First Reading: Jonah 3:10–4:11
10When God saw what [the people of Ninevah] did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.
4:1But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. 2He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing. 3And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” 5Then Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city, and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would become of the city.
6The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush. 7But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered. 8When the sun rose, God prepared a sultry east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?” And he said, “Yes, angry enough to die.” 10Then the Lord said, “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. 11And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?”
Psalm: Psalm 145:1-8
The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. (Ps. 145:8)
1I will exalt you, my God and king,
and bless your name forever and ever.
2Every day will I bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
3Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised!
There is no end to your greatness.
4One generation shall praise your works to another
and shall declare your power.
5I will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty
and all your marvelous works.
6They shall tell of the might of your wondrous acts,
and I will recount your greatness.
7They shall publish the remembrance of your great goodness;
they shall sing joyfully of your righteousness.
8The Lord is gracious and full of compassion,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
Second Reading: Philippians 1:21-30
21For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; 24but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you. 25Since I am convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, 26so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.
27Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, 28and are in no way intimidated by your opponents. For them this is evidence of their destruction, but of your salvation. And this is God’s doing. 29For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well—30since you are having the same struggle that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
[Jesus said to the disciples:] 1“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And 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?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8When 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.’ 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, ‘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.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
CHILDREN’S SERMON: Today I want to look again at one of Disney’s beloved fairy tales that has been made into multiple movies, Beauty and the Beast. Belle, a beautiful young town girl, is captured by a Beast who is actually a prince turned into a monster by a wicked fairy. He must learn to love Belle and get her to love him before the last petal falls from an enchanted rose. Meanwhile handsome and buff Garcon is convinced Belle is the right wife for him. There is much drama and beautiful music and magical love that sees beyond the scars of life. Belle wins the heart of the Beast who humbles himself. And she learns to see beyond appearances and to love the Beast. In our text today we are tempted to see a landowner as a beast because it seems unfair to pay all his workers the same wage though they have worked different amounts of time. Can we see beyond his seemingly gruff exterior to the heart of love beneath? Let us try.
Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, my rock and redeemer.
SERMON
What is the context of our text today? We are in Pentecost, asking how our faith impacts our lives. We are somehow like Disney’s Beast because we are like the prince living under a curse. We in a similar way are children of God living in the kingdom of this world if sin. Biblically, Matthew sets the context of the story in a setting where a young rich man comes to ask Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. What must he do to break the curse? The man believes he has fulfilled the law and has tried to do everything, as God requires. Maybe he is like Disney’s Garcon, the arrogant young man who wants to marry Belle and flexes his muscles bragging about his wonderfulness. The young rich man of Jesus, though, suspects he has fallen short. Hence the question, “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” I suspect many of us, in the depths of our heart ponder if there is something more we need to do to get to heaven?
In the Bible, the young rich man is told to share his riches and he has left sad, for he was very wealthy. Beauty tells Garcon she does not want to marry him and he leaves angry. The Beast and Garcon must each humble himself. The disciples hear this and despair as they have left everything to follow Jesus. What more must they do as faithful followers? Jesus tells this story.
1“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
A landowner, God, the owner of this world, takes the initiative to seek and hire us, the laborers. Faith is not a once in a lifetime opportunity, it seems. God keeps coming back, hiring workers at various times of the day – early morning, nine a. m., noon, and 3 p.m. We do not know if the people in the square refused him earlier hoping for a better offer, or if they slept in or if perhaps they were passed over, but the owner keeps returning. At the end of day, at the end of time, rewards for work done were given. I find that encouraging.
God does not give up on seeking workers and God does not give up on us. God does reward. Some come to faith as children and some later on. Some of us have dramatic stories of conversion and some of us have the internal peace of growing into productive workers for our Lord. God is not a one size fits all God! In the face of death, we comfort ourselves that one-day we will meet our heroes, our relatives and friends, and perhaps that wayward special person who turned to God at the last minute. God is a landowner seeking laborers. Belle and the Beast go through the tale learning to love each other. The curse is reversed at the cross but there is another theme being woven of how we learn to love each other, see past our scars and masks and humble ourselves.
The twist is that all the workers, the early morning and the late afternoon workers, all receive the same wage. “Unfair” cry those who have worked all day. Did I hear an “Amen” from you? By the world’s standards, life IS unfair! It is unfair that late, lazy or unqualified workers get the same wage as those who have worked hard all day and done what is right. It’s ok to shake your head and agree in the depths of your heart. We demonstrate for fair wages, equal rights and justice. People want life to be fair for all ethnicities, all economic strata and all people. But life is not fair and we demand justice in the kingdom of this world. The Beast and Garcon should have equal opportunity to claim Belle’s heart. Both men are fighting arrogance but the Beast is also fighting a curse. The odds are stacked against him. Handsome and buff Garcon seems to have all a man needs to impress Belle and the town’s people agree. It is so easy for us to feel like victims of injustice.
In Hebrews 11, the faith chapter, the writer talks about the martyrs through history who died during persecution for their faith.
“39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for them so that only together with us would they be made perfect.”
Jonah in our Old Testament reading, in the face of God’s mercy to Nineveh, sat under a bush God provided and sulked. A worm destroyed the bush and Jonah whined. He knew God to be merciful. There was no point in his work. Life was unfair in Jonah’s eyes. God responds – should he not be concerned about the Ninevites who cannot tell their left hand from their right? Should God make life revolve around Jonah or you or me? Perhaps there is a bigger picture we do not see and cannot understand?
If we connect blessings in this world with God’s approval, as the Jews did, then we end up asking, “Who sinned, his parents or this man, that a man should be born blind?” When faced with a diagnosis of cancer, a bankruptcy, a wayward child, a setback in any area, it is easy to cry, “unfair” and put our lives under a microscope to see where we went wrong. This world is not the kingdom of heaven and our sense of values is warped by this world. Perhaps when we get to heaven we will see the bigger picture and there we will be treated fairly. God works outside our boxes and has a bigger plan he is working on. Belle and the Beast do not see the bigger picture till the end when he has humbled himself and they have learned love.
As I step back from the demands for justice, I must ask myself if it is true that life is unfair. Those hired early in the morning, let’s say the disciples, represent people who had the blessing of walking and talking with Jesus in person for years. The early workers had the privilege of working under a benevolent dictatorship, under the owner, God. They had the gift of prayer. They had the blessing of fellow workers hopefully supporting each other. Paul in our second reading ponders the choice of death to be with Christ verses the suffering of this present life. For the sake of his fellow Christians he chooses life. Life as Christians cannot be compared to what we might have experienced without God. We just don’t know!
Meanwhile, whom are those late hirees working for? They are not working for the Lord; they are sitting in the public square waiting to be hired. Perhaps we would not equate life without Christ as working for Satan but I would ask you to reflect on lives of others without Christ. What was your life like before you came to faith? Those late arrivers have not just sat in luxury in the market, enjoying life but have worried about how to buy food for their families, worried about who is first in line to be chosen, pondered their faults that they were not chosen. Perhaps they have grumbled, gossiped and despaired of life. They have not had an easy life. For those of us who chose to follow Christ as youngsters, we have received benefits far beyond the wage at the end of time, a life of eternity in God’s presence. In today’s lingo, the bonus of having a benefit package like health insurance, vacation days, or bonus days needs to be factored in. Life is unfair but life with Christ has fringe benefits that help level the playing field. Also, the Beast was not alone in his curse for he had servants loyal to him and rooting for him as the other enchanted workers in the castle. The Beast is living in the castle as he struggles in community.
8When 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.
Not only is God always seeking out laborers, not only do we not see the big picture, not only do we have a benefit package to go with our work but we now learn that all workers were paid the same wage at the end of time. All believers receive eternal life. When the Beast loves Belle and the spell is broken, all the enchanted servants are freed. Love flows and transforms more than just the Beast. How the rewards for good deeds will work out in heaven, we just don’t know. There are theories about heaven. Some talk about gems in crowns. Many think of a heavenly choir or floating on clouds. I like C. S. Lewis’ image in the last book of Tales of Narnia, The Last Battle, where the heroes start running as they reach heaven, crying “Higher up and higher in”. That gives the feeling of continued relationship and adventure, as we are able to receive and continue growing with Christ after death. We are all recipients of God’s grace and God will reward us fairly in eternity.
“11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,”
Next, notice that the unfairness of life in this parable has the workers grumbling against the owner, God. I do not see them reflecting on their choices that led to the results. They do not say, we should have waited to the last minute to start working for God. That is not their response. Their response is to blame God of unfairness. Faced with the horrible circumstances of life, poverty, disease, and war, I can hear that little voice on my shoulder whispering, “And where is your God? Is he lost in the heavens? Does he not care about you?” All the doubts about God’s love rise to the surface in the face of unfairness. Do you notice how our attention has gone from the blessings of working for God and his character to the pain of our own situation? We become self-centered and not God-centered. We must be careful that we do not end up like Jonah, sitting under a withering vine, angry with God. Grumbling blinds us from realizing the blessings we are receiving and separates us from the God of the universe.
“Friend”
Finally, please note how God addresses those workers who are grumbling and out of focus. The owner responds to the workers, “Friend.” Let me say it again. “Friend.” I must stop here and cry. The God of the universe addresses me in the midst of my grumbling and laments and pulls me back to reality, “Friend.” Abraham who got his wife to lie and become the Pharaohs concubine to save his own neck, who irritated Sarah with his favoritism for Ishmael until God stepped in and corrected him, this Abraham, the father of the faith, was called the “friend of God.” In this parable today, God calls his workers friends. I hear warmth, I hear love, I hear acceptance.
I do not know whom you identify with in this story. Perhaps you signed on with those early workers and you question God’s fairness? Perhaps you are just overwhelmed at God’s mercy at the end of your life? Perhaps you are just plain grumbling because life is hard right now and you want to demonstrate and bring justice to earth?
This parable reminds us that the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of heaven are under God’s rule, a benevolent dictatorship that is run by his mercy. God seeks to partner with us through out our lives. This life is unfair but when wages are paid we will receive what God has promised, eternal life in a kingdom without tears, without hunger, and without pain. That is something to look forward to. You are God’s worker and he addresses you a “friend.” The curse on the Beast was not broken by hate and fighting but by the love of Belle. The curse of sin was broken through forgiveness because of the cross, not by works but by the love of God.
Let the people of God say, “Thank you Lord.”
On the Way to Wonder 