Unmerited Favor / Based on
Matthew 20:1-16 and Jonah 3:10-4:11
/ Delivered September 24, 2017 to CCH
Hymns: Softly and Tenderly,
Amazing Grace, We Are Called to be God’s People
Matthew 20:1-16
20:1 "For the kingdom
of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire
laborers for his vineyard.
20:2 After agreeing with
the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When he went out
about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
20:4 and he said to them,
'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they
went.
20:5 When he went out
again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same.
20:6 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?'
20:7 They said to him,
'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'
20:8 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.'
20:9 When those hired
about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
20:10 Now when the first
came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the
usual daily wage.
20:11 And when they
received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 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.'
20:13 But he replied to
one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for
the usual daily wage?
20:14 Take what belongs to
you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to
do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am
generous?'
20:16 So the last will be
first, and the first will be last."
Happy Sunday to you! My name is Darci Strutt McQuiston and I am
one of the Lay Speakers from the United Methodist church up on the hill. It’s my pleasure to be with you today!
I’m going to lean heavily
on the gospel lesson from Matthew but also pull in the lectionary reading from
Jonah.
I’ve read the Matthew
parable. A few things happened in the
Jonah story before today’s lesson. He
had been asked by God to go and preach to the people of Nineveh but didn’t want
to because he feared God would be merciful and he wanted to see them burn so he
went in the opposite direction. He was swallowed
by a big fish, and after he had time to rethink God’s request, he was spit
out. He relented and delivered God’s
message, no doubt without a lot of enthusiasm.
Miracle of miracles – the people repented. This is where the scripture for today starts.
Jonah 3:10-4:11
3:10 When God saw what
they 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.
4:1 But this was very
displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry.
4:2 He 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.
4:3 And now, O LORD,
please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
4:4 And the LORD said,
"Is it right for you to be angry?"
4:5 Then 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.
4:6 The 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.
4:7 But when dawn came up
the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the bush, so that it withered.
4:8 When 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."
4:9 But God said to Jonah,
"Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?" And he said,
"Yes, angry enough to die."
4:10 Then 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.
4:11 And 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?"
The thoughts I’m pulling
from today’s lessons are:
Our definition of “fair”
is different from God’s
God has a spot for us all
Grace makes no sense
Our definition of “fair”
is different from God’s
20:9 When those hired
about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
20:10 Now when the first
came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the
usual daily wage.
20:11 And when they
received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 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.'
20:13 But he replied to
one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for
the usual daily wage?
20:14 Take what belongs to
you and go;
Jonah wanted a city full
of people to be destroyed because that seemed fair to him. The workers in the field wanted more money
for working more hours because that seemed fair to them.
We have a sense of
fairness. Work should be reward by
dollars per hour. Evil people should get
the punishment they deserve. We want
justice!
God’s actions didn’t take
anything away from the complainers. The
workers received what the landowner had negotiated from the beginning. They thought that was fair in the morning. The root of the problem with Nineveh was
their evil ways, and they changed their behavior when they understood God’s
word to them. All worked out well, yet
our human side says, “why did he get more per hour” and “why did they get away
with bad behavior”.
Our inner world revolves
around ourselves. We work hard at
listening to God and being good people.
God’s judgement sees the needs of those that couldn’t find jobs until
late, and the 120,000 who were uninformed, “didn’t know their right hand from
their left”. We are all God’s creation,
whether we like each other or not, and God loves us all. My favorite definition of grace is “unmerited
favor”. It isn’t something worked for
and earned.
God has a spot for us all
20:2 After agreeing with
the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When he went out
about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
20:4 and he said to them,
'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they
went.
20:5 When he went out
again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same.
20:6 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?'
20:7 They said to him,
'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'
I was raised in a
Christian home and baptized as a child.
I was taught about Christ from a young age. Not everyone gets that kind of start in
life. There are some that don’t hear the
Good News until they are adults. Then
there are some that don’t experience the revelation until their final moments. I used to doubt some of those were deserving
because of how little of their life was devoted to God. I believe the workers waiting in the market
all day wanted to work, and would have been happier had they been hired in the
morning. They probably felt helpless to provide
for their family nearly all day. It
gives me a different perspective.
This passage reminds us
that God returns to call us to serve him over and over, right up to the last
hour. It is never too late. There is still room for us to serve God even
in the final moments.
Jonah wanted his enemies
destroyed. God wanted them to repent. God is a full of second chances.
Grace makes no sense
20:14 Take what belongs to
you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to
do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am
generous?'
20:16 So the last will be
first, and the first will be last."
Or God’s response to Jonah
4:11 And 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?"
We ask, “God why do you do
what you do?” His response it this case
is, “Because I choose to.”
Jonah knew it in advance
as we see from verse 2 in the Jonah story.
4:2 He 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.
That’s whining, “Could you
be a little less loving and merciful to those I don’t like God?”
How silly that
sounds! We depend on God’s love and
grace for our life. Others also depend
on it, whether we like them or not. We
find comfort in scripture like Matthew 10:29-30, “Are not two sparrows sold for
a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s
care. And even the very hairs of your head
are all numbered. So don’t be afraid;
you are worth more than many sparrows.”
But like Jonah, we think
there are others God should punish because of how they have treated us. Guess what?
God still loves them. In fact,
God wants us to help them understand that He loves them. Then it gets to be our “fault” when they are
saved. My interpretation of “the last
shall be first and the first shall be last” is that they are equal.
God’s grace pours out both
for us and for our enemies because they are God’s concern too. God loving others doesn’t diminish His love
for us. Jonah had it right. God is abounding in steadfast love.
So it is true. None of us get what we deserve. Instead Psalm 103:12 says, “as far as the east
is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” His call remains working at our hearts and the
Holy Spirit continues to whisper His truth, for as long as we have breath. Grace makes no sense, it isn’t fair, you can’t
earn it, and it is amazing.
Praise God!
Amen
