17 Pentecost, 26-A: Chosen and gifted to serve

Lectionary: Jonah 3:10-4:11; Psalm 145:1-8; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16 

En el nombre de Dios, Trinidad en Unidad, que nos busca, nos acoge y nos pide que hagamos lo mismo en su nombre. 

In the name of God, Trinity in Unity, who seeks us out, welcomes us in, and asks us to do the same in Their name. Amen.

The parable of the day workers in the vineyard in today’s gospel touches a nerve most of us have. I call it the fairness nerve. If a person works a full day, they should get a full day’s pay, but if they work only an hour or two, their pay should be pro-rated to the number of hours they worked. That’s fair, right?

The Old Testament story of Jonah shows us, however, that God’s sense of right and fair may differ greatly from ours. When God relents from anger and offers grace because the people of Nineveh had changed from their evil ways, Jonah gets so angry that he sits down outside the city to pout, swearing he’d rather die than see them live. God asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

This is a good life lesson. Whenever we boil over, when our anger is so acute, even justifiably, I hope we pause to hear God ask us, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Do you have the whole picture?

We rarely do. We tend to get caught up in the earthly things - things like seasons, historical events, social and political circumstances, hierarchies, and even our physical lives. All the while God is continually leading us toward “things heavenly” - things that are eternal, like grace, forgiveness, love, and living our earthly lives in the eternal presence of God.

St. Paul links the earthly to heavenly perspective, saying, “To me, living is Christ.” The word ‘Christ’ means anointed to serve the people of God on behalf of God. Paul is saying, while I live, I want to live as one who is chosen and gifted by God to serve God’s people.

The earthly perspective bristles at the unfairness of someone getting something for nothing. The heavenly perspective focuses on the grace of being able to use our God-given gifts, individually and corporately, and every minute of our lives to work to make the kingdom of God a reality on the earth.

How do we do that? We do like God does. That’s the point of this parable.

A landowner (God) goes out to the marketplace in order to find people who have no job. He goes out early in the morning, then again at 9am, then again at noon, again at 3 pm, and finally at 5 pm. To this last group, the ones who have done no work all day, God asks, “Why are you standing idle all day?” They respond, “Because no one has hired us.” In other words, we have gifts to offer but no one will give us an opportunity to use them.

Let’s consider for a moment the current reality for day laborers. First of all, they aren’t paid well. When a person is desperate for work, the employer can pretty much pay whatever they want, and many times the only offer is an off-the-books cash transaction. You can’t get healthcare or benefits from off-the-books work.

When they do find work, these day laborers will likely get paid just barely enough to eat, sleep, and return the next day to work again. They rarely, if ever, get ahead, and many suffer indignities and injustices at the hands of exploitive employers.

So, this parable is a story of amazing hope. The workers chosen last would be the ones no one wanted, no one valued. Their desperation would be so great that they might have reached the point of hopelessness.

The employer in the parable (God) shows these last-chosen laborers truly surprising generosity - paying them first and for a full day’s work, confirming that they are wanted, valued, and have a share in the abundance of God.

By this parable, Jesus is teaching us to follow the example of the landowner who goes out again and again seeking those people who had no opportunity to use their God-given gifts. The world treated them like they didn’t matter, but like the Ninevites, they do matter to God, and they should matter to us too, because all people are equal in value to God.

Instead of worrying about what is or isn’t fair, the first-chosen should be joyfully celebrating as each last-chosen one is welcomed in and made whole by the generosity and abundance of God’s love. We should all rejoice that God, who sought and found us, continually seeks and finds more laborers to join us in our reconciling work.

Today we have the exciting gift of celebrating that God has sought and found another beloved one, Shannon King, to live in Christ with us and labor alongside us. Shannon has chosen to receive the fullness of God’s grace in Baptism, and she has chosen us to be her family in faith.

With the addition of Shannon’s gifts, our church will live a life worthy of the gospel, as Paul said, in a new and broadened way, bound one to another in faith and love, our spirits united, providing each of us, and all of us, the opportunity to use our God-given gifts as we work to make the kingdom of God a reality on earth.

How can we do anything but rejoice?!  Amen.