In Jesus Holy Name September 20, 2020
Text: Matthew 20:1-2,15 Redeemer
Grumblers & The Scandal of Grace
John Reuman in his book “Jesus in the Church’s Gospel’s” writes; “Jesus….stressed the “grace of God”. Mercy, goodness and love for sinful humanity is the message Jesus brought from the Father. The words of Jesus proclaim God’s grace and his actions spell it out. We must remember that the religious people of Jesus’ day, like the Scribes and Pharisees, criticized Jesus for consorting with such irreligious folk as publicans, sinners and prostitutes.
Our gospel text for today is a parable in which Jesus is saying to his critics: “Your idea of God is all wrong, this is what God is like: The kingdom of God is like a “good employer.”
We know the parable as the “Labors in the Vineyard”. But the parable is not about “fair labor practices.” It is not about labors in the vineyard. It is about the “good employer”.
The text. Read Matthew 20:1-2,15
This would have been a typical scene in the days of the Bible. Just as we have employment agencies today, in the first century, there were places were day laborers gathered to seek work. These workers were unskilled at trade and were the near the bottom of the social economic scale They worked from job to job, many of which lasted no more than a day. Because they had no guarantee of work beyond what they might be doing at the time, they would gather in the market place before dawn to be available for hiring.
The Jewish workday began at 6:00 a.m. This was called the first hour. The third hour began at 9:00 a.m., the sixth hour began at noon, the ninth hour began at 3:00 p.m. and the eleventh hour at 5:00 p.m.
It is at this point that the parable takes a dramatic turn. By the eleventh hour 5:00 p.m., the work on most plantations would have been winding down. The laborers waiting for work at this time would have lost hope. The workers were happy even for an hour of work…and trusted the land owner for a fair wage.
The employer has compassion on the unemployed and their families. He gave them something unexpected and undeserved. Jesus is saying: “That’s what God is like! Your Father in heaven is merciful. God is good. Accept his free offer.
Last Sunday Pastor Scott had a great message on forgiveness. Let me ask you a question. Have you ever been deeply hurt by someone’s words? (We all have) Did their words sting? (yes) Does the hurt still linger? Then let me ask one other question: “Can they buy your forgiveness?” (of course not)
Neither can you buy God’s love. Neither can you buy God’s forgiveness. “The wages of sin is death…but the free gift of God is eternal life.” (Romans 6:23)
Jesus did not teach the fundamental goodness of human beings. Yes, he believed we were created in the image of God, but he also believed that image was marred, no longer pure. Jesus does not deny that we do “good things” for others. As a matter of fact Jesus expects His disciples to do good works. Human beings have been doing extra ordinary things for the fire victims in our community. Others have been doing extra ordinary things for the hurricane victims in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama. They have provided free medical care, food clothing and water. They have provided millions of dollars.
But in the deepest recesses of our heart we have inherited a twisted selfish nature. Every sin is a form of selfish revolt against God’s authority and our neighbor’s welfare.
Any broken commandment is revolt against God. It is the substitution of life for self rather than life for God. The tendency to be selfish has been passed on to us
from our first parents. This is what we refer to as “original sin.” We are also sinners by choice.
From the time of Cain and Abel humanity has sought to provide our own remedy for this terminal disease called sin. God told Cain… “sin is crouching at the door you must overcome it.” But sometimes we just don’t conquer it.
In the parable Jesus reminds his critics and us that God is a God of grace. Many of the workers grumbled at the land owner’s generosity. They thought they should have more, than their original agreement with the owner. And so they grumbled.
To grumble is to make complaining remarks or noises under one’s breath. To murmur or mutter in discontent, is to grumble. In staff over the past few months we have been reading about the Children of Israel on their journey from slavery in Egypt to freedom and the promised land.
The children of Israel grumbled against Moses and the Lord. They grumbled because they didn’t have enough water. They grumbled because they didn’t like the wilderness. They grumbled because they thought Moses was a harsh leader. They grumbled because they missed Egypt. They grumbled because they thought the “promised land” was filled with giants God could not defeat.
Do you know how to spot a Grumbler Here are three marks of a Grumbler.
First, a grumbler is never satisfied with what he has. If it is money, he never has enough. If it is his home, somebody else has a nicer one. If it is his grades in school, an A- is a disappointment. He is an expert in criticism and a Ph.D. in nitpicking. Nothing is ever really enough.
Second, he always has an excuse. Ask him why he doesn’t buy a new car and he says the interest rates are too high. Ask him again and he says they cost too much. Ask him again and he says new cars are a rip-off. Ask him why he doesn’t buy a used car and he says you’re just buying somebody else’s problems. Ask him why he doesn’t fix up the car he has and he says you don’t throw good money after bad.
Third, he secretly believes he can never succeed. The key word is “secretly.” He may not even be aware that he has given up on life. But his grumbling gives him away. Down in his heart the grumbler believes the game of life is rigged, the cards are stacked against him and that, try as he might, he is doomed to failure. Show him the glass of water and ask, “Is it half full or half empty?", and he’ll say, “I don’t know, but the water is probably polluted.”
And that brings us to the parable Jesus told in Matthew 20:1-16. It begins this way: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a very large estate who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” Through out the day he hired more workers. When the day’s work is done, the time came to pay off the workers. Immediately something unusual happens:
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going to the first’” At the end of the day the wealthy landowner chose to pay everyone the same wage.
The owner of the vineyard answered one of the grumblers, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? I want to give the last man hired the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?
God is like the good employer. We can not purchase heaven. We can not purchase forgiveness. We can not purchase holiness. Holiness is God’s possession. He has chosen to give holiness, forgiveness, eternal life to all through faith in Jesus Christ. The blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross covers our sin. Grace is a gift that costs everything to the giver and nothing to the receiver.
The Master is coming to the marketplace and he’s looking for workers. There’s plenty of work, more than enough to go around, and he’s looking for volunteers. You needn’t worry about the salary. He owns the cattle on a thousand hills. No one has ever been laid off. And no one has ever been disappointed. God is just. No one will be underpaid.
–God is generous. Everyone will be surprised.
