A number of years ago I read an article proposing (humorously) an honest hymn book, the hymns with the thoughts that flit through our minds, like
Some people always wake up bright and fresh in the morning and begin to fade in the evening. Others are slow starters and brightest in the evening. As the old saying puts it, "Some are fowls, others are owls." Which are you? Some people have had to face that situation within a marriage one of those things you don't discover until after you married! And you have to make allowances and adjustments to accommodate your different metabolic clocks!
Sometimes bitterness or guilt can build up within us because someone else is different. You know, there are some people who get all their housework done before breakfast, while others have scarcely begun until after lunch. Depending on which category we come into, we will be filled either with a sense of guilt (why can't I ever get it done before breakfast?) or despising (she's just bone lazy!).
In today's reading we have the parable of the workers in the vineyard. "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "
We need to grasp that this was a perfectly fair arrangement. The denarius was the usual full day's wage for a rural worker.
The old saying is that "The early bird catches the worm." These workers are very pleased to get the job. Their keenness is commendable. The boss is very glad to get a good team of workers ready to make an early start.
It seems to have been harvest time and there is a degree of urgency to get the grapes off. So the boss goes down to the marketplace at nine, finds some more men with nothing to do and hires them, agreeing to pay them "whatever is right". He still needs more help and hires further workers at noon, 3pm and 5pm.
These last workers would only get to do an hour's work. Yet we note the boss's concern, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?"
According to Jewish law, payment had to be made at sunset, that is at 6pm, when the day ended. Lev. 19.13 says, "Do not hold back the wages of a hired man overnight."
The foreman is instructed to pay the men, beginning with those who were hired last. This fact has no particular significance, except that the story requires that those called first are to witness the payment of those called last.
Those who have only worked an hour are paid a full day's wage. When it is the turn for those who have worked the full day, they too receive a silver coin. They begin grumbling, "These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day" (v. 12).
I am sure that modern workers would have made the same complaint perhaps with strike action and the black listing of that particular boss! And it is unlikely a modern boss could afford to be so generous to those who hadn't done a full day's work!
In reply, the boss insists that he hasn't been unfair to them, since he has given the full amount he promised them. "Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" (v. 15)
Jesus, of course, wasn't giving instruction on how bosses should pay their workers. He began the parable, "The Kingdom of heaven is like…" In other words, the action of this imaginary employer is like the goodness and generosity of God. The benefits of the kingdom of God, Jesus is here saying, are the same for all who become subject to the rule of its king, whenever they may come under his dominion. Jews have no precedence over Gentiles. The person converted early in life isn't for that reason entitled to better treatment from God than the one who is much older when he experiences the new birth. All alike receive the best of treatment. As has been well said, "this parable is in fact the gospel of the penitent thief. The same paradise awaits both the man who has experienced divine grace in the last hour of his life, and him who was first called to be Christ's disciple. Because salvation is entirely a matter of God's grace, God is free to do what He will with His own (15). The grumble of those who had toiled all day long in the blazing sun was akin to the complaint of the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son" (R.V.G. Tasker).
It all comes down to understanding and remembering the basis on which God accepts and welcomes any of us into his Kingdom, into his family. Paul insists, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" (Eph. 2.810).
Writing to the Philippians, Paul lists his own (very considerable) credentials, but goes on, "But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things" (Phil. 3.78).
The basis of his relationship with God isn't his carefully strict life as a Jew, nor his considerable work as an missionary apostle. The only true basis is the grace of God in Jesus Christ.
We need to understand the difference between "justice", "mercy" and "grace".
Justice is getting what we deserve. The early birds thought they were unjustly treated. Within the Kingdom, we need to understand that "all have sinned" and that "the wages of sin is death". Justice cannot bring any of us into the Kingdom.
Mercy is not getting what we deserve i.e. not being paid the "wages of sin".
Grace is getting what we don't deserve. Grace goes beyond mercy and speaks of the generosity of God and all that he freely gives us in Christ. God is not just merciful to us as sinners he is generous in his love towards us. And not one of us would have a place in his Kingdom apart from his generous love a love demonstrated so clearly in the events that would happen when the Son of Man goes up to Jerusalem.
Jesus concludes the parable with the same words that conclude the previous chapter, "So the last will be first, and the first will be last" (v. 16). The affairs of the Kingdom run to a different priority from our earthly way of doing things. And those who came early into the Kingdom should be rejoicing at the gracious welcome of those who have been the last to come!
One man's testimony included this, "I got off at the Pennsylvania depot as a tramp, and for a year I begged on the streets for a living. One day I touched a man on the shoulder and said. 'Hey, mister, can you give me a dime?' As soon as I saw his face I was shocked to see that it was my own father. I said, 'Father, Father, do you know me?' Throwing his arms around me and with tears in his eyes, he said, 'Oh my son, at last I've found you! I've found you. You want a dime? Everything I have is yours.' Think of it. I was a tramp. I stood begging my own father for ten cents, when for 18 years he had been looking for me to give me all that he had."
Many who have come late have thought of all their wasted years. Yet they are still welcomed by God's gracious love. All who have come early, be thankful God has created you in Christ Jesus for a life of good deeds. But all of us can only live on the basis of grace.
And it is possible even to spend years coming to church and doing good, and never have received God's grace to think that somehow we have built up a lot of credit, that God must be very pleased with us. But we cannot approach God on the basis of his justice none of our goodness is good enough. Acknowledge that today, and open your life to receive by faith what God has done for you on the basis of grace!
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