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lirics san francisco Text: Matthew 20:1-16 Date: The Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost 
9/22/02
"Unfair!" read the signs held by the people on strike walking the sidewalk in front of their place of employment. It is the policy of the United States to encourage the practice of collective bargaining for the purpose of negotiating the terms and conditions of employment. Of course, there are special considerations in the law when it comes to Federal employees, and other unwritten considerations as in the hearts of fans when the threatened strike involves Major League Baseball players. But generally speaking, in our country, we expect not only liberty but also justice and fairness for all. Because that's the way it is in the world of earthly governments and commerce and laws, one might expect that must be the way it is also in the spiritual realm. Yet, as our Old Testament reading for today says clearly, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts" [Is. 55:8-9 (ESV)]. It may seem at times that even God is being unfair. The ancient complaint of Jeremiah is echoed in every generation, "Why does the way of the wicked prosper?" [Jeremiah 12:1 (ESV)]. And we are continually tempted to question God when an accident or a debilitating illness afflicts one person and not another. A child will complain, saying, "That's not fair!" when "fairness" isn't as much the issue as mere jealousy or selfishness. Just before our Gospel text for today, a rich young man came to Jesus asking, "what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" As his question was in the way of the Law, Jesus answered him in the way of the Law. "If you would enter life, keep the commandments." Convinced he had done that, he still felt there was more. Jesus said to him, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me." Nothing in his wealth or possessions was adequate to purchase or deserve a place in the Kingdom. And so, even at our Lord's gracious invitation we read that the young man went away sorrowful. The question also troubled Peter who said, "We have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?" Jesus contrasts the kingdom of heaven with earthly kingdoms by telling a parable, pointing to the generosity of God in the higher way of the Gospel of God's grace. The way of the Gospel, the way of God's grace, at first, sounds like a wonderful gift. As soon as we begin to think in terms of works and rewards, however, then the grumbling begins. The Jewish leaders grumbled about Christ's gracious offer to sinners. When they saw Jesus having table fellowship with tax collectors and "sinners" they complained. But Jesus' kindness to them in no way negated the same grace extended to the Pharisees. They were jealous. The tax collectors and sinners, who were considered last, were nevertheless the first to receive God's gracious offer, while those who considered themselves first, were the last to receive it, if they received it at all. In the parable, the master of the house went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The contract was written and they agreed to the wage of a denarius a day. As the day progressed, however, the master hired others about the third hour, the sixth hour and the ninth hour of the day promising only that he would give them "whatever is right." And there were still others hired for only the last hour of work. What would be a "right" wage for those who did not work the whole day? Well, obviously a prorated wage of three-quarters or half or one-quarter or one-twelfth of a denarius, right? But when payday came, the master began with those who worked only one hour and gave each of them a whole denarius! And, by implication, every worker, regardless of the hours worked, received the same. Now, the first thought on the part of the first guys may have been to be impressed with the master's generosity. But that didn't last long for, of course, the second thought was, "we must be going to get more!" Hooray! But when it came their turn, each of them also received only a denarius. Believe me, if that happened at K-Mart or Ford Motor Company, the strike signs would come out on the picket line so fast it would make your head spin. So the complaint of those hired first, "These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us," literally, the bearing of the burden of the day and the heat guys. "That's Not Fair!" Now the punch-line to this parable is telling. The point is, clearly, that the first were not wronged. They got what they had agreed to work for. The master is free to be generous to whomever he will. The telling thing is in the word the master uses to address the first-hour workers. "Friend," he says, "I am doing you no wrong." That word translated "friend" appears only three times in Matthew's Gospel. First here, then in chapter 22 when the king of another parable noticed a man at the wedding banquet who was not wearing wedding clothes, and finally when Jesus said to Judas who was about to betray him in the Garden of Gethsemane with a kiss, "Friend, do what you came for." Some "friends," eh? The word refers to a mutually binding relation between the speaker and the hearer which the latter has disregarded and scorned. According to that meaning, this would not be the occasion to sing the hymn, "What a Friend we have in Jesus." What's really going on here in the spiritual realm? Well, first, God never promised to give us what we think we deserve for our efforts. Whenever we grumble against God we reveal our loveless and unmerciful attitudes and demonstrate that we are still thinking the lower thoughts in the way of the Law and not God's higher thoughts in the way of the Gospel. It is possible to think you know the Gospel and still not "get it!" For instance, the person who has been baptized and instructed in the faith, but begins to sin against the Third | |
