There’s a Mexican market in our city. My wife and I have shopped there. Not only is it a place to shop for food; it is also a meeting place for Mexican workers. So very early one morning about this time of the year the owner of the Grey Monk Winery sent his foreman to the Mexican market to pick up as many able-bodied men as he could find.
It was harvest time in the Vineyard. So, the foreman went to the Mexican Market just before 6 o'clock - 8 men were standing around waiting to work. They were promised $20 per hour if they worked the 12-hour shift. That’s $240 for the 12-hour shift. They all piled into the mini bus.
But when the owner of the Vineyard saw that he only had 8 workers he said to his foreman ‘Go back to the Mexican market and find more workers we have a huge harvest to bring in. So, the manager drove all the way back to Enterprise. He got there about 9 o'clock and lo and behold there were some more migrant workers hanging around; he offered them a job and told them they would be paid fairly. They piled into the mini bus and headed off to the Grey Monk Winery.
But you only picked up 8 more the owner said in exasperation. Go back and find some more workers or this great harvest will be lost. So, the foreman/bus driver drove back to the Mexican market again, at 12 noon, and again at 3 in the afternoon and even as late as 5 in the afternoon, less than an hour before they shut down the operation for the day.
Finally, 6 o'clock came and work stopped. The guys who had only worked the last hour of the day lined up first for their money. The owner passed each man $240. Next came the men who had come to work at 3 o'clock. They too were given $240. Then the guys who had arrived at noon were paid - $240 as well. By this time the men who had arrived into work for 6 in the morning were doing some quick math in their heads. They might be farm workers but they weren’t stupid. If a guy who worked three hours made $240 then they were in for at least $1000. There will be dancing on the streets of Bucerias tonight.
But when it came time for the guys who worked 12 hours straight through the hot sun to get their pay. They were handed $240. Words started to fly. Words that I will not repeat from this pulpit. Some in English. Most in Spanish. But the jest of it was: This is not fair.
And that is how most of us react to the Gospel reading for this morning. It’s not fair. Little seems more unequal than the equal treatment of unequals. This is not fair. From the time we are little we have a concept of fair play. As grandparents we are very careful to buy gifts of equal value for each of the grandchildren lest there be loud laments of ‘that’s not fair, his cost more than mine.’ We know what is just and fair. And this is not fair.
Matthew is the only one of the four Evangelists to tell this story. I wonder if the other three Gospel writers were as uncomfortable with it as some of us are. In my long years of preaching from the Bible from cover to cover I have never once preached on this text. I wonder if I too felt so uncomfortable with this teaching that I jumped over to some other passage until I was forced here today by the Lectionary.
I hope I can ease your discomfort and open your hearts to what I’ve discovered about this parable. Jesus is teaching two great truths in this story:
1. The value of gratitude.
2. The unfairness of grace
The Value of Gratitude
Jesus is teaching us the importance of thanksgiving. The value of gratitude. G. K. Chesterton is widely quoted as saying “Gratitude is the mother of all virtues”.
But were these early morning workers thankful. No, they were not! Rather than being thankful for getting their promised pay these 6 o'clock workers compared themselves to others.
• I’m not as rich as Warren Buffet
• I’m not as talented as the Pavarotti
• I’m not as good looking as Justin Trudeau
• I’m not as smart as the late Dr. Steven Hawking
• I’m not as healthy as … my three year old nephew.
• I’m not as spiritual as the late Mother Teresa
It is very easy to focus on what we don’t have rather than on what we do have. We have to climb uphill to be thankful. The easy, downhill road is to complain, to compare our lot with others.
Last fall Muriel and I climbed to the top of a volcanic cone in Eastern Idaho. Going up we were puffing. Coming down was easy. That is the way it is with gratitude and complaining. Gratitude is hard work. Complaining is as easy as strolling down a volcanic cone.
Some years ago, I was in the middle of a pity party – it was sad because I was the only one who showed up. Even my parties were a failure. So, I’m having this poor me moment when all of a sudden, I had this inspiration – I believe from the Lord. I got out my contact list and started to go over my list of friends and acquaintances.
• I wish I had his luxury high powered car but I’m thankful Lord I don’t have his heath problems
• I wish I had her income but I’m sure am glad I don’t have her kids.
• I wish I had his home but Lord I hope his wife doesn’t come along with the house.
• I wish I had his dog but I’m thankful I don’t have his struggle with alcohol.
• I wish I had her education but I’m thankful I don’t have her disability.
I went through about 30 people on my contact list like this and before I knew it the pity party was over. The reason why gratitude is so important is because when we are not truly thankful we are questioning the goodness of God. God calls us his friend, verse 13. Is that true? He says his not unfair to us. Is that true? He claims to keep his promises. Is that true? Well, if that is all true we have no reason to complain. Or to compare ourselves with others.
Let us not fall into the Peter trap. Remember after the resurrection Jesus and Peter were talking and the Lord suggested that Peter was going to die a martyrs’ death. So, Peter looked over to John and said, Lord, what about him. And Jesus politely said: What about him? It’s none of your business.
The importance of gratitude. But let me move on to the second point of my sermon – the shocking part.
The Unfairness of Grace
Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? The master said. We sing Amazing Grace but we are stunned when we stop and let the implications sink in. Grace is not fair, no matter how you look at it.
Grace is God’s unconditional love for you. Grace is Jesus picking up grubby little children one by one before they scampered off to their naps. Grace is Jesus turning to the sinful woman and saying ‘Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more’ when she should have been stoned. Grace is the Father of the Prodigal Son smothering the wayward boy with kisses while the faithful older son is bent out of shape. Grace is Jesus turning to the thief on the cross and saying: Today you will be with me in Paradise when there was no time to be baptized or join a Church. Grace is Jesus dying on the cross for you as if you were the only person in the world. Grace is God’s smile, God’s favor, God’s undeserved and unconditional love.
Grace is what makes Christianity unique among the religions of the world.
Grace is the key word to understanding the Christian Gospel. It is almost totally absent from the other world religions.
One-time C. S. Lewis was walking outside a hall where a religious convention was going on and he asked someone what was going on inside. He was informed that they were trying to decide what it was that made Christianity different from all the other religions in the world.
Oh, that’s easy said C. S. Lewis: Grace. Grace is what makes Christianity unique among the religions of the world.
Grace is Amazing
Many of you know the story of the Prodigal Son. The young man had taken his father’s money, run off to a far country, blew his inheritance, lived fast and loose and then when he ran out of money came home. So, what did the Father do? Put him on probation? NO! He came running out to meet the boy; warmly embraced him, kissed him, threw him a party and restored him to the family.
The point is the boy did not get what he deserved. He got grace. However, you slice it grace doesn’t seem fair. We receive from God what we do not deserve; what we can never earn. That is the point of grace. That is why it is so amazing.
Many people think that getting to heaven is doing more good things than bad things. At the end of life if the scale tips in favor of the good things then we’ll make it to heaven.
Getting to heaven is not like the Air Miles Program. If you have an Air Miles card every time you buy something at Safeway or fill up your tank at Shell they give you a few more Air miles and when you get enough points you can have a free trip to Saskatoon or where ever. But that is not grace. And it’s not really a free trip. You had to spend a lot of cash, cold hard cash to get those points.
Heaven is not on the Air Miles program. We cannot buy our way into heaven. You and I cannot do enough good things in a whole lifetime to earn sufficient points to persuade Saint Peter to open the Gate. We need God’s Grace.
Grace is the president of Safeway giving you a free trip to Hawaii when he knows you've been shopping at Costco. Grace is God letting us into heaven even when he knows we've broken the Ten Commandments.
Now that is pretty amazing.
I talked to two special people this past week. One was a homeless man sitting on a park bench outside of a fast food joint. He had a bicycle loaded down with more cloths than a small thrift store. We briefly said hello to each other; the other person was a woman. Our conversation was longer. She wanted money to help her buy some pet food for her cat. When she found out who I was she told me her life was in shambles. She looked it. I gave her a little money and she was on her way.
My question is: do these two characters have as much of a chance to make it to heaven as you and me? If your answer is yes, then you understand grace.
Let us pray:
Dear Father, none of us would be here this morning if it were not for your grace. We would have fallen through the cracks long ago.
Help us to be truly thankful for your grace as well as all other benefits that come our way. And help us to be graceful people in the way we relate to other people we will meet this coming week.
We ask this in the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour and your gift of grace to us, Amen.
