God’s Kingdom Does You No Wrong
Matthew 20:1-16
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit
St. Matthew 20:10-13 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. 11 And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong.
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… The classic movie “Lion King” begins with a scene where Scar, the evil brother lion of Mufasa, snatches a little mouse for his lunch and says, “Life’s not fair, is it?” Those words are a commentary on human nature.
All of us are born with a natural instinct for what is fair. Without ever being taught, we seem to know when we are not being treated equally with others. Even young children are experts at fairness: “How come her dessert is bigger than mine? That’s not fair!” “He got to spend more time on the computer than I did. That’s not fair!” And it’s the same for us adults, too. All of us have heard people say at one time or another, “Life just isn’t fair.”
It seems that whenever people bring up the issue of fairness, it is almost always because they are promoting their own interests. “Management should be paying me more; my wages are unfair.” “Hey, I was next in line; it’s not fair that you’re serving him first.” “I shouldn’t have to do all this; you should take your fair share of the responsibility.” Sometimes our complaints are justified; often they are simply an expression of greed or selfishness or laziness.
Where this becomes particularly dangerous, however, is when we try to apply the idea of fairness to our relationship with God. Demanding fairness from God amounts to telling God what He should and shouldn’t do. Demanding fairness from God is to take ourselves and our standards and put them higher than God, to make God fit our requirements of how we think He should act. And to do that is not only foolish and arrogant, it is idolatrous; it is to make ourselves into gods above God.
Today’s parable, then, serves to rid us of this notion of fairness in our relationship with God; it should rid us of making God subject to our rules. The landowner, who stands for God in this parable, says to the grumbling laborers, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?”
Here is the cold, hard truth: the Gospel isn’t fair. In fact, the Gospel cannot be fair if it is to be the real thing. The true Gospel of Christ is about the gift of God’s free generosity and love. Fairness, on the other hand, is not about gifts; it is about requirements, it is about what someone must do, whether or not he wants to.
God is not subject to any outside requirements. God cannot be coerced. He cannot be put into the position of owing anyone anything. Rather, God wishes to deal with us according to the abundance of His grace; He wants us to receive everything from Him as a gift. The Gospel is about His undeserved goodness and His unmerited kindness toward us in Christ – not because He has to or because He owes us, but simply because it is His good pleasure to be generous toward us; it is simply the way God is.
Unbelievers have a god who is fair, but Christians have a God who is gracious. Unbelief tries to extract things from God on the basis of its own standard of what is just. And since unbelief does not rely on God or have any confidence in Him, it tries to control Him by what it does. “Look what I’ve done for you, God; now you do this for me.” But faith humbly trusts in God to give all that is needed. It believes that God is good and trusts that His goodness will be shown to those who wait on Him.
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Fairness comes under the category of God’s Law. God’s Law is about justice; it’s about getting what you deserve. And for the sinner who has fallen short of the Law, justice means judgment. St. Paul writes in Romans 6:3 that “The wages of sin,” what you’ve earned by our works, “is death.” So you had better think twice before you ask God to be fair with you. Fairness is what the devil wants. Fairness is hell.
But God does not wish to deal with you according to His fairness, but according to His mercy in Christ, in the manner of a gift. The fact that the Gospel is unfair, then, is very good news indeed. For in God’s unfairness He extends His love toward you. God’s Word says that you are “declared righteous freely by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Rom 3:24) “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9)
Do you boast of yourself or do you boast of God? Do you rely on your works or on God’s works? The Lord Himself counsels us in Jeremiah 9:23-24: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Yahweh, exercising lovingkindness and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight.”
This is the difference between the first and the last laborers in the vineyard. The first workers, who had labored the longest, wanted to deal boastfully with the landowner on the basis of their own efforts compared to the others. But the last workers, those who were only in the vineyard at the end of the day, humbly trusted that the landowner would give them “whatever is right.” In other words, they believed in the landowner’s goodness and righteousness, and in so doing, they received more than they ever expected or deserved.
It is the same way with God. Those who want to deal with Him on the basis of their own works and measurements of equality will be sent away from God’s presence forever. Hell was rightly described by C.S. Lewis as the place where the damned suffer the anguish of growing infinitely more angry with God, whose judgment they do not consider fair. But those who give up trying to deal with God on their own terms and instead rely on His goodness and mercy, they will receive from Him much more than they ever expected or deserved.
Hell is the place where there is anger and weeping and anguish at God’s supposed unfairness; but heaven is the place where God’s people sing and rejoice in God’s unfairness – where they experience the ever-growing joy of the undeserved love and goodness and life that the Lord causes to abound to His people.
“The last will be first, and the first last.” It’s not first come first served; it’s first come last served and last come first served. Repentant thieves and prostitutes enter the kingdom of heaven while unrepentant Pharisees are excluded. The new, contrite believer is at the front of the line while the self-righteous lifetime member is at the end. Those who come before God with pride and self-sufficiency will be last and outside of God’s kingdom. But those who come before God with lowliness as humble beggars will be first and the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
“The last will be first, and the first last.” That is the way of Christ. He who is the greatest made Himself to be the last of all on the holy cross. He was treated grossly and unfairly so that you would be treated graciously. He Himself was the one who did the work in the vineyard that brings you the generous reward at the end of the day.
Consider the times mentioned in this parable. Christ was handed over to Pontius Pilate at dawn. He was crucified at the third hour of the day. Darkness covered the land at the sixth hour. Our Lord died at the ninth hour as the perfect and complete sacrifice for our sin. He was buried at the eleventh hour of the day just before sundown.
Indeed, Jesus Christ is the true Laborer in the vineyard. The work was all done before the last laborers were hired. The Lord has accomplished everything before you were even brought to the faith. You need to add nothing; only receive and cling to His mercy and grace. Lay hold of the denarius Christ earned for you, the forgiveness and life and salvation which He gives to you in His words and His supper. Come in penitent faith to His table to receive the rich blessing He gives with His body and blood – not because it is fair, not because it is owed; but simply because it is His good pleasure to be generous and loving toward you.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
