As you can well understand, it was a difficult time for all of us. My mom had experienced a stroke and in her 70s, it is not something you want to hear about. Thankfully, my mom was with a friend at the time this happened and that friend just happened to have a nursing background and recognized what was happening to my mom.
Thankfully, the two of them were not far from Calgary’s Foothills Hospital and the stroke had just started. My mom was able to receive treatment, and surgeons placed a stint in her neck to control the flow of blood. Thankfully, as well, this all happened quickly and my mom was released. My brother, sister and I, among others, held her in prayer, and my brothers and I did not have to travel to Calgary.
About three weeks ago, my mom was due to travel to northern Alberta to conduct a workshop for a local First Nation band. I am always amazed at my mom’s boundless energy and her willingness and ability to help in the healing movement when needed. Anyway, just before Mom was to head out to this conference she had to see her doctor for an appointment that had been arranged earlier.
As it turns out, to make a long story short, tests discovered that the stint in my mom’s neck had broken down and may need replacement. If Mom had not gone to the doctor at that moment, this may not have been detected and she may have died. The next thing that happened to her concerned the replacement. Normally, this would have taken a long time to schedule, but upon calling the original stroke clinic she attended, arrangements were made and surgery was almost immediately available.
Now, I don’t have to tell you that my family was quite concerned and that we prayed constantly. From my mom’s perspective, prayers were answered, and God’s grace provided for the healing that was needed, in terms of being at the right place at the right time and seeing the right doctor and having the appointments cleared. I, for one, do not believe in coincidences. I do believe in God incidents.
God’s grace is an amazing thing, isn’t it? It is freely available and plays no favouritism. It is available to all who believe and are open to grace in their lives. Thanks be to God and for those whom He places in our paths to participate with Him in His mission in the world. That mission is to bring Good News, that God so loved all of us, so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, to the end that all who believe will not perish, but have eternal life.
It is God’s grace we see at work in today’s Gospel passage. Peter here asks Jesus who has priority in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus responds by telling the parable of the landowner. In this story, the landowner is God, the vineyard is the Kingdom, and the labourers are the servants, there by invitation. In essence, then, there are three aspects—the story itself that includes the hiring agreement, the twist in the story where the labourers were all paid the same, and the explanation offered.
1. First, the story tells of the landowner who invites labourers to work in his vineyard. It is early in the morning and the landowner knows where people are to be found, especially those who have no work. He then hires the labourers and agrees to the usual daily wage. Then, the landowner returns to the marketplace when he needs more workers. He hires a second batch of workers and tells them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” The landowner goes out again at noon, three, and five, and makes the same agreement with the labourers.
2. The twist comes at the end of the day, when everyone is expecting to be paid. In an unusual twist, the landowner calls the labourers who were hired last and pays them a full day’s wage in front of the other labourers, who had laboured hard earlier in the day. Obviously, there was jealousy and anger on the part of the ones who had worked longer through the day. If that scenario occurred today, and we went down to the employment office, then were sent off to a boss at different parts of the day and had this happen to us, we too would likely have been upset. It’s understandable.
3. The explanation comes from the landowner... “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?”
Peter came to Jesus thinking he and other disciples should be given greater rewards for their service or ministry with Jesus. After all, they had left everything to follow Jesus. The parable is clear. God’s grace is for all, whether you are freshly called into service or whether you have been in ministry, in service, an entire lifetime. There is never a time in our lives as baptized Christians that we can say “My time is done, let the younger ones serve”...I have witnessed some incredible ministry happening in care homes as an example.
The Lord is sovereign over His kingdom. Because He is the landowner, He can pay people whatever He wants to pay them, as long as He is just. And no one here could accuse Him of being unjust. He owed no man an explanation of His dealings with the workers in the vineyard. He arranged for the first workers to be paid a day’s wages--that was fair. But the other workers He only promised a fair wage, and He certainly was more than fair there.
In God’s kingdom, then, He is absolute sovereign, and He can deal with all people in whatever way He chooses. He is free to give some people more than others in relationship to their years of service or contribution. He alone makes the decisions of what to give people for service, how to use them (all day or not), and how to reward their faithfulness. And no one can challenge the decision of the sovereign Lord.
Everyone who serves the Lord will be treated fairly. The workers either got what they agreed to, or they got more. In fact, in the parable, the latter servants came to work without an exact agreement, so they actually trusted the landowner that they would receive a fair wage. They did not have a settled agreement fixed. And because they trusted His equity, they were rewarded with the same wage that the others who worked all day were receiving. But they got paid first when the owner paid the wages. This no doubt was designed to underscore the point that the last shall be first.
How the Lord treats all of His servants is by grace. Until the workers were approached by the landowner, they had no work. If He had not found them and arranged for them to enter his vineyard, they would have remained with nothing. No one can complain that such a gracious provision is unfair—unless they think that everything must be based in a legal arrangement. Everyone should be thankful that God opened up the opportunity for service. (http://bible.org/seriespage/workers-vineyard-matthew-201-16)
These Kingdom principles apply through the ages. Before we met God, before we came to belief, we had nothing in terms of understanding kingdom values. God approached and invited us in...maybe cautiously at first, maybe from a distance, as we noticed others with a faith life, or maybe through the traditional manner of being baptized as an infant and brought to Church on a regular basis....a “cradle Anglican,” so to speak. That would describe me.
Yet, even those who are brought up in the Church sometimes take their leave. Some return at a later age as I did, and some choose not to return or return at Christmas and Easter. Regardless...God’s grace is equal for all. His love is unconditional and applies to all. So, whether you come to faith in your old age or at a very young age, God’s grace is equal for all.
Then, what are the implications for us today? Let me leave you with these thoughts:
1. What does it mean for us today, that the first shall be last and the last first?
2. In what sense will many that are first be last?
3. If this parable’s teaching is correct, then those who enter into ministry early in their lifetimes work longer than those who enter into the kingdom at some later period.
4. If reward in the kingdom of heaven is based upon meritorious service, then those who work from early youth may deserve more than those who work from later life.
5. However, since rewards in the kingdom are based on God’s grace, not meritorious works, then no one deserves more than another.
While one may be first in point of time of entrance into the kingdom, i.e., at an early age, that person may be last in appreciating the generosity of God.
1. And whereas one may be last in time of entrance into the kingdom, i.e., at a late age in life, he may be first in God’s esteem for appreciating His generosity.
2. The two attitudes of generosity and jealousy in this teaching are contrasted at extremes to each other, and everyone may examine himself or herself to place themselves somewhere on a continuum between them.
The question is “Where are you in the parable?”
1. Have you entered to work in the vineyard at the 1st hour? There is no guarantee you’ll have another opportunity to enter into the Lord’s vineyard.
2. Have you entered at the 3rd, 6th, 9th, or 11th hour? i.e., at your first opportunity?
More importantly, what is your attitude toward the Master’s generosity?
1. Do you think you should have more than others? Did you bargain for what you shall receive? Are you jealous of what others may receive from the Lord?
2. Or, are you simply expecting the Lord to do what is right?
My mom told me she is grateful to God and His grace for keeping her going all these years. She is a great inspiration for me, because she helps me to understand that no matter what age you are, if you have breath, you have work you can do for God. God has called each and every one of us into His kingdom and has gifted each and every one of us with health and abilities that are to be used to His glory and for the Kingdom on earth.
Our task, then, is to be thankful for what we have, for what God has done and is doing in and through us, and to discern how we might help God in His mission in the world, to bring about Good News. Let us pray.
Gracious God, we give thanks for your grace and the fact you have called us into service in your Kingdom. Give us grateful hearts for the gifts you have given and a keen sense of your mission in the world and especially in this neighborhood. Thank you for the blessings you bestow upon us. May we continue in your love until our lives end.
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