While in active ministry, I always wanted to preach sermons based on social justice, but often shied away from them. When after being retired for one year, I was asked to preach at a church in the pastor’s absence. I think the sermon I wrote fits the title “Sermons I Was Not Brave Enough to Preach”. I used the scripture below.
Matthew 20:1-16 The Laborers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6 And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’[a] 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”[b]
In my 30+ years of ordained ministry in Iowa, this parable of the Workers in the Vineyard has caused the most upset in church members than any other parable. Iowans are known for their work ethic and therefore find it extremely unfair that those workers who came to work in the vineyard late in the day were paid as much as those who started working early in the day. When discussing this parable with church members, I could usually talk people down off their irate state by saying that the passage was an allegory used to talk about what the kin-dom (https://jannaldredgeclanton.com/kin-dom-vs-kingdom/) of God was like, or that it was about the abundant grace given to us by God.
I have preached on this parable many times, often emphasizing that God is not concerned about fairness, but about justice. In doing that, I hoped to inspire disciples of Jesus to be welcoming and live according to a higher ethic. Before I ever preached on this myself, I heard a most profound sermon by an immigrant seminary professor based on this passage. After some soul-searching and education on racism in the United States and watching with horror how immigrants are treated, I wanted to prepare a sermon in the spirit of the seminary professor’s all those years ago:
At 9:00 AM, in the 1700’s, Germans and the Scots-Irish arrived in great numbers. There was some skepticism about them from the first Europeans, but in a short amount of time, most were able to establish farms or businesses, so they were accepted.
At noon, or in the 1800’s, Irish escaped subservience to the English, poverty, and famine by coming to the U.S. eastern coast, some moving farther west. On the West coast, those from China arrived. The Irish were considered an inferior “race”, many living in squalor while earlier arrivals enjoyed high status and wealth. The Chinese were put to dangerous work on the railroads.
At 3:00 PM, in the 20th century, those from Italy, Russia, and Eastern Europe found their way to a better life in the U.S. with mixed reviews on their welcome. In the 1970’s into the early 1980’s, Vietnamese and other Southeast Asians were invited or otherwise found their way to the U.S., including Iowa.
Finally, at 5:00 PM, or in the 2000’s, the greatest number of U.S. immigrants came from Mexico, South Asian and West Africa. Among the reasons they were drawn to the U.S. were escaping gang violence, fleeing from war, or seeking educational opportunities not found in their homeland. They are crucial components to the U.S.’s agricultural and construction economy and to our health care systems. Despite this, they are being rounded up, imprisoned and/ or deported.
If we were to compare the U.S. to the vineyard, or to the Kin-dom of God, and the vineyard owner being the ruler/rulers of the U.S., we could say that those who were here first resent that those who arrived later receive the same kind of and amount of benefits from living here.
It gives me pause to examine my privilege, my prejudice, and my resentments. I also ask whether I, as a white second-generation U.S. born on one side of my family, and a 6th or 7th generation born on another side of the family, am truly welcoming to new people. Am I happy for them, or resentful of what they have received? Do I contribute to or resist unjust practices and treatment of immigrants?
If I believe as I pray with others in the Church “thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”, then I can receive the grace and ability God gives me to exercise a radical hospitality and acceptance. These are building blocks of God’s kin-dom on earth.
Another question that has come to my attention regarding the parable in Matthew 16 is if we compare the vineyard owner to God, and conclude that God is generous, why is God not equally generous? For example, why didn’t those who worked all day receive more per hour, just as the late in the day workers? All I can say, is that we don’t think like God, and we can trust that the grace that we receive from God is enough.
We will never find the perfect allegory or fully understand the unorthodox actions and words of the vineyard owner, just as we can never fully understand the nature of and the words and actions of God. However, we can accept them. We can rejoice that God’s kin-dom is wonderful beyond our comprehension, just and full of grace.
The kin-dom of God goes beyond our wildest dreams of what life and relationships can be like. The parable describes an unusual way of recruiting workers. The owner himself and not the manager, goes to the marketplace to recruit workers. In addition, the owner seems to be very unorganized, going four times during the day to get more workers. Consider that this owner of the vineyard didn’t have all that much work to be done, but was concerned about laborers needing money, so hired them. This is grace – love and acceptance without strings attached. It is not earned, but gifted.
I challenge myself, and you, to think differently about being and welcoming disciples, or workers, in this vineyard called life. Think about what our communities would be like if we extended grace to others after the example of the vineyard owner! If we are the ones seeking peace and acceptance from God, think about how you can stop trying to earn it, but accept the invitation from Christ to enter into it. God is generous beyond our deserving!
As the vineyard owner invites laborers into the vineyard, God invites us into the kin-dom of God. Whether we are the first or the last to labor in the vineyard, we all receive abundant grace. The first and last become the same – “the first shall become the last and the last shall become the first (Matthew 20:16)”.
Whether you are the first or the last to come to faith, the first or last to repent, the first or last to be born among us, the first or the last to commit to discipleship, you receive the grace of God according to your need.