The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Love of God, and the Fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.
Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said^ to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 They said^ to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said^ to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’ 8 And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said^ to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ 16 Thus the last shall be first, and the first last.” (NASB)
A pastor had a farmer friend in his congregation and they were talking over the fence one day. The pastor asked the farmer, “Abe, if you had one hundred horses, would you give me fifty?” Abe said, “Certainly.” The pastor asked, “If you had one hundred cows, would you give me fifty?” Abe said, “Yes.” Then the pastor asked, “If you had two pigs, would you give me one?” Abe said, “Now cut that out, pastor; you know I have two pigs!”
Generosity sounds good in the abstract. Many Christians picture themselves as generous people who if they received a big inheritance or won a lottery would happily give half of it away to their church. Fewer, it seems, can part with one pig.
This morning we consider the Parable of the Laborers of the Vineyard. It is a parable about divine generosity. In order to more fully appreciate the parable, it is helpful to know what preceded it and prompted Jesus to tell it.
In Matthew 19, a rich young ruler showed up and wanted to be one of Jesus’s disciples. “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” [he asked] 17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” When the young man realized he wasn’t so good at keeping the commandments, he went away sad.
To drive the point home, Jesus told His disciples, (Matt.19:24-26) “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” This led Peter to ask what gain he and the other apostles should expect for leaving everything behind and following Jesus. (19:27) Jesus replied to Peter’s concern. The end of that reply comes in 19:30 with a familiar “kingdom of heaven” axiom. The “first will be last, and the last first.”
As for the parable, it is bad economic policy. Obviously, the standard used by the householder in the parable would not be acceptable in ordinary labor contract. Paying people, as the owner of the vineyard did would make it pretty hard to get workers on a regular basis and for good reason.
Paying everyone the same regardless of when they began working, their skill level, and how much work they got done, just isn’t fair. It flies in the face of common sense and human nature itself. That’s what the socialists and communists in our streets and in the halls of government refuse to understand.
Successful and just economic theories and governance are founded on a profound understanding of the realities of human nature. Conversely bad economic theory and governance are intended to reshape and force human beings to act and think in a way contrary to natural human inclinations. These approaches end badly every time they are tried.
Jesus’s parables are about the church. He says it time and time again. The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is like. . . . , then He goes on to a compare and contrast. The parable of the vineyard workers is not an economic theory that can actually works in this fallen world. The first pilgrims to this continent tried that idea. They nearly starved to death. Too many free loaders and not enough hard workers.
In the parable, the landowner needed help in his vineyard. So he went to the local market to hire men. He began at day break probably between 6:00 and 7:00 a.m. There he found the early birds who really wanted work for the day. 2 “And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, [that was the fair market price for that kind of work for a day] he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour [that’s around 9:00 a.m.] and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went.”
Notice at 9:00 a.m. the owner doesn’t specify the exact amount. He did at 6:00 a.m.– a denarius. On his second trip he appealed the idea of fairness, “what is right” as the basis for their salary and they’re good with that. They would have assumed they would have received slightly less than a full day’s pay, a denarius.
By late afternoon, the vineyard owner was making it clear that He was not a very good business man. He went out at the ninth hour, about 3:00 p.m. That was an unorthodox time to go around rounding up hirelings. And hiring someone, let alone several people at the eleventh hour, one hour before quitting time was just a waste of time and money. It would have amounted to charity, but he did it.
The end of the day comes and the owner tells his manager to line up the workers and to line them up in a particular order. “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.” There’s that axiom last/first and first/last.
There they are all lined up to receive what was fair. “Each of them [regardless of when they reported for work] received a denarius.” What was the response of the men who worked had been good employees, ready to go as soon as the sun was up? Verse 11. “They grumbled at the landowner.”
This parable is about the kingdom of heaven. That means that the landowner is God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and they grumbled. The word used here for “grumble” means more than complaining against a slight or injustice done. In Scripture, grumbling is a sign that the grumbling person isn’t trust God. Think about that the next time you grumble and complain.
The Israelites grumbled and complained against Moses. The Bible makes it clear that to grumble and complain against Moses and the overseers God gives is to grumble and complain against God (see Ex. 16:1–21; 17:1–7; Num. 14:1–12). God takes complaining and grumbling seriously because it is sin.
Have you ever noticed how grumbling and complaining actually works. It very often involves a comparison and/or self promotion. The workers sent early on in the day compared themselves to the workers who were sent into the vineyard later. They are better because they were sent earlier and worked longer and harder.
Jesus knows what human nature is like. He’s the one telling the parable. The complainers complained; “These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.”
The vineyard owner is ready for the complaint. “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.”
By the way, when Jesus uses the word “friend” here, he is not using the Greek word for a warm and fuzzy kind of friend. Here Jesus uses the Greek word, hetaire. This word is used only three times in the New Testament. It is used here. It is used in Matthew 22:1-14 in the parable of the Wedding Feast for the man who is thrown out of the feast because he isn’t wearing the right wedding garments. Jesus uses this particular word in His address to Judas in the Garden of Gethsemane. “Friend, do what you have come for.” In all three cases, the “friend” was doing something wrong, something sinful.
In the economy of the kingdom of heaven in regard to a person’s salvation, fairness and justice have nothing to do with a person’s salvation and entrance into heaven. The workers in the vineyard were called by the landowner and sent into the vineyard. They did not hire themselves. All were called and sent by the owner in His good time.
No one is given eternal life on the basis of fairness, or on the basis of what we think we or someone else deserves. Rather, we were all called, gathered, enlightened, sanctified, made workers in the kingdom of heaven, and given eternal life on the principle, the reality of God’s grace and generosity alone.
It’s the way things are in the Kingdom of heaven. Some laborers enter when they are in the womb of their church going mother and they hear the Word of God and are made citizens. Others are brought into the vineyard when they are baptized as infants. Others are sent into the vineyard when they are very old. All who are called and sent are called by God’s grace through the Word and Sacrament ministry of the Church. All are saved, not by what they can or will do, but by what God has said and done.
The laborer in the parable is envious because his work didn’t count as much as he thought it should. He didn’t like the grace principle. Jesus says to him, 15 “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’” Generosity is a form of graciousness. Salvation by grace through faith, apart from works of the law. That’s how the election of God works.
Like it or not, whether you think it is fair or not, our Lord works exactly as did the landlord. He is not about fairness. He is not about quid pro quo. He is not about making our labor in this world easier or more or less profitable. His generosity is not an abstract “what if” kind of thing. “Well if I get a big inheritance, I will donate a lot of it to this or that.”
The kingdom of heaven, the Church, the person of Jesus Christ, and the Gospel is a matter of God’s divine prerogative. Christ’s kingdom has it own kind of economy. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor 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)
The real measure of our recognition of God’s grace is seen in our willingness to celebrate the generosity God showers on others, especially on those who come late to the vineyard. In other words, we see just how gracious, loving, forgiving, and patient God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is when someone is brought into the kingdom late in life after a poorly spent life.
There was a man. He as a robber. People were his prey. Their possessions were his wages. One day he got arrested, tried, and sentenced. It was time for him to face the consequences of breaking the law. He would die for the life he led. There were two others next to him who were also sentenced to death.
His fellow robbers looked over from his cross to see the bloodied and beaten face of Jesus. He said, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other robber rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And (Jesus) said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”
This morning’s parable was introduced with the gracious axiom, “The first shall be last and last first. The workers are line up so the last were first and the first last. Jesus ends the parable saying, 16 “Thus the last shall be first, and the first last.”
This is more than a statement urging humility. This is a parable about the vineyard owner’s generosity. He does with His gifts what He wishes and what He wishes is to be generous toward you and others. That’s good news because it means our salvation is an unmerited gift and regardless of where we stand in line, we have been all been given the same Gospel, forgiveness of sins, and kingdom of heaven.
AMEN
May the Peace that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.