The First Shall Be Last? What's Up With That?

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

On Matthew 20:1-16, the parable of the vineyard workers

• A dozen years ago I found myself watching Home Shopping Network late at night (is there any other time?) and I became enamored by a particular sale – it was a bunch of proof sets, coin collector stuff, and it was a deal that couldn’t be beat, hurry before it’s too late, you don’t want to miss this deal, once they’re all sold the deal is gone!

You’ve heard that kind of sales pitch before, I’m sure.

Thankfully I was able to return the coins a week or two later.

Sometimes there’s deals that are too good to miss,
other times too good to be true, often with the same advertising:
hurry before it’s too late…

One time I received a mailing that proclaimed This Opportunity Won’t Come Again! …and I got two in my mailbox that day.

Is it that way with the kingdom of heaven?
Is God’s grace an offer like the Home Shopping Network or whatever it was I got in the mail?

• I had a conversation with a friend about meaning of this parable of the vineyard workers; my friend was troubled by the economics, the unfairness. A filthy rich landowner taking advantage of hand-to-mouth workers who can’t afford to unionize. Selective generosity is an abusive act of power, like a drug dealer offering a bit of bonus drugs, to keep your loyalty.

• But suppose it’s a story of coming to faith late in life vs. early in life: there’s the assurance for the latecomer that God’s grace is available and sufficient, even late in life. Well the early comers ask what’s to prevent a person from a lifetime of debauchery followed by deathbed repentance? And I say tell me the kind of accident you’ll have and I’ll tell you what kind of helmet to wear).

There's something eternally satisfying about life in Christ, and that whether you choose it early or whether you choose it late, it is a worthy choice. And if you choose it late, it won't be held against you. And if you choose it early, it doesn't earn you special treatment.

• Maybe that story flies for folks in 21^st century America, land of opportunity and relative safety, land where Christianity has been in our water for generations. But in Matthew’s community, the story is different. Consider Matthew's audience, a few decades after the death of Jesus. Paul is dead, and the Temple ransacked. There are some perhaps disturbing economics going on here, which may be an indicator that it's not about economics at all, rather the kingdom of heaven is not a you-better-hope-you-got-in-on-the-ground-floor-else-too-bad-so-sad kind of situation. 

Did we miss our chance to respond to God? This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity won’t come again? We didn’t see Jesus like the apostles did, and now the apostles are dead, too. What's going to happen to us?

God's kingdom is still available, and it's not in the "Last season's rejects" discount box, no, its rewards are as good as they were at the beginning.

• And there is a reflection on economics… GOD’S economics, in which what God gives is perfectly sufficient and in no ways lacking, and we don’t get it…

World economics ruins our perspective and says that if one hour of work is worth one coin, 12 hours of work is worth 12 coins. Never mind that God always gives enough. (recall the gathering of manna in the wilderness... Sufficient, and anything extra spoiled. God gave enough).

Also remember the “other” son in the story of the prodigal… he had it all, but he was upset because he felt he deserved special reward for not wasting his father’s resources.

• God is the vineyard owner, ever interested in a crop of righteousness.

Early in history God “hired” some workers…
also God also hired some workers late in the day.

The latecomers didn’t miss the chance.

God’s promise to each is the same:
work for me and I will give you what is right.

• God looks for workers (not legacy – you don’t get “in” just because your ancestors did) and you can say “yes” today.

• Reception of new members (in bulletin)

Matthew 20:1-16               (CEB)                                                  09/13/15

20 “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion -- a day’s wage for a laborer, he sent them into his vineyard.

³ “Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ And they went.

“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. ⁶ Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’

⁷ “‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.
“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ ⁹ When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion.  ¹¹ When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’

¹³ “But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’ ¹⁶ So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”              (here ends the reading)