“GOD’S GRACE AND SOUR GRAPES”

MATTHEW 20:1-16

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  After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.

3  When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;

4  and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went.

5  When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same.

6  And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?'

7  They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'

8  When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.'

9  When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.

10  Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.

11  And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,

12  saying, '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.'

13  But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?

14  Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.

15  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?'

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

There’s a possibility that some of you won’t like the sermon this morning. In fact, after everything is said and done, you might feel the same way a little old lady felt when she introduced herself to the new pastor.  After explaining to the pastor that she was deaf, the little old lady said rather loudly, “I can’t hear a word you say, but I still come every Sunday to get my plate filled.”  The pastor decided to console her with a little humility. “Well,” he said, “I wouldn’t worry about it.  It’s possible you haven’t really missed much.”  The little old lady smiled.  “Yes,” she said, “that’s what they all tell me.”

Hopefully, that’s not the way you’ll feel by the time we’re done looking at the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.  I can’t rule that possibility out though.  That’s because this is a really radical parable.  It’s a parable that really challenges you.  It challenges you to look at God and how you relate to others differently.

The thing that makes the parable so shocking is that it suggests that God doesn’t love everyone equally.  It suggests that God doesn’t love everyone just the same.  I’m sorry, but look at the parable again.  In the parable that Jesus told, the owner of the vineyard goes out and hires a bunch of workers over the course of the day.  Some of them end up working 12 hours and some of them end up working only one hour.  When it’s time for the workers to get paid though they all get the same wage; a single, solitary denarii.

Naturally, that didn’t set very well with the workers who spent the entire day sweating and sweating under the relentless sun. It doesn’t set very well with a lot of people today either. This is one of those passages that people ask me about from time to time.

The problem is that the outcome of the parable is totally out of sync with our success driven me first society where winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing. As Vince Lombardi once said, “It’s not whether you win or loose, it’s whether you win.” That’s why you push yourself to succeed. You can’t have to be the best and have the best and you can’t let anyone get the best of you. That attitude, by the way, starts very early in life.  It’s why my mother had a rule that she used from time to time to settle squabbles at the dinner table.  I bet some of you had the same rule.  My mother got tired of hearing my brother and me complain that the other one’s piece of pie was bigger.  So, she came up with a simple solution.  One of us had to cut the pie and the other one got to choose which piece he wanted first.

This is a society where people spend a lot of effort and energy comparing pieces of pie.  Who has the biggest piece of pie?  Who deserves the biggest piece of pie?  Why is my piece of pie so small? Now, that approach to life will leave you feeling bitter and resentful. You end up just like the workers in the parable; always looking to see what everyone else is doing; always looking to see what everyone else is getting.

Before you know it you’ll be just like one of the characters in the Monty Python movie, “Life of Brian.”  One day Brian and his mother are out walking when they meet a beggar.  “Alms for an ex-leper,” he says, “Alms for an ex-leper please.”  Brian is caught off guard.  “What do you mean an ex-leper?”  After the beggar explains that he was cured Brian asks, “Who cured you?”  “That Jesus fellow,” the beggar grumbles.  “Now I have a hard time making a living.  All I’ve ever known how to do is beg.”  Brian thinks about it for a second.  “Well,” he suggests, “why don’t you go back and ask him to make you a leper again?”  The beggar shakes his head.  “Well, I might not like that,” he says.  “Maybe he could just make me a leper during working hours of something.”  At that point Brian sighs and drops a coin into the beggar’s cup.  He doesn’t get very far though before the beggar is grumbling again.  “A half a dinari!” he shouts.  “Look at this – he only gives me a half a dinari!”  Brian looks at his mother and says, “Some people are never satisfied.” To which the leper replies, “That’s just what Jesus said!”

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard makes it clear.  God doesn’t care what you think you deserve or what you think everyone else deserves.  When the workers complain in the parable they’re given a simple but stern answer.  The owner of the vineyard says very firmly, “Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?'