The Unearned Wage

Matthew 20:1-16

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

St. Matthew 20:14-16  “Take what is yours and go your way.  I wish to give to this last man the same as you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?  Or is your eye evil because I am good?  So the last will be first, and the first last.  For many are called, but few are chosen.”

Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord…  We are now in the season of Pre-Lent.  Today and the next two Sundays have strange names: Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima.  They are named for the approximate number of days there are before Easter – approximately 70, 60 and 50 days.  These Sundays serve as a time of transition from the joy of Christmas and Epiphany to the somber penitence of Lent.

Today, on the first of these transitional Sundays, we hear our Lord Jesus speak a parable that exalts the goodness and grace of God, while at the same time it is warning Christians against self-righteousness, against complacency in faith, and against coldness toward Christ.

In this parable Jesus compares the kingdom of Heaven to a landowner who owns a vineyard.  Notice that the kingdom of heaven is not the vineyard, but the landowner.  It is compared to a person, because the kingdom is not about a place; it is about a person, it is about our Lord Jesus Christ.  Now in the parable, this person hires workers to come into his vineyard at various points of the day, from early morning to the late afternoon just before sunset.

To the first group he promises a denarius – a day’s pay – if they will come and work in the vineyard.  To the other groups he promises to give “whatever is right”.  At the end of the work day he orders his servants to call in the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last to arrive and finishing with those who had worked the entire day.  To those who were last he gives the same as he promised to the first workers.  To those who came in the middle of the day, he gives the same day’s wage.

Finally, he pays those who worked the longest, and they also get a denarius – a day’s pay.  And they begin to complain.  They had been there the longest.  They had done more work.  They should be paid more.

And it makes sense that they would complain.  We live in a world where we expect people to be paid according to the amount of time they put in.  But remember, this is a parable about the kingdom of Heaven, it is not a lesson about fair business practices.  Business practices have never been the way a church should be run.  In the kingdom of heaven we do not earn what we deserve, thanks be to God.  Rather, we depend upon the grace of God in Christ.

The landowner says to the workers, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong.  Did you not agree with me for a denarius?  Take what is yours and go your way.  I wish to give to this last man the same as to you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?  Or is your eye evil because I am good?”  Christ rewards those who will live in faith, believing His Gospel, receiving His Sacramental gifts, and bearing the fruits of good works.  He offers forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and full salvation.  And these are things that cannot be earned through any amount of labor, however diligent and seemingly righteous it may be.  The reward is Christ’s to give, and it is His alone.  And He is faithful to His Word, He keeps His promises, and He is generous to those whom He calls.

Notice in the parable that the landowner claims to have done nothing wrong; and indeed he hasn’t.  He has paid out to the longest working servants exactly what he said he would pay them.  He is faithful to his word toward them.  But he is also generous to those who came to him regardless of when they came.  He gives what is his to give, not what is earned by the workers.

In the kingdom of heaven, it is not the servants of Christ, but Christ Himself who earns the reward.  In today’s Epistle reading St. Paul speaks about many people running a race, but only one winning the prize.  Christ is really the only one who has won it, for He is the only one who is truly and always faithful.  He is the only one who is truly righteous and loving, so much so that He offered Himself up as a sacrifice for all of us, dying in our place and suffering the penalty for our sins.  Through His life, through His work, and through His cross, He has earned for us life and salvation.  He has won forgiveness of sins for all.  If we are to have a part in these things – a part in His Kingdom – then we must receive it from Him by God-given faith.

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It is only a false theology – a theology of glory, rooted in the false hope of human goodness – that could complain so much against the Gospel.  The complaining that we see in the parable displays a lack of faith; it demonstrates an abandonment of the true faith.  And that is why Jesus speaks this warning to us today, saying: “The last will be first and the first last.  For many are called but few chosen.”

The warning is sounded in today’s Epistle as well where St. Paul, the great apostle of faith, speaks about having to discipline himself lest he become disqualified; and then he gives the example of the Israelites in the wilderness.  They had received the calling of God.  They had been rescued out of Egyptian slavery.  They had been saved through many miracles.  They had been rescued at the Red Sea.  They had eaten food that dropped down out of heaven and that sprang up from the ground.  They had the visible presence of God with them.  They had it all!

And yet they did not believe.  And that resulted in the fact that many who had been called early never made it to the promised land.  Only their children were allowed in, along with two men who had been faithful; two men out of probably around 600,000 who had tasted the grace of God.  That’s frightening.

We hear often of the problems that are encountered by those new in the faith and how many of them fall away.  But there is also a danger to those of us who have lived under Christ’s grace for a long time as well, for we may begin to treat the grace of Christ lightly.  We may become self-righteous in our attitudes.  We may begin to begrudge the love of Christ to others whom we deem somehow less deserving.  And we face the danger that we will be counted as the last rather than the first, even though we were first.

But the greater danger is that any one of us can fall away altogether.  There is a great danger of tasting the grace of Christ and living under that grace, but then later drifting away from Him.

And this is a danger which seems most apparent.  People go from being active participants in the Church and diligent in the reception of Christ, to nothing more than names on a list of people who haven’t been seen in months or years.  In some families where fathers, mothers, siblings, or children were raised in the faith, they choose another way of life, a way of life that does not include Christ.

And still, most of these would still consider themselves Christians.  But the question that must be asked is, how can a person remain a Christian when he withdraws from Christ?  How possibly can a person who claims to be a Christian expect their faith in Christ to remain strong when that faith is not nourished and strengthened regularly by hearing God’s Word preached and receiving Holy Communion – the very things that keep faith alive?  While it is hard to say when faith gets too weak or dies, it is true that, somewhere along the line, it most certainly will die.

Indeed, many are called but few chosen.  Let this not happen to any of you.  Do not fall into the complacency of faith that leads to unbelief, or into self-righteous pride that is so contrary to Christ and His Gospel.  Rather, let us rejoice in the gift that Christ gives and in the goodness of God toward us.

We pray after the sermon in the liturgy that God would “restore to me the joy of salvation.”  That is what we must recall – the joy of the gift we have received, the joy of the undeserved denarius of salvation, the undeserved denarius of Christ!  Let us not begrudge this gift to others either, but seek that God’s will be fulfilled for all men, even as it is extended to all, that they believe on Christ and be saved along with us.

And as we seek His goodness for them, let us seek it for ourselves as well.  Let us, in repentance and faith, constantly seek His good gifts that He bestows so readily upon us.  For when His Word is proclaimed and His sacraments given to us, there our salvation is received, there our souls are refreshed, there our faith is rekindled and strengthened.

In other words, let us continue to seek Christ, who Himself is the kingdom of God and our salvation.  He has called and chosen us to be His own to live under Him in His Kingdom.  For Christ is definitely here, in the Divine Service – in His preached Gospel of salvation and in His holy body and blood – for each of us, for our good, for the strengthening of our faith, and the comfort of your souls.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.