Septuagesima, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
St. Matthew 20:1-16
Septuagesima
January 28, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Two employees, who work for the local company in town and members of the local union, gather around to hear all the benefits that will be included in the newly agreed upon collective bargaining agreement. The first of the two employees standing there is a seasoned veteran, an experienced worker, having put in over 30 years of faithful service for the company. He worked hard and earned his promotions, often coming in early and working overtime when asked, and even became a foreman on the floor. He spent many years also serving as a union delegate. Because of the time he put in throughout those 30 years, and because of his faithful service to the company, he worked long enough so that the company granted him a whopping five weeks of vacation, every year, to be used whenever he wanted. It didn’t matter when. He could take off every major holiday, such as Thanksgiving and Christmas, the Fourth of July, his birthday. It didn’t matter. So it was that he was pleased that the company and the union had agreed grant him and extra week—six weeks of vacation in total—more than he had previously earned.
The other employee standing with him is a rookie, a newly hired journeyman who recently joined the workforce, just two weeks graduated from high school. Prior to this new CBA, he was told that he must work, at least, a full year—365 days, including holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas—in order that he might earn one week of vacation. But upon hearing all the benefits of the new collective bargaining agreement, he noted that every employee, regardless of experience, without distinction, will immediately be granted a whopping six weeks of vacation per year, without respect to experience or years of service. All this is given simply out of the generosity of the company.
Now which of these two employees do you think would be angry upon hearing this news? Of course, the employee who has spent 30 years working of his life working for the company. He has spent many years climbing through the ranks and earning his benefits. Now all of a sudden, the union and the company have agreed to make the newly hired workers equal to him who has worked longer than this new hire has been living.
How do you expect he would react? Of course, he goes and complains, even slandering his friends and coworkers, ridiculing his union representatives, and over the course of the next few weeks and months sabotages much of the equipment in the workspace in an attempt to “get back” at the company for not treating him what he would call “fair.” Upon finding out that he was the one responsible, he is called into the manager’s office and is told, “Take what is yours and go. You’re fired. Get out.”
If you don’t think this employee was treated fairly, you would be right. Because in the real world, this would never happen. We all know this because this is not how businesses and corporations on earth operate. If they did, they wouldn’t be in business for long. That’s not how collective bargaining works either. The more you work, the more time you put in, the more you receive as payment and the more and greater benefits you receive. Because a worker is due his wage. No company or business on earth works and operates this way. This situation that I just described is like the lord of the vineyard in the parable.
Welcome to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He went out again and again and again at different hours of the day to hire more and more workers. And at the end of the day, the workers are not paid according to the amount of work they put in. They’re all treated the same and are paid the same wage only out of the generosity of the owner of the vineyard. Those who have not born the burden of the day and the scorching heat are paid a wage that they do not rightly deserve. But the owner doesn’t care. It is His right to do what He wants with what is His.
God is the owner of the vineyard and He gives to us out of His goodness and mercy, out of His generosity. He gives to us the day’s wage even though we have not worked the full day, even though we haven’t born the burden of the day or the scorching heat. We don’t experience the scorching heat or the burden of the day because one of the workers already has for us.
One of the Workers paved the way for us, did all the dirty work that not one of us would be willing to do or could do. God’s own Son labored. He worked. He is the co-owner of the vineyard but He became a worker so we wouldn’t have to work. Jesus quite literally bore the burden of the day, He listened to scoundrels spread lies about Him, telling people He has a demon; He watched His friends desert Him in His time of need; He let sinful men punish Him for crimes He didn’t commit; He was forsaken by His Father roasted in His Father’s wrath on the cross so that none of this would happen to us.
And the greatest seeming thing about it all, is that you are paid the wage that is rightly His. Christ Jesus paying for your sins opens paradise for you. You have done nothing to deserve it, but here you stand: a redeemed sinner, bought back not with gold or silver, but with His holy and precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. He paid the price for you. And out of the generosity of His Father, you are made into sons. Yours is the Kingdom of Heaven. We not only get to remain in the vineyard, work in the vineyard, but we are given the vineyard! God be praised! This grace is utterly undeserved. But that shows just how great the generosity of our loving God is.
This is what we are preparing for now in this season of Pre-Lent and in a few weeks, during Lent. To come to this grace and glory, we must first go to the cross and see our Savior nailed to it. The cross will soon be in view and we Christians love the cross. For there, Jesus labored, He suffered, and He died. But that pole, that cross brings life and immortality to light.
Now this parable does teach us something else that’s very important. Something that we must review often and remember. Because we Lutherans are sometimes accused of being unwelcoming, possibly even cliquey, and often giving the cold shoulder. We often times fall into the trap of believing that because we were here first, because we have been members of the LCMS or even this congregation our entire lives that we somehow have this innate superiority than other members of our church body or even our own church who have not been here as long as we have.
All of us are prone to it. Of course, we may not bee that crass and explicitly say, “Well, I’ve been here longer, so I’m more important.” But we all are prone to thinking this and bringing this out in our day to day interactions with other members. We all have our own ties to certain circles in the church or in the LCMS at large and we love to brag about it—to lord it over others who are new to the church or those who may have been inactive who have returned. But guess what? God doesn’t care about any of that. For in Christ, in Jesus there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if there is no Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female, then it would also be true to say that there is no distinction between lifelong member or recent convert. Every Christian received the same grace of God through faith. There is no distinction then between in regard to God’s grace between those whose families served in various capacities in the church for generations or those who simply come on Sundays and leave. This is the point of the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard: God’s grace is undeserved by everyone and yet, we all receive it, without respect to persons. No matter how much you work and toil, you will be treated the same in regard to God’s grace. This, of course, is only good news if you are a sinner. Because your works earn you nothing. Leave it up to God. He gives you an abundance of grace out of His own generosity. For He is allowed to do what He wants with what is His.
In +Jesus’ name.
