Proper 20 -- Jonah 3: 10 – 4: 11; Psalm 145: 1 – 8; Philippians 1: 21 – 27; Matthew 20: 1 – 16
A sermon by The Rev. Gene Tucker, given at Trinity Episcopal Church, Mt. Vernon, IL (on the occasion of the Parish Picnic at the Whippoorwill Club), Sunday, September 21st, 2008.
Back during my professional singing days, I used to marvel at the power the musicians’ union had. This is the union that all professional orchestra players belong to.
They did everything “by the clock”. In fact, rehearsals were so regulated by the power of the clock that a large clock was always mounted onstage during rehearsals so that the conductor could see exactly when to start the rehearsal, when to take a mandatory break, and when to stop the rehearsal.
The unions’ power was so absolute that players would get up from their chairs in the middle of a phrase, stop playing, and walk off the stage when the clock dictated the end of the rehearsal.
At times, when the work we were doing was unusual (and therefore unfamiliar), or when it was a lengthy work to begin with, negotiations would have to be undertaken with union representatives, the players, and the conductor or leader of the organization that was putting on the concert to authorize additional rehearsal time at the end of the normal period. Often, these discussions hinged on the financial status of the hiring organization, as it asked itself, “Do we have the funds available to pay the number of players we have in the orchestra for the additional minutes of rehearsal we need?”
Now this sermon isn’t intended to be a commentary on the existence of unions, the purposes they stand for, management practices, or anything else. (In fact, the orchestral unions came into being because of the dictatorial antics of such super-conductors as Gustav Mahler,[1] who would force the musicians under their direction to rehearse until they decided it was time to stop, no matter how long that was!)
But it is intended to be a reflection on the way our society operates: We live by the clock…..so much pay for so many hours’ work, for example. There are laws governing how much more pay is required beyond 40 hours’ work, and laws with mandate a certain minimum wage. We are concerned (and rightly so) that people get what they’ve earned. We advocate for “what’s fair” in any given situation, a key trait that Americans have demonstrated again and again down through the years.
So today’s Gospel reading, Jesus’ parable about the “unfairness” of paying those who were last hired the same as those who were first hired, rubs us the “wrong way”, doesn’t it?
It’s obvious Jesus wasn’t interested in “fairness” as we define it.
But Jesus is keenly interested in God’s mercy, and especially God’s mercy as it is shown to those who least deserve it.
In fact, that seems to be Jesus’ point: we can’t “earn” God favor and blessing, not at all.
But we risk getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s turn to the passage we read this morning, and examine it more in detail…..
We begin by recalling the context of this parable….
In chapter 19,[2] Jesus had been confronted with a rich young man who asked Him, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” In reply, Jesus tells the young man that in order to gain that status, he must “obey the commandments.”
An exchange about the commandments ensues between Jesus and the young man. The fellow claims he has followed all of them, saying, “All these I have kept.”
Then, Jesus tells him that he lacks one thing: “Go and sell all you have and give it to the poor,” He says. We read then that the young man turned away sadly, because he had great wealth.
You see, in essence, what Jesus asked this rich young man to do was to give up being first, in order to become last. The reversal of status, in this case, is related to material wealth.
It is in this context that today’s parable unfolds.[3]
Let’s notice some of the details of our Lord’s teaching, heard today:
- All workers are paid the normal, daily wage in Jesus’ day, one denarius.
- Only the first workers are hired with a contract (one denarius). All the others go into the field on faith, relying on the landowner’s assurance that he will pay them “whatever is right”. (Note, however, that those hired at the 11th hour were simply told to “go and work in my vineyard”.)
- The divine principle of “the last shall be first, and the first shall be last”[4] is played out when the workers are paid: those hired at the 11th hour (5:00 PM by our reckoning) are paid first, as those hired first, watch, and wait until they are paid last.
Now, we should reflect a little on what this text might have meant to Matthew’s Church(es), and what it might mean to us today.
No doubt, as the church(es) to whom Matthew was writing in the late first century engaged in spiritual battle with the Jewish leadership of that day, Jesus’ parable might have spoken to them quite clearly:
This parable might have signaled that a new day had dawned with Jesus’ teaching, a new epoch in which favor with God could not be earned.
God’s favor now comes with the New Covenant that Jesus ushered in. Moreover, new people are being included in this new agreement with God, people who are like those who were hired at the 11th hour.
Specifically, to Matthew’s church, those who were “last chosen” might well have been Gentiles, on whom God’s favor now rests. By contrast, those first chosen in the parable (those hired with a guaranteed wage) might have been equated to God’s Chosen People, the Jews, whose covenant had been guaranteed by the terms of the Mosaic Law, the Torah. Many Jews of Jesus’ day believed that the Torah was a covenant with God in which a person earns acceptance by God by following the commandments (just as the rich young man asserted that he had done).
But what might Jesus’ parable mean to us today?
One of the central lessons must surely be: we cannot earn God’s favor!
God’s mercy and generosity rests on God’s sense of fairness, not ours.
Furthermore, the only response we can make to enter into God’s mercy and favor is to answer the call to go and “work in the vineyard”.
For, by God’s reckoning, any thing we might do – any work of devotion, any act of kindness - does not equate to a specific response on God’s part. We are not on “God’s clock”, in which “so-much-work = so-much-of-God’s rewards”.
No, Jesus’ clear teaching tells us that the only way to gain God’s favor is to respond to the invitation to follow God’s invitation. That is the only response we can make.
The rest of God’s mercy and blessing comes from God’s generosity, not from our ability to earn it. God’s mercy and blessing often comes in unexpected ways, at unexpected times, and in unexpected amounts.
AMEN.
[1] An Austrian conductor (1860 – 1911) who was also Conductor and Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in the early years of the 20th century.
[2] Verses 16 - 24
[3] In much the same way as John’s Gospel text does. An encounter between Jesus and an individual occurs, which leads to a teaching/discourse/parable.
[4] Matthew 19: 30
