2016-17 Season November 20 (Christ the King Sunday) Matthew 20:1-16 The Quiltmaker s Gift During morning worship, we will spend time immersed in a story that points to a divine truth about our faith, our lives, and our King. The story digs into the nature and power of generosity. Specific to the story and to the Scripture passage, generosity is a measure of God s sovereignty, and ours. Generosity paints a stark picture of our penchant to govern or be governed by our possessions. An irony in the Scripture passage is that the workers are complaining about the owner s generosity which facilitated their ability to be there (getting a paycheck) in the first place. In the story, the king is not made happy in getting, but in giving. Why does God take pleasure in this way? Why don t we?
MATTHEW 20:1-16 1 [Jesus said,] The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion, [a] he sent them into his vineyard. 3 Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and I ll pay you whatever is right. 5 And they went. Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. 6 Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long? 7 Because nobody has hired us, they replied. He responded, You also go into the vineyard. 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first. 9 When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. 11 When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun. 13 But he replied to one of them, Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn t I agree to pay you a denarion? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. 15 Don t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I m generous? 16 So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last. Footnotes: Matthew 20:2 A denarion was a typical day s wage. 2 of 7
If you had all the power and money and possessions in the world, what would you do with it? What things make a job unfair? Do you think the initial workers had a case? Jesus question in v.15 is God s question to us. How do we answer God? What in the world do you think v.16 is supposed to mean? Are you first or last? Is generosity a good business policy? COMMENTARY BY ELISABETH JOHNSON http://www.workingpreacher.org/ preaching.aspx? commentary_id=2357 There is no question that God cares about economic justice. The Bible consistently witnesses to God s concern for the poor, the hungry, the oppressed, the orphan, the widow, the resident alien. Scripture also has some pretty harsh words for those who trample the poor and vulnerable for their own gain. There is no question that God cares about justice. Yet in this parable Jesus tells about the workers in the vineyard, we learn that God does not operate according to our standards of fairness. This parable contradicts so many of our assumptions about the world. In most areas of our lives, we are taught that we get what we deserve. If we follow the rules and work hard, we should get ahead. We should get the good grade, the promotion, or the raise. We should receive recognition for our years of loyal service. Those who are idle or lazy should not expect to receive the same rewards. We can understand, then, the grumbling of the workers in the parable, the last in line to receive their wages, those who have worked a 12-hour day in the scorching sun. We understand their offense when they find that those who worked only one hour at the end of the day have been paid the same daily wage as they themselves receive. Something deep within us shouts: It's not fair! In the ancient world, day laborers would show up in the market place each morning hoping to be hired, hoping to exchange their time and energy for a denarius, a small silver coin that was the minimum 3 of 7
This parable is a reminder of the absolute gift of generosity that does not demand response, that does not account for reciprocity, that does not calculate metrical measures. Because then generosity is not generous. By definition, generosity is not measurable, accountable, or calculable. Karoline Lewis morning, around 6 am, to hire laborers for the day. But what is remarkable about the employer in this parable is that he keeps going back to the market place throughout the day -- at 9 am, at noon, at 3 pm, and even at 5 pm -- and when he sees others standing idle, he offers them work as well. Perhaps he has an especially large harvest of grapes to bring in. Or perhaps he simply cannot bear to see workers standing idle, knowing that they have families to feed. At quitting time, around six in the evening, the owner tells his manager to pay the workers in the reverse order daily income required to keep a small family fed and housed and clothed. Employers needing workers would typically go to the market place early in the of their seniority, beginning with the last and then going to the first. The workers at the end of the line, those who have worked all day, are stunned to find out that they are paid 4 of 7
exactly the same wage as all the others -- one denarius. Hearing the workers grumbling, the vineyard owner says to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 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? (Matthew 20:13-15). The vineyard owner blows apart our mentality of "deserving." It is not about what we deserve, or think we deserve, based on what we do or do not put in. The emphasis of the parable is on the generosity of the vineyard owner who pays all laborers what they need to provide for their families, no matter how many hours they have worked. This is a parable about the kingdom of God. And God, it turns out, is not fair. God does not play by our rules. God does not give us what we deserve. And thank God for that! For if each of us got exactly what we deserved, where would we be? In fact, God lavishes grace and mercy on all of us, no matter how late we have come to the vineyard. In the parable, each of the workers is dependent upon the landowner, for each of them rolled out of bed that morning unemployed. They owed everything to the vineyard owner who sought them out and gave them work, who gave them a livelihood and a purpose. Likewise each of us receives our life and purpose and all that sustains it as a gift from God, not as something earned. How easily we forget that, and begin to think that somehow we deserve all that we have. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift? (Matthew 4:7). When we forget that all we have is a gift, we so easily become resentful of God s generosity to others. Certainly God cares about fairness in our human economy and market places. God calls us to work for justice, so that all can receive a livable wage and daily bread, so that all can have a roof over their heads. At the same time, God's economy, the economy of the kingdom, goes way beyond fairness. There is nothing to be earned in God's economy. There is only God's generosity freely spent -- on us. 5 of 7
Just as we receive our physical life and all that sustains it as a gift from God, so too our spiritual life. The parable of the vineyard workers is followed by Jesus telling his disciples a third time what lies ahead in Jerusalem (Matthew 20:17-19) -- how he will be mocked and flogged and crucified, and on the third day be raised. There is no fairness or justice here. Certainly Jesus did not deserve this cruel suffering and death. But the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many (Matthew 20:28), so that the abundance of God s mercy would be poured out on us. ESSAY BY MARY AUSTIN https://revgalblogpals.org/ 2015/02/24/narrative-lectionarystressed-out-matthew-201-16/ On a recent trip overseas, though, waiting for a bus changed my view of the parable. After landing at the Rome airport, I went outside and stood at the proper stop. My traveling partners and I stood patiently behind the yellow line until about two minutes before the bus arrived. A huge crowd materialized, and people started jostling and jockeying for position. The bus attendant vainly struggled to get people into a line. I started to wonder if there were going to be enough seats. I wondered what would happen if my friends were on the bus and I wasn t. Stress bubbled up. I wonder if that s more the setting of this parable. Do the workers who subsist day by day, always scrambling for work, have to push and shove to get to the front of the line, so they can get the work? If it s the difference between eating and not eating, are you going to be polite? Or push and shove? And do they start to worry each morning if there s going to be enough work? Each day brings a new struggle. No work, no food. The generosity of the vineyard owner comes as a healing 6 of 7
grace into that world of worry and desperation. We can imagine the relief of the first workers, who know they have the security of a full day s work. The later workers have enough patience to keep waiting. When they re hired, there s no mention of money the owner tells the workers that he ll pay them whatever is right. Anything will be better than nothing. The gift of work fills the day, but with the end of the day, stress and panic come back into the story. As the last workers are paid a whole day s wage, the first workers begin to imagine what huge sums they might be paid, after working all day. When they get the exact same thing, they get mad and forget that they re getting what they agreed to. They forget the sense of relief and security they had at the start of the day. As Barbara Brown Taylor says, [This] is a little like cod liver oil. You know Jesus is right, and you know it must be good for you, but that does not make it any easier to swallow. [from The Seeds of Heaven, p. 100] world where everyone in the story gets enough. Everyone in the story gets even more than they expect at the start of the day. Other Thoughts & Questions Do you like this story? Austin s essay adds layers and detail not given in the text. Is it helpful to your understanding of the passage? A comparison is frequently made that the first hires are the Jews and the later hires are Gentile Christians. Does this interpretation still work for you? What comparison would you make today? Stewardship Question: Should your generosity be measured by what you give or what you intend to give? Don t forget the questions listed at the end of the Scripture passages! I love in this story that Jesus sees what we can t see. We see unfairness and scarcity. But telling the story, Jesus sees a 7 of 7