What kind of Life?

The point of tension in the story quite realistic: the people who have only worked an hour get the same pay as those who have been bent over out in the field the whole day long.

We can imagine with what fervor the grievance committee would charge in and demand a change, if an employer were to do that these days.

What would happen the next time he wants to hire workers?

Everyone would stay away from the hiring hall until the last hour before quitting time so that they, too, could get full pay for little work.

The man is foolish; he is turning the economy upside down, many might say.

We don't have to leave the house to know what that man should have known.

Parents soon learn that there should be an equal number of presents at holiday time.

Everyone must have an equal share in dish-washing, garbage-taking, room cleaning, and pet feeding, or there will be loud wails of “That's nor fair” that will shake the house walls.

The children will sometimes even start up that mournful refrain before they know what is happening, and the complainers in Jesus' parable do the same.

The parable ends with a stinging rebuke:

--Didn't you agree to work for the wages?

--haven't you received what was promised?

--Can't I do what I want with what is mine?

--Take what is yours, and go!

“Yes, but, ...but...” gets stuck in the throat

when we face the majesty and power of God.

What kind of life shall we lead?

Shall it be one consumed with jealousy and anger toward those whom we assume have had a better time of it?

Shall that anger be directed against God?, saying...”He hasn't treated me fairly; why should I bother with him?”

Do we really want God to treat us with justice?

Do we really?

Oh, yes, we have been a part of the kingdom of God for a good long time now.

We have been laboring in the heat of the day of our lives...working and praying and praising God, and caring for the needs of those around us.

That is our commission, after all; that is what we are supposed to be doing.

God has given a promise to us, that he will provide for us now and at the end of our days, and to this promise we cling always.

Do we try to see this as some sort of payment for our life-long faithfulness?

“You don't get something for nothing,” we always say.

We work and fret as Christians as though everything depended in large degree upon us, and we think that God needs our help to do his job...at least if it is going to be done well.

But...is not the promise God makes to us simply his free gift which he offers to us without any strings attached, without saying “If you are faithful to me, then I will remember you.”?

I certainly hope that is the case, for I am quite sure that I would not like to depend upon my life of faithfulness being the guarantee of God's love toward me!

My life has not been an unbroken string of good decisions and deeds, and I doubt that yours has, either.

We could not long endure if our hopes for God's final future depended upon our deeds, for they have been full of mistakes.

There is no room here for undue pride in our accomplishments; we have attempted to do those things which we should do anyway, since we are persons who have heard the Good News of Jesus.

God may be using the things we do as signs to the world around us of the in-breaking kingdom of God, but even that does not lead to merit badges for us.

God gives the promise to those who have worked long as well as those who have come in at the last moment.

This should not be an occasion for jealousy, but for joy!

It means that the Kingdom of God has succeeded with one more person, and that is what is important, rather than an accounting of what that person has been doing, and for how long.

Perhaps a way for us to get hold of this wonderful truth is to compare our Gospel parable with another story that was told by a rabbi about the year 325AD in a funeral oration.

According to the scholar Joachim Jeremias who noticed this story,

”he began by saying that the situation of the man whom they were remembering at this funeral was like that of a king who hired a great number of laborers.

Two hours after the work began, the king inspected the workers.

He saw that one surpassed all the others in skill and accomplishments.

He took this one by the hand and walked up and down with him until it was evening.

When the laborers came to receive their wages, they each received the same amount.

When they complained, the king replied, “I have not wronged you, for this man has done more in two hours than the rest of you did working all day.”

So likewise, concluded the rabbi telling the story, has this man whom we are remembering at the funeral today done more in his few years than many a gray-haired one.

Now some of the details of the story are the same as Jesus' parable, but the basic point is vastly different.

Jeremias concludes: In the rabbinic version, the laborer who has worked only a short time has done more than the rest; he is represented as fully earning his wages, and the purpose of the story is to praise his excellence.

In the parable of Jesus, the workers who were engaged last show nothing to warrant a claim to a full day's wages; that they receive it is due entirely to the generosity of the employer.

Thus, in an apparently trivial detail lies the difference between two worlds: the world of grace and the world of merit; grace contrasted with law.

The one in the rabbi's story earned his reward; the one in Jesus' story was gifted with his reward.

Which can it possibly be for us?

What kind of life shall we have?

Shall we be frantically trying to keep score, being exactly holy enough without overdoing it, perhaps using church membership as a sort of burial insurance?

Or, shall our lives be ones of joyfully looking for all of the opportunities we can find to let the world know that the old ways of keeping score are pointless?

In practical terms, we who are within the church cannot waste our time in feeling superior to those who have fallen away from the fellowship or those who have never been within it.

The job is simply given to us: we are to reach them.

Despite all of the problems we face personally and nationally, still the tasks are in front of us:

--share Good News,

--feed the hungry,

--shelter the homeless,

--aid the stranger in your midst,

and do it not because of any credit it brings to us, but because of the glory it gives to God.

With our lives we point to the kingdom where the master is the one who washes the feet of the lowly.

With our lives we show the world a better way.

With our lives we are living signs of the final intention of God.

There is a legend of a young boy who went to find some flowers for his ill mother.

He passed a magnificent garden with acres of flowers.

He asked the gardener if he could pick a small handful.

“No, these all belong to the King,” replies the gardener.

The boy turns sorrowfully away, but another voice stops him.

The prince has heard the request and says:

“The gardener is right: these flowers are not for sale, but we do give them away.”

And the prince picked an armload of roses, something far more grand than the boy could have ever bought.

Membership in the kingdom of God is not for sale at any price, but is freely given, and results in far more than we could ever have earned for ourselves.

What kind of life shall we have? Certainly, one which befits the free gift of the gospel of Christ.

--One in which we can sing a song of repentance with boldness and confidence.

--One in which we concentrate on what holds us together as the body of Christ.

--One in which we learn how to use our resources for his glory.

--One in which we give up bargaining with God for a special deal for ourselves.

There is no bargaining table between us and God – only a Communion table where everyone comes and stands in the same place before God.

All of us are sinners; but praise be to God, who gives us place at his table anyway! Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.