The Generosity of God

Matthew 20:1-16
Sermon 20 September 2020

One of the things that we have had to get used to in recent months is queueing. It has become the norm to see long lines of people, 2-metres apart in orderly queues on our streets. It isn’t just at the chemist or the food stores but everywhere. DIY stores, sports shops, cafes, bus stops. There’s even traffic light systems in some shops.

I read somewhere that over the year, on average we spend approx. 67 hours queueing – that’s almost 3 days! And that was before Covid 19!

We Brits are pretty good at queueing. We’re well known for it. Have you ever noticed when you go abroad, they don’t queue quite as orderly as us. They just go for it. Barge right in and never mind good manners.

We might be patient at waiting our turn but we’re not very good about it when someone tries to jumps the queue. We do everything to stop it from happening, whether that’s in the street, in a shop or even in a traffic jam. Or is that just me?

Most of us are fair minded and all for equal rights and so reading this mornings’ parable is actually quite a hard read. On first hearing it, your first reaction may have been something on the lines of…”erm…that’s not fair’.

If you were listening carefully and keeping score, you will have worked out that by the end of the day we have different groups of workers in the vineyard. There are those who have been there for twelve hours, for nine hours, for six, three, and only one hour. When the time comes to pay them, the landowner pays everyone a full day’s wage, and what is more, he pays the last ones first.

You might ask, “Why does he allow the last to receive a full day’s pay for just an hour of work? How fair is that on all those who put in 12 hours worth of work? The workers in the vineyard, were angry, not because the others got the full pay but because, those who worked longer didn’t get more. They looked down on the late arrivals as unworthy of being considered equal.

Can you imagine? There would be uproar if that happened in our politically-correct society.And also, no employer, then or now, could hope to run a business successfully in that kind of way. But the parable was not a lesson in business and in money-making. It was a lesson on the Kingdom of God. It was a teaching about God and his generosity. The parable turned the way of the world upside down. But so does the kingdom of God. God is like a father who gives to his children according to their need and not according to what they have earned. He doesn’t pick and choose and he doesn’t have favourites.

Jesus told this parable in answer to a question from Peter. He was asking what God-given reward that they, the disciples could expect. After all they’d given up a lot in order to follow Jesus.

The parable challenges Jesus' disciples in their spiritual arrogance. They were probably thinking that they should be the first in the queue or given some preferential treatment at the very least...they’d earned their place. Or so they thought!

It also challenges Matthew's Jewish Christians who oppose the entry of Gentiles into the blessings of the kingdom.

And the parable continues to challenge us today in our churches as we come to worship and accept, beyond doubt that we are saved and that we are guaranteed a place in God’s kingdom.

The scandal of this parable is that we are all equal recipients of God's gifts. The parable teaches that the gift of eternal life is not the reward of all our human endeavors but a free gift of divine grace. God’s ways are not our ways. God gives us all the same thing, not what we deserve, or what we’ve worked for. God is being merciful, not fair, and this is what mercy looks like.

It is very easy to feel resentful at the idea that someone, having a death-bed conversion after a life of self-indulgence might receive the same reward as us. Or even worse, what about the likes of mass murderers like Adolf Hitler?

At one level, it is not fair! At another - what reward could be greater than eternal happiness as a child of God in heaven? Not one of us can ever earn eternal life…however hard we work. It is purely a gift of God. The point is that God's grace, mercy, and forgiveness are God's to give away as God sees fit. Think about how dangerous it would be if God were to put human beings in charge of who receives what from the hand of God.  I mean…who are we to judge?

This is a kingdom turned upside down. Individuality, self-worth and deals do not work. What we do doesn’t get us into the kingdom. The generosity of God does.

We are privileged to be the people of God. God has chosen us, you and me, to work in the vineyard, to offer our time and our talents. Maybe God chose you when you were a child and you have worked your whole life to further God’s kingdom. Or you may have just recently begun that spiritual journey. I’m sure we can all think of others who’ve worked longer and harder than we have. The reward of the heavenly banquet is offered to all without regard to

our work(s) or the price we have paid to be part of the kingdom. The truth is that none of us can claim that we have earned, or deserve this wonderful gift from God.

So…the next time that you are standing in a queue in the supermarket, or sitting in a traffic jam, just remember that God’s fairness isn’t our fairness and that in Jesus Christ we find that what seems to be the unfairness of God in saving those who don't seem to deserve it…

is in reality…the grace of God… for you and for me.

Amen
Rev Julie Clarkson