the Lord is the source of those blessings and secondly that the greatest blessing of salvation is individually applied and given to people. For Christ through His word calls workers into the vineyard of the church, promising them one denarius, one eternal life in heaven. These calls of Christ go out from the first hour to the last hour. Some of you were called earlier than others, and some of you toiled longer than others. You have seen others who have been “stand[ing] here idle all day” (vs 6), living good and easy lives of sin, all be called late in their lives and earn the same eternal wage as you. Beloved in the Lord, don’t look upon this with an evil eye. Don’t be envious that the Lord is generous, that He was giving them many blessings in this life and then giving them the same blessing of eternal life that you have earned.
Don’t recon this as unjust or unfair. For what if Christ did the same. What if when Christ was about to be crucified, turned around and said, “Wait, this is unfair. Why must I die for the sin of world. I didn’t do anything wrong. This is unjust.” If you want true justice, if you want things to be fair, then you should have hung on that cross. You should suffer the full punishment for your sins. Yet, Christ in his mercy died the death that you should have died and suffered hell, all that you might have eternal life. And so in true fairness, the forgiveness of Christ is offered to all mankind, every sinner ever. You, your family, your neighbors, your enemies, all can be saved because Christ died for all the sins of the world. It’s not just for some sinners, excluding some but welcoming others. It is for all repentant sinners. That is fair and just, that all repentant sinners might receive the same reward of forgiveness and eternal life.
You once were an unrepentant sinner, not working in the vineyard but now you are! Give thanks for the eternal blessing that Lord has given to you from that labor! So don’t have an evil eye when you see the goodness of the Lord as He calls others into the same vineyard, even if they were once great sinners. Great sinners who may have promoted evil with their power, slaughtered babies, killed Christians or some other heinous sins. Those who are called by God and repent will be saved. An evil eye to this goodness of the Lord will lead you to hell if you don’t repent. So instead look joyfully on the good blessings of eternal salvation to all who have it. Give thanks for it. Give thanks that He too has given you and all other believers in Christ, no matter when the work began, an eternal reward. In Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.