September 23, 2023 – 17th Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20)

Today’s Gospel story is one of the more detailed of Jesus’ parables, and we hear yet another expression of what the Kingdom of heaven is like. To our minds, accustomed to wages that fit the labor, the vineyard owner’s payment practices seem totally unfair. 

The story itself raises internal questions which are never addressed: Were those hired at the third hour tardy about coming to the marketplace? Had those hired at the sixth and ninth hours already worked half a day at another farm? But this parable is directed toward one point only: God’s generosity, when it comes to eternal life, is such that one person is never given less than another. God’s scale of values clearly differs from our own in this sense.

God’s gift is that of welcoming us as members of God’s family. This cannot be earned by a full day of work at the farm. It cannot be earned through a lifetime of service. It cannot be bought at all. God is not required to give on terms that seem fair to us. But it can be given, even to a person who turns to God comes so late in life that little opportunity for service remains. Even a deathbed repentance, if it is sincere, may put one into a saving relationship with God.

So the workers who began in the morning are in quite a different position than they imagined themselves to be, if the vineyard owner represents God. And so are we and all people in any religion who have ever expected God’s gift of life to be based on our performance.

The parable goes on to emphasize what seems unfair: When the time comes to pay the laborers, why is it that those who were hired last are first to receive their reward? It appears to be a lesson to those who worked longer that they will receive no more than what was agreed upon from the start. And they are not supposed to expect more or to feel envious or cheated. How can we understand this seeming unfairness?

Jesus is teaching here that one can have no more than eternal fellowship with God. And whoever does find such life can feel no envy that others have received it too. Since it is more than any of us could ever earn, and it is a gift, there can be no questions about how much a particular individual “deserves.” God’s rules of giving turn everything upside down. The last become first. And if the first do not take care, they may end up last.

In today’s reading from Exodus, we hear of the Lord giving the people the gift of manna. It’s nothing fancy, it’s nothing luxurious. It is basic sustenance, their daily bread. But what is more important, I think, is that it is a gift that cannot be hoarded. When the people tried to gather more than their share, the extra manna “became infested with worms and stank” (Ex 16:20, CEB). With the manna, everyone has plenty, but no one has too much. The leaders and the servants receive the same amount. The people who worked all day and those who did little received the same amount. The able and the disabled got the same amount – plenty, but not too much – and it was all a gift.

God never gives any of us what we think is our due. God gives, not out of any need for our services, but because God is love. And the nature of love is to be giving. We love because God first loved us. For that we must be eternally grateful, for God’s gift always exceeds anything we can imagine.

God calls. Some of us are ready to respond early, so God agrees to give us God’s presence. Others are not present in spirit to hear and respond to this call. But God keeps calling… there is a third hour, a sixth hour, a ninth hour.

Whenever one hears and answers, whether sooner or later, an opportunity is offered for that one to work in the vineyard, and a wage is promised. The reward is always the experience of God and eternal life. All the laborers in God’s great vineyard receive the same reward, for in the Kingdom of heaven, there is no favoritism, and there is no wage scale.

Henri Nouwen wrote in Compassion, “God always calls. To hear that call and allow it to guide our actions requires discipline in order to prevent ourselves from remaining and becoming spiritually deaf. There are so many voices calling for our attention and so many distracting us that a serious effort is necessary if we are to become and remain sensitive to the divine presence in our lives.” My friends, how has God called you to service today? This week? This year? Are you responding to that call or ignoring it in the hopes that you can join in later?