Thank God! He Is Too Generous!

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

October 12, 2014

Matthew 20:16

Thank God! He Is Too Generous!

†

In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I.

The key to unlocking this parable is the identical sentence that bookends it.

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.

Matthew 19:30 & 20:16

Everyone in this story got paid from last to first because our Lord and Master Jesus Christ is generous.

Everyone got paid a day's wage, but not because they worked. If they had got paid for their work, then the Master would have given more to the first-hired and less to the last-hired. Notice that for the first-hired the master of the vineyard promises them a denarius, a day's wage. But each time he goes to the marketplace and find more idle hands, he only says,

'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' Matthew 20:4

He promised the last-hired whatever is right. Their assumption was that it would half-wages or less. That would have been fair. Yet they must have been just as surprised as the first-hired would be when it came time to pay out. The last-hired got a day's wage for a few hours' work. The first-hired called this unjust. But what do you think those last-hired who were paid first said of this? Our master is good!

Everyone got paid the same not because of the work of the workers, but in the goodness of the Master who called them to work. And so the parable is summed up in the simple truth that the last will be first and first will be last. Payment becomes gift.

II.

This parable played on in real life, when Jesus ate with Matthew the tax collector. Matthew was considered to be a late hire by those who considered themselves God's first hired workers: the Pharisees. So when Jesus gave Matthew the same hospitality as any of His other workers, the Pharisees grumbled against Jesus. They did exactly the grumbling as in the parable.

When those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.'

"But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Matthew 20:10-16

And the Master's reply in the parable is heard in Jesus' words to the real-life Pharisees:

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9:12-13

Our sinful flesh distrusts our Lord's generosity that gives based on His mercy and work, instead of paying us based on our sacrifice and work. This distrusts comes alive when we doubt the repentance of really bad sinners: wife beaters, abortion doctors, atheist professors, gay ELCA pastors.

We want them to stop sinning, to stop beating, to stop murdering, to stop brainwashing, to stop preaching that God just wants you to be happy. But because of our sinful flesh we distrust that God would really forgive them. We assume that if Jesus is really that generous, then these sinners will take advantage of His mercy and never stop being bad.

Our dear Lord is really that generous.

[God] wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:4-6

III.

Jesus is teaching us about sin and grace in this story. He shows us that He is generous to the Johnny-come-latelys and to the tail-end Charlies and to all the those who only seem to run to church in times of calamity: terrorists or Ebola or the funeral of a beloved mother. If you are tempted to look down and grumble about these last-hired workers, remember how Christ has been generous with you.

Yes, perhaps you have been laboring under the cross of Christ your whole life. That whole time you were in the vineyard, working as a member of God's family. We might think that the grass is greener on the other side, but ask any Christian who came into the vineyard later in life if they feel that they got the best of both worlds. They got to have fun and sin and enjoy life, and now they came to their senses and are safe with God. Talk to them and you'll see that they wish that they had been a Christian their whole life long.

Instead of grumbling, look to your own work, the little patch of His vineyard our Master have given you to work. Our town. Our place of work. Our classroom. But most of all, our church and our home. We pray to Christ that we may stay humble.

This humility comes from the truth of who we are. So we confess that we are sinners who were freely hired and are working in our Mastor's vineyard. We work not to earn salvation from God, but our work is gift from Him and will be rewarded because of Christ's generous death on the cross.

And there on the cross we see the last are first.

When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified Him, along with the criminals—one on His right, the other on His left. ³⁴ Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided up His clothes by casting lots. ³⁵The people stood watching, and the rulers even sneered at Him. They said, "He saved others; let Him save Himself if He is the Christ of God, the Chosen One." ³⁶The soldiers also came up and mocked Him. They offered Him wine vinegar ³⁷ and said, "If You are the king of the Jews, save Yourself." ³⁸ There was a written notice above Him, which read: This is the King of the Jews. ³⁹One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" ⁴⁰But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this Man has done nothing wrong." ⁴²Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. " ⁴³Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with Me in paradise." Luke 23:33-43

In the name of the Father

and of the † Son

and of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.