Sometimes we get so caught up in our expectations that we forget why we came in the first place. What are we here to do? Why are we doing it? Who are we doing it for?
Scripture 1: Matthew 20:1-15 - The Laborers in
the Vineyard
‘For the kingdom
of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire
laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual
daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine
o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; and he said to them,
“You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they
went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the
same. 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?” They said to him,
“Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the
vineyard.” 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.” When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them
received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would
receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when
they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 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.” 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? 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?”
Scripture 2: Matthew 19:23-25
23 Then
Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich
person to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24Again I tell you, it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter
the kingdom of God.’ 25When the disciples heard this, they were greatly
astounded and said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ 26But Jesus looked at them and
said, ‘For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.’
Sermon
When we hear the story that was read
earlier, the one that Jesus told about the workers in the vineyard, we tend to
think quite literally about work and employment, don’t we? We think of people
standing about, waiting; perhaps chatting, telling jokes, much like those we
sometimes see gathered on certain street corners, hoping for someone to choose
them for the next job. And we think of payment in terms of cash, right?
But - What if we thought about the
Vineyard not only as the place where the work is done, but also as the Spirit
with which the work is done? The purpose to which the work is done? And what if
we thought about all those un-hired hands not as literally idle, but simply not
yet working for the Landowner? Think about it: nobody really sits idle for
long, not truly.
J. Ellsworth Kalas, author of Parables
from the Back Side, Bible Stories with a Twist, writes, “The response “because
no one has hired us” represents, to me, a waiting world. It is a picture of the
pathos of those millions of people who go throughout their lives with an almost
unceasing emptiness, while they wait for someone to “hire” them.” Notice that
Kalas uses the word “un-hired.” Not “unemployed.” What brought those “idle”
workers to the marketplace? Are they really “idle?” What if the people who are
milling about in the parable waiting to be hired are actually employed in doing
good works, serving others, even attending church? What if they are busy doing
their jobs, but not really working for the right kind of pay? In fact, perhaps
they are not idle workers after all, but idol workers. They are working to gain
worldly pay, necessary for living, but useless when it comes to spiritual
growth and being in relationship with God.
I think those who are gathered in the
market hoping to be hired represent those who are responding to what John
Wesley called “Prevenient Grace.” Timothy Tennant, president of Asbury
Theological Seminary, writes that “Prevenient grace is a collective term for
all the ways in which God’s grace comes into our lives prior to conversion.”
Prevenient Grace is the Grace that is present even if we aren’t aware of it,
giving us the ability to choose between good and evil. We feel discontent,
knowing that we are seeking something, but not knowing what it is. This is a
sign that we are hearing the call of God!
You see, God’s Grace is always present,
always calling; calling each of to come closer to God. Marjorie Suchocki writes
that this is the Process of God, this Grace that constantly calls us toward
choices that will bring us closer. We make a choice, and then Grace calls us
toward another choice that brings us even closer. If we make a different choice,
God allows for that and Grace provides us a different opportunity to choose
God. On and on throughout our lives, Grace is available to us. All we have to
do is choose to acknowledge it, and we will be working for the Landowner!
On the official United Methodist Church
website the page about Grace tells us that “God’s grace stirs up within us a
desire to know God and empowers us to respond to God’s invitation to be in
relationship with God. God’s grace enables us to discern differences between
good and evil and makes it possible for us to choose good.” This means that
that we can be working for God without even knowing it!
As I was doing my research about
Prevenient Grace, I came across an old blog conversation from 2006 between a
more Calvinist theologian and a Wesleyan by the name of Jason Watson. Watson turned out to be the current Media Producer of Childrens and Student Ministries at Church of the Resurrection in
Kansas City. In that blog conversation, Watson wrote that “…the light of faith
is a part of God's grace to humanity. Since God desires that humanity may be
saved, God gives grace to enable this salvation. Faith is evidenced through the
exercise of the will in response to God's grace.”
I believe that it is this exercise of will
that brought the un-hired hands to the marketplace. They know that they are
doing good things, and that there is something to be gained, but not what it
is, nor where it is to come from.
They don’t know yet that all they need to
do is work for God’s Kingdom. And so, they wait until they are hired. That is,
until they are invited. Well, wait a minute – there’s more to being hired than
being invited, isn’t there? One must agree to work for the wages offered. When
Jesus said it was difficult for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, I
think he was drawing the line between what kind of payment one expects for
one’s work and the real mode of payment in the Vineyard.
You may recall that before Jesus told
this parable, he had been speaking to a rich man who wanted to know what he
needed to do to enter the Kingdom of God. The young man he had been speaking to
said he was already following the commandments. Jesus told him that he would
need to give away his riches to the poor and follow him. The rich man went away
sad because he was being asked to give his possessions to the poor in order to
follow Jesus. I think he missed the most important question he could have asked
Jesus. I think the most important question was, “what is the payment if I follow
you?”
He missed that question because he could
only think in terms of financial and material gain. Peter asks the question the
rich man didn’t, and the answer he got was this parable, isn’t it? And I think
that payment is Grace.
Everyone has access to this Grace, and
has the choice to accept it…or not. God’s Grace is offered equally for everyone
who accepts it. In the parable, the first hired workers are a little bit like
the rich man, thinking that they deserved more than those who come later, but
God’s Grace is not doled out to those who deserve it, but given freely to all,
even to those who are unaware.
Some of us think of ourselves as
“seeking,” yet I think what is really happening is that our hearts have heard
the Voice of God, whispering to us the promise of Heaven. We enter into the
marketplace, waiting to be hired. What does it take to be hired, then?
The Vineyard is the place where we become
true servants of the Landowner. It is anyplace where we find our purpose. That
is, the purpose for which God has called us. For some, that might mean a
special call to ministry as a pastor or lay leader. It might mean doing
missionary work or working in a non-profit. It just as easily might be working
in the service industry, a factory, or a bank.
It could be that we are hired right where
we are, for as I suggested earlier, the Vineyard isn’t a special place or a
special job; it’s the purpose for which we do what we do. The difference
between working for the Landowner and working for someone else is in our
hearts, and the fruit is in our actions.
Once we’re hired, it’s our duty to
represent our employer to the best of our abilities, isn’t it? The Vineyard is
owned by the most generous and loving Landowner - God. We are responsible for
maintaining it without grumbling about fairness and without worrying about how
we will acquire the resources we need to do our job, for God’s Grace will
provide those resources, one way or another.
What about those who don’t hear the voice
of God? What about those who hear it, but don’t understand? The Good News about
that comes right out of Jesus’ parable! It’s never too late! God’s Grace is
continually available, continually calling to us, providing opportunities for
us to hear the invitation. Once we are hired, it is our duty to take that
freely given Grace that we are now aware of and share it with others.
A few weeks back, I visited you here at Faith. I came
to hear my friend Jody, your pastor, preach for her first congregation. After
the service, I joined a few of you who gathered at the front of the sanctuary
to share in Holy Communion. It was a beautiful experience. There’s something in
the gathering for Communion, isn’t there? Whether we are with friends or
strangers, whether we gather once a month or every day, the Holy Spirit is
there, isn’t She?
Grace is there, calling to each of us.
Some come to the table early, some come late. Some come not because they heard
the Call, but because they were told to be there. Some of us remember being
“drug” to church as children, right? Then, there are those who have been taught
that in order to take Communion, they must already be Christian. In fact, John
Wesley wholeheartedly disagreed with this! He believed that conversion could
happen in the Eucharist. That is one reason why we practice the open table, and
it doesn’t matter who wishes to join in, because Wesley taught that because of
Prevenient Grace, someone could become a Christian as a result of taking
Communion.
So, that Sunday a couple of weeks ago,
there we were, hired hands receiving our pay. That Sunday, when we were
finished with the Eucharist, Pastor Jody and Joshua were serving one another
when two women came into the sanctuary. They were late and uncertain if they
would be able to partake. Without hesitation, those already at the table opened
ranks, held out their hands, and invited them in. Late to the table, they were
paid equally.
When we come to the marketplace, we are
already invited to the Vineyard. Let us accept our pay, the Grace of our Lord,
and with the strength and power of that Grace, invite others to join us in
Discipleship. For that is the true task of the hired hands, isn’t it? Not just
to come to the Vineyard, and Justified, call ourselves Christian, take our free
Grace, and go home!
No, we are to serve our Master by doing our daily tasks to
God’s glory so that others might hear the always present Invitation of
Prevenient Grace. When we do this, we are partners with Christ in the
Sanctification of our lives in the Vineyard, becoming Perfect in God’s Grace.
Amen.
