God s Strange Generosity Mt. 20:1-16 Sunday, September 21, 2014 The Rev. Sharon Snapp-Kolas, preaching Scripture. Prayer. Opening. Jesus tells countless stories of God s strange generosity; countless stories of God s saving, forgiving, loving gift of grace. The parable we re looking at this morning is such a story a story about the wideness of God s grace and the abundance of God s generosity. A lot of people don t like this story. You and I might be counted in that group. Most people prefer fairness over generosity. Johnny Dean, a well-respected preacher, tells of an experience he had in preaching on today s gospel reading. One Sunday several years ago, says Pastor Dean, when I preached on this text, a church member came to me after the service and said, You know, preacher, there are parts of the Bible that are difficult to abide, and other parts that aren t. The story you preached on today is one that I find totally offensive! It s just not fair to pay everyone the same wage when some have worked hard and some have hardly worked. Jesus was just wrong about that. I think you should have preached on something less offensive. The following Sunday, says Pastor Dean, I preached about the prodigal son. Jesus tells a story that is so unfair! Some folks work all day; 12 hours, maybe more. Other folks work less than a day some three-quarters, some half, some a quarter of a day. Still other folks work only one hour! But the landowner pays them all the same wage! It s not fair! It s outrageous! How can he pay the same wage for a whole day s work and one hour s work? 1
I. God s strange generosity: he gives everyone a job to do. Hard work should pay off! Laziness should be punished! The laborers who work all day should get paid more! Of course, the elder son makes a similar complaint when the Father welcomes the prodigal son home. We re so stuck on fairness; God s so stuck on generosity. God s ways often seem so strange and foreign to us. That s because the culture of God s kingdom is radically different from the culture of this world. As often happens, Jesus tells his story in answer to a question from Peter. In this case, a rich young ruler has been told that he must sell all his possessions and give the money to the poor; then he is to come and follow Jesus. If he does these things, he will have treasure in heaven (Mt. 19:21). Peter doesn t get it. Rich people are rich because God has rewarded them for their good deeds. What is Jesus talking about? Peter asks a question on behalf of his fellow disciples: Then who can be saved? (Mt. 19:25), and he adds, Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? (Mt. 19:27). Peter and the other disciples are confused. They are still thinking in categories of rich and poor -- rich people are rich as a reward for good behavior; poor people are poor because that s what they deserve. So goes the thinking in the confused brains of Peter and friends. They are also anxious; they wonder -- what will be our reward for all the sacrifices we are making? What s in it for us, this Jesus-following plan? So Jesus tells a story, in his usual way. He likes to teach by telling crazy stories that stir people up, make them angry, get them questioning the very fabric of life as they know it. We should be questioning life as we know it. Because Jesus is ushering in the kingdom of heaven a kingdom that is very different from the kingdom of this world. God s strange generosity begins at the start of Jesus story. God hires laborers for his 2
vineyard. He gives work to everyone, throughout the day, returning again and again to the marketplace until all the idlers are employed. No one is left without a job to do. No one is told, Go away; there s no room for you. Everyone is given a place in the vineyard unearned, undeserved. A story is told of a lady who had a stranger appear at her door and simply handed her a $100 bill. She was dumbfounded! Then the same thing happened the next day.and the next and the next. For thirty straight days this stranger gave her $100 without explanation. On the 31 st day the lady was waiting at the door when she saw the man coming down the street. But then he passed her house and walked up to her neighbor s house, and gave her a $100 bill! The first lady was indignant and yelled at the guy, Hey, where s my $100 bill? Theologian David Beckett comments: It s easy to think that when life is going our way that somehow we deserve it. We come to expect it. We even plan for it. This parable is not so much about the injustice of workers getting paid the same for different amounts of work. It is about God and God s mercy and grace. Sometimes it appears that some people are receiving more of God s grace than others. But as Christians we live, not in a world of justice, but of grace. God graciously gives each of us a job to do in his kingdom. Our place in God s kingdom is unearned and undeserved. It is a generous gift of God. God s strange generosity: he gives everyone a job to do. II. God s strange generosity: he gives everyone their daily bread. The pay we are promised is our daily bread. Like the people of Israel, fleeing into the wilderness to escape the Egyptian soldiers, we receive daily manna from heaven. God provides just what we need. One denarius for a day s work or an hour s work, to buy enough food for one 3
person for one day. We often talk about God s abundance, and there are many references to that abundance in the Bible. Psalm 23, especially, comes to mind, with a banquet table set before us in the presence of our enemies, with cups overflowing. But this parable of Jesus reminds us that God s abundant grace is not limited to our assumptions and expectations. God gives, not what we want or expect, but what we most deeply need. God gives, not only to us, but to others, as well even to our perceived enemies. The assumption of the workers who started their labors early in the morning is that they will be paid more. They want more. They don t need more; but they want more. They expect more. They assume that they deserve more. They have earned more, in their own minds, and so they assume that they will receive more. There s an old saying, Assumptions are planned resentments. We struggle with assumptions and resentments a lot in the church. People often make assumptions about me, as the pastor that I am aware of their situation or their expectations. I am going to dispel a rumor this morning. There s a rumor going around that I am a mind reader. That rumor is false. I am not a mind reader. I only know what people tell me. Still, folks often feel hurt and angry because they assume I know something about their life that I don t. This doesn t only happen to me. We do this to each other, as people. We make assumptions about what another person in the church is thinking or doing. We make assumptions about our spouse or our significant other. Our friends, our children, our family members. She must be mad at me because she didn t call. He doesn t love me or he would ve known how I was feeling. They are off our friend list because they didn t 4
understand how important this life event was for us. The reality is most often very different from what we assume. Maybe the other person is busy or overwhelmed. Maybe they have experienced a crisis of their own that prevents them from being sensitive to our crisis. There are a thousand maybes and possibilities besides the one assumption we make. The one assumption that leads to resentment. I like the alternate set of assumptions that theologian Charlotte Cleghorn suggests: [Wouldn t it] be wonderful if these were the only assumptions we made: -- God loves me and all of creation deeply and profoundly. -- I and all others are made in the image of God. -- God s generosity is beyond our wildest imagination. -- There is nothing I can do to earn or deserve God s generosity. How different our lives would be if we lived from those assumptions! God s strange generosity: he gives everyone their daily bread. III. God strange generosity: he welcomes newcomers and longtimers. Everyone includes newcomers the early morning laborers and the last hour late arrivals. The vineyard is God s kingdom, on earth and in heaven. It is the church. It is the mission field in which God s laborers work. Our work is to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world. As an allegory, the parable is sometimes understood as a story of the Jews and the Gentiles. The Jews receive their daily bread; so do the Gentiles, the non-jewish believers who are included in God s every-widening grace as his plan of salvation unfolds. The Jews are not left behind. They were the first laborers, in the burden of the day and the scorching heat (v. 5
12). They are not forgotten or abandoned by God. The Gentiles, you and me, the followers of the God of Jacob who arrive late on the scene we are not forgotten or abandoned by God. God welcomes the Jews into the vineyard first thing. They are his chosen people. God also welcomes the Gentiles you and me. We come to the vineyard late. We idle around in the marketplace, not knowing the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. But now we know him, and he welcomes us, too. We receive the same pay, Jew or Gentile. What is our pay? Relationship with God. A place in his kingdom. A job to do for him. A purpose in life. In our Christian context, the metaphor of the newcomer applies to sinners who repent on their deathbeds, too. They receive the same wage as Christians who come to Christ early in their lives. The lifelong Christian and the deathbed Christian are paid the same; they receive the same reward a relationship with God. A place in God s kingdom. A job to do; a purpose in life, however brief that newfound purpose may be. Here s another way to think about newcomers. At The United Methodist Church of Yucaipa, new visitors and new members are fully and completely a part of this church family. They do not have to earn a place here. We do not receive people into the church because they are deserving. You and I are not deserving!! We are not holy. We are not perfect. God is holy. God is perfect. And God welcomes everyone into his vineyard. The church represents his vineyard, his kingdom on earth. So we welcome the newcomer as an equal because, in truth, we are all newcomers. Together we encourage one another to deepen our relationship with God, as individuals and as a church family. Together we celebrate our place in God s kingdom. Together we discover the job God has for us to do. Together we listen for God s leading as we clarify our purpose in life. That word, together it includes folks who have shown up today for the first time. It includes the newest members of this church. It includes the youngest 6
members of this church! It includes the newcomers who have only labored here for an hour so far. It also includes members who have labored here since the early morning; members who have given of their prayers, presence, gifts and service in this place for many decades. Theologian Jin S. Kim puts it this way: There is something about human nature that equates longevity and tenure with a sense of rightful claim. In how many churches do the longest running members, those who put in their time, feel the greatest claim on the identity and mission of their congregation, regardless of the issue of faithfulness, vision or maturity? God s strange generosity: he welcomes newcomers and longtimers. Closing. God is who God is. Fairness is not God s way. Fairness is something children worry about. It s not fair! Johnny s scoop of ice cream is bigger than my scoop of ice cream! That may be true, but our Father, who loves us with a Mother s love this God loves us equally. It may not feel equal to us, but in the mystery of God s generous nature, justice and grace are held in tension. It s not our place to decide who gets what. It s not our place to make assumptions, to hold grudges, to be jealous and envious of the gifts God gives to others. Our place is to be grateful for the daily bread God provides to us. Manna in the wilderness unearned, undeserved, but provided to us by a just and loving God, nevertheless. Maybe Jesus is wrong, at least by human standards. Definitely, Jesus is offensive. Then again, God says in verse 15: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? God gives everyone a job to do. God gives everyone their daily bread. God welcomes newcomers and longtimers. Praise God for his strange, loving, saving, healing, expansive, abundant generosity! Amen. 7