18th Sunday After Pentecost
Sept 18, 2005 Text: Matthew 20:1-16
What Do You Think of God's Work Ethic?
Rev. Dr. Kenneth Wieting
To All the saints in Christ Jesus at Luther Memorial Chapel and University Student Center, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Dear Christians, God isn’t like us! In the Greek, Jesus’ question “do you begrudge my generosity?” literally reads, “Is your eye evil because I am good?” Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of heaven. In His kingdom, God’s method is to reward a one-hour worker and a 12-hour worker equally. That doesn’t fit with our idea of fairness. It can give us an evil eye. In the workplaces of this world such an approach would lead to bankruptcy and dissatisfied workers. In the university such an approach would lead to loss of incentive and meaningless grades and credits. In the worldly realm even Scripture says, “If a man does not work, neither should he eat” (II Thess 3:10). But when it comes to the kingdom of heaven, God isn’t like us!
The immediate context of this parable indicates that Jesus was first of all speaking to His disciples as He sent them out to proclaim His Word. They questioned what their reward would be (Mt. 19:27-30). The term that Jesus used for “workers” is also the term He used when He said, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to throw out workers into His harvest” (Mt. 9:38) and the worker is worthy of His hire (Mt. 10:10) as he preaches the Word. Jesus’ parable of the generous landowner should not be abruptly generalized at the expense of overlooking its immediate framework.
First and foremost Jesus’ parable is the great leveler of vineyard workers. Pre-Seminary students and vicars take special note! First and foremost Jesus’ parable is for the Apostles who laid the foundation for the Church but who were prone to compare and jockey for position as workers (Mt. 20:20-28). First and foremost, Jesus’ parable is for the laborers (pastors) who like Timothy followed the apostles by accurately handling the word of truth (II Tim. 2:15). Sideway glances of envy and dissatisfaction are not foreign in the office of the ministry. But they are deadly to those serving in it.
What they are to remember is that their call as laborers in the vineyard is solely a gift of God’s grace. The man who worked 12 hours and bore the heat of the day had nothing over the men who worked only one hour. For the worker to judge the housemaster is nonsensical. The message and the office of the Holy Ministry is totally a gift of the landowner. As Jesus said, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”
All of the work depended on the initiative of the owner of the vineyard. None of the workers in the parable applied for the position. Rather, God, the owner, went out and chose them. The one attribute these workers had in common was being idle or unoccupied. Therefore James and John had no right to expect positions of honor over Matthew, the hated tax collector and a latecomer to labor in the vineyard. None of the apostles had a right to expect grander treatment than St. Paul who for a time persecuted the Church. He also was a worker in God’s vineyard, chosen by Christ.
In God’s kingdom, the pay scale is based upon grace, not merit. It is an arena in which God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor God’s ways our ways. When Dr. Luther was about my age he spoke of someone who had been a Christian for only half a year and then died. He then reflected on his own thirty years of labor and trouble with preaching and other matters. He said, and I quote, “yet I get exactly what those have received who died a timely death and were in the vineyard only one hour.” (WLS, Vol III, #4020) Luther spoke of our temptation to be envious in such cases. He concluded, “Shall we, then, not be ashamed, we poor mud sacks who promptly want to exalt ourselves when we have done a little more than another…the pesky devil strengthens us in our evil way which wants to be seen…it will hardly resist the impulse to argue with God.” That’s what Jesus pictured so clearly in this parable. The first workers had not been wronged. God gave them exactly what He promised. Yet they presumed to argue with God. Their complaint was that God had been too generous with those who came later. They compared their works with others in the vineyard and they grumbled against the landowner for His generosity.
What do you think of God’s work ethic? The firsts became lasts not because they failed to do good works. Jesus does not deny that they bore the burden and the scorching heat of the day. Rather, the firsts became lasts because they made earthly comparisons in heavenly matters. The firsts became lasts because they convinced themselves they had been wronged by God.
Beloved in Christ, our Lord was warning the men gifted with the apostolic office and those called as workers in the harvest field not to think in this way. But the kingdom truth that Jesus taught here applies to every vocation in which His saints serve Him. The Christian wife and mother who has labored for decades in faithful commitment to husband and children has a personal record in Christ identical to the mother who shirked responsibilities for years but in whom God’s Word worked repentance later in life. The Christian father who took heat for decades for speaking God’s truth in love in the home and in the world, receives the identical reward in Christ as the man who denied the faith for decades but in whom God’s Word worked repentance later in life. In God’s kingdom, there is not one bit of difference in their standing. There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. There are no second class citizens in this congregation. If any such thoughts enter your mind, repent, or you will be last. It is God who began a good work in us and it is He who will carry it on to completion (Phil 1:6).
What do you think of God’s work ethic? In the deepest sense, it is not a work ethic at all. In the deepest sense it is a gift ethic. It is a gift of grace based upon the work of one man, Jesus Christ. God makes us equal with the one man who has borne the heat of the day, the day named Black Friday. The heat of that day included the damming heat of God’s wrath against our sin.
When the Father went looking for a worker for this vineyard task, there was only one who qualified. As Scripture says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). There was only one who stood idle to sin, who was unoccupied with iniquity. And by the work of that one man, Jesus Christ, God justified this whole world of lost sinners, this whole world of those who were lasts.
What do you think of God’s work ethic? God grant us all to marvel at the generosity of the landowner! Striking down all comparisons with others, God grant us to marvel anew each day at the Grace of God! For not only does God forbid us to exalt ourselves by means of this parable, He also thereby guards us against despair. He shows us that in His kingdom all merits are abolished except the merits of Jesus Christ. In this parable God shows us that it is His will to give us the kingdom. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”
What do you think of God’s work ethic? Thank God it isn’t fair! In Christ, God works on the principle of Grace, by which we sinners get what we don’t deserve. In Christ, God has moved us from the last place of rebels separated from God to the first place of those baptized into His Name and receiving His forgiveness. None of us have a different baptism, different gospel, different faith or different Sacrament than another. All of us are so wonderfully equal in Christ – in fact, by a blessed exchange, we are equal to Christ Himself! Those who think they have done great things for God are here humbled to trust nothing but God’s grace in Christ. Those who think they have blown it, that they are too late to work in the kingdom are here uplifted to trust nothing but God’s grace in Christ.
Within His grace you are now called to work for Him in your vocation. Whatever hour of the day, youth, middle years, senior years, you are free to go about your daily work with joy. You are to bear the heat of the day, the ridicule, the cross that He gives you. As you live you are to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel. But even if you are in the last minute of the twelfth hour, even if your life should end this week, you are free to go about your daily work with joy. As St. Paul says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”. As we sang in the Introit, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”.
Thank God His work ethic is unfair! The one who has done all the work of our salvation gives us infinitely more than we deserve. The crucified and risen Christ is among us now not to complain, but to bring us all that His work has secured. “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116). Thank God that His ways are higher than our ways as far as the heavens are higher than the earth. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: AMEN.
What Do You Think of God's Work Ethic?
Rev. Dr. Kenneth Wieting
To All the saints in Christ Jesus at Luther Memorial Chapel and University Student Center, Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;
Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Dear Christians, God isn’t like us! In the Greek, Jesus’ question “do you begrudge my generosity?” literally reads, “Is your eye evil because I am good?” Jesus was teaching about the kingdom of heaven. In His kingdom, God’s method is to reward a one-hour worker and a 12-hour worker equally. That doesn’t fit with our idea of fairness. It can give us an evil eye. In the workplaces of this world such an approach would lead to bankruptcy and dissatisfied workers. In the university such an approach would lead to loss of incentive and meaningless grades and credits. In the worldly realm even Scripture says, “If a man does not work, neither should he eat” (II Thess 3:10). But when it comes to the kingdom of heaven, God isn’t like us!
The immediate context of this parable indicates that Jesus was first of all speaking to His disciples as He sent them out to proclaim His Word. They questioned what their reward would be (Mt. 19:27-30). The term that Jesus used for “workers” is also the term He used when He said, “Pray the Lord of the harvest to throw out workers into His harvest” (Mt. 9:38) and the worker is worthy of His hire (Mt. 10:10) as he preaches the Word. Jesus’ parable of the generous landowner should not be abruptly generalized at the expense of overlooking its immediate framework.
First and foremost Jesus’ parable is the great leveler of vineyard workers. Pre-Seminary students and vicars take special note! First and foremost Jesus’ parable is for the Apostles who laid the foundation for the Church but who were prone to compare and jockey for position as workers (Mt. 20:20-28). First and foremost, Jesus’ parable is for the laborers (pastors) who like Timothy followed the apostles by accurately handling the word of truth (II Tim. 2:15). Sideway glances of envy and dissatisfaction are not foreign in the office of the ministry. But they are deadly to those serving in it.
What they are to remember is that their call as laborers in the vineyard is solely a gift of God’s grace. The man who worked 12 hours and bore the heat of the day had nothing over the men who worked only one hour. For the worker to judge the housemaster is nonsensical. The message and the office of the Holy Ministry is totally a gift of the landowner. As Jesus said, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”
All of the work depended on the initiative of the owner of the vineyard. None of the workers in the parable applied for the position. Rather, God, the owner, went out and chose them. The one attribute these workers had in common was being idle or unoccupied. Therefore James and John had no right to expect positions of honor over Matthew, the hated tax collector and a latecomer to labor in the vineyard. None of the apostles had a right to expect grander treatment than St. Paul who for a time persecuted the Church. He also was a worker in God’s vineyard, chosen by Christ.
In God’s kingdom, the pay scale is based upon grace, not merit. It is an arena in which God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor God’s ways our ways. When Dr. Luther was about my age he spoke of someone who had been a Christian for only half a year and then died. He then reflected on his own thirty years of labor and trouble with preaching and other matters. He said, and I quote, “yet I get exactly what those have received who died a timely death and were in the vineyard only one hour.” (WLS, Vol III, #4020) Luther spoke of our temptation to be envious in such cases. He concluded, “Shall we, then, not be ashamed, we poor mud sacks who promptly want to exalt ourselves when we have done a little more than another…the pesky devil strengthens us in our evil way which wants to be seen…it will hardly resist the impulse to argue with God.” That’s what Jesus pictured so clearly in this parable. The first workers had not been wronged. God gave them exactly what He promised. Yet they presumed to argue with God. Their complaint was that God had been too generous with those who came later. They compared their works with others in the vineyard and they grumbled against the landowner for His generosity.
What do you think of God’s work ethic? The firsts became lasts not because they failed to do good works. Jesus does not deny that they bore the burden and the scorching heat of the day. Rather, the firsts became lasts because they made earthly comparisons in heavenly matters. The firsts became lasts because they convinced themselves they had been wronged by God.
Beloved in Christ, our Lord was warning the men gifted with the apostolic office and those called as workers in the harvest field not to think in this way. But the kingdom truth that Jesus taught here applies to every vocation in which His saints serve Him. The Christian wife and mother who has labored for decades in faithful commitment to husband and children has a personal record in Christ identical to the mother who shirked responsibilities for years but in whom God’s Word worked repentance later in life. The Christian father who took heat for decades for speaking God’s truth in love in the home and in the world, receives the identical reward in Christ as the man who denied the faith for decades but in whom God’s Word worked repentance later in life. In God’s kingdom, there is not one bit of difference in their standing. There are no second class citizens in the kingdom of heaven. There are no second class citizens in this congregation. If any such thoughts enter your mind, repent, or you will be last. It is God who began a good work in us and it is He who will carry it on to completion (Phil 1:6).
What do you think of God’s work ethic? In the deepest sense, it is not a work ethic at all. In the deepest sense it is a gift ethic. It is a gift of grace based upon the work of one man, Jesus Christ. God makes us equal with the one man who has borne the heat of the day, the day named Black Friday. The heat of that day included the damming heat of God’s wrath against our sin.
When the Father went looking for a worker for this vineyard task, there was only one who qualified. As Scripture says, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). There was only one who stood idle to sin, who was unoccupied with iniquity. And by the work of that one man, Jesus Christ, God justified this whole world of lost sinners, this whole world of those who were lasts.
What do you think of God’s work ethic? God grant us all to marvel at the generosity of the landowner! Striking down all comparisons with others, God grant us to marvel anew each day at the Grace of God! For not only does God forbid us to exalt ourselves by means of this parable, He also thereby guards us against despair. He shows us that in His kingdom all merits are abolished except the merits of Jesus Christ. In this parable God shows us that it is His will to give us the kingdom. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?”
What do you think of God’s work ethic? Thank God it isn’t fair! In Christ, God works on the principle of Grace, by which we sinners get what we don’t deserve. In Christ, God has moved us from the last place of rebels separated from God to the first place of those baptized into His Name and receiving His forgiveness. None of us have a different baptism, different gospel, different faith or different Sacrament than another. All of us are so wonderfully equal in Christ – in fact, by a blessed exchange, we are equal to Christ Himself! Those who think they have done great things for God are here humbled to trust nothing but God’s grace in Christ. Those who think they have blown it, that they are too late to work in the kingdom are here uplifted to trust nothing but God’s grace in Christ.
Within His grace you are now called to work for Him in your vocation. Whatever hour of the day, youth, middle years, senior years, you are free to go about your daily work with joy. You are to bear the heat of the day, the ridicule, the cross that He gives you. As you live you are to conduct yourself in a manner worthy of the Gospel. But even if you are in the last minute of the twelfth hour, even if your life should end this week, you are free to go about your daily work with joy. As St. Paul says, “For me to live is Christ and to die is gain”. As we sang in the Introit, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints”.
Thank God His work ethic is unfair! The one who has done all the work of our salvation gives us infinitely more than we deserve. The crucified and risen Christ is among us now not to complain, but to bring us all that His work has secured. “What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord” (Ps 116). Thank God that His ways are higher than our ways as far as the heavens are higher than the earth. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: AMEN.
posted by Luther Memorial Chapel at
9/26/2005
