Septuagesima [Matthew 20:1-16] (13-Feb-2022)

                  

This sermon was preached at St Peter’s Evangelical-Lutheran Church, Public Schools Club, Adelaide, 9am

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 

Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.

 

Our Gospel reading today, from Matthew chapter 20, tells the wonderful parable of Jesus about the labourers in the vineyard.

We read: For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Jesus here is speaking here about the kingdom of heaven and he likening it to a vineyard. Now, we often read in the Gospels that Jesus speaks in parables, he uses little stories and metaphors to help us think about something that for us is so incredibly wonderful and mysterious. It’s almost completely wrong or inappropriate to speak of the kingdom of heaven like a description in a mathematical or scientific textbook. Jesus is speaking of the Kingdom of heaven, which is a wonderful kingdom to be part of, and which has a wonderful king, our Lord Jesus Christ.

However, here Jesus is not simply speaking about the kingdom of heaven as when we die and enter into heaven. Yes, we speak about entering into heaven like that, but here, Jesus is speaking about something that is going on here on the earth. The Kingdom of heaven, already in this life, begins here for us on this earth, in such a way that heaven and earth overlap. Even, when Jesus was born, when we consider all the events at Christmas time, we notice how there are so many angels: an angel appears to Mary, to Joseph, to the wise men from the East, even a multitude of angels appears to the shepherds in the fields. It would have been difficult for these shepherds in a way to know whether they were standing on the earth or in heaven itself when they found themselves in this kind of heavenly company.

And so, the church on earth has always been this kind of kingdom. We worship here on earth the Lord Jesus Christ, as he descends to be with us, and speak to us in the Holy Word, and forgive us our sins, and wash us clean from sin in the water of Holy Baptism, to feed his people with His own heavenly food in the Lord’s Supper. And not just here in the Divine Service, but in our everyday life, we go into the world as people filled with the Holy Spirit, so shine the light of Christ wherever God has placed us, to live our life to His glory, to the honour and praise of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit.

Of course, we Christians still carry around with us our sin, our troubles, our weaknesses. Here in this life, on this side of the grave, on this side of death, we are still wrestling, still fighting against sin. We still live in such a way that follow after Christ carrying the cross. We still have our sufferings and our burdens. But in the kingdom of heaven, we know that even though I walk in the valley of the shadow of death, as Psalm 23 says, I will not fear, for you are with me. Our heavenly, divine Shepherd, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is with us, even through the difficult times, and leads us forward in times of teaching and learning for us, times which are sometimes difficult, but then also he leads us into times of refreshment. Throughout all of this, we know that the victory over sin, death, the world, the evil one, Satan—the victory has already been won. Jesus has died and he has risen again from the dead, and the victory has been won. Sin, death, the world, Satan have all been defeated. And in the Kingdom of heaven, here on this earth, as we march along to our heavenly destination, as we look to heaven to be with our Lord Jesus Christ for all eternity, we continually need to learn that this victory is already ours. If we look into our hearts, we will only see failure, anxieties, and disappointment. But if we look to Jesus, then we can see his forgiveness, his encouragement, his joy, his hope. St Paul quotes in 1 Corinthians 15: Death is swallowed up in victory? O death, where is your victory? O death where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. St John writes in his letter: This is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. In the letter to the Hebrews, we read: Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. How desperately we need to here these encouraging words in our discouraging times and in our dark world!

Now, in the reading, Jesus compares the Kingdom of heaven to labourers working in a vineyard. Many times throughout the bible, the kingdom of heaven is compared to a vineyard. In fact, after the flood, we read that one of the first things that Noah did was to plant a vineyard. In Isaiah 5, it says: Let me sing for my beloved my song concerning his vineyard: My beloved has a vineyard on a very fertile hill. The prophet here is speaking about his people as like a vineyard which God tends and looks after. Even, if we go right to the very beginning of the bible, with Adam and Eve, the first thing that God does it to put Adam in a garden, to tend it and look after it.

Now, also, the grapevine is an extraordinary plant in many ways, and produces a rich fruit, a sweet fruit, which then can be used to produce all kinds of rich wines. I remember talking to someone from the Barossa Valley, here in South Australia, where of course they have many vineyards, and someone said that the wines there are so distinctive, that this person could almost tell you the exact paddock where the grapes were grown from tasting the wine.

On the other hand, the grapevine is not a particularly spectacular looking plant. It’s not like a strong fig tree, or an impressive palm tree. In the Middle East, in Dubai, I think, they have made some artificial islands off the coast, in the shape of a palm tree, which branches and frons. But could you imagine someone making artificial islands in the shape of a grape vine? It would go all over the place.

And so, this is something also for us to consider: on the face of it, a grapevine doesn’t look like much. It’s gnarly, and twisted. It needs maintenance: it need propping up, and tying back, and stakes and posts, and all that kind of thing. So even in this world, in the eyes of the world, the church doesn’t look like much. The kingdom of God from the outside looks very humble, it looks like it’s struggling, it looks weak, like it doesn’t achieve much, even sometimes like it’s dying and not growing. But in all of this, we remember the words of Jesus in John 15, where he says: I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can no nothing. What a wonderful promise of Jesus this is! Of course, many times we will feel as though we’re doing nothing, achieving nothing, getting nowhere, but all of this is to remind us to turn to Jesus and rely on Him for everything: to rely on Him for our comfort, for our energy, for our hope, for providing our income and means of living, for our words, for our thoughts. Jesus is the wonderful vine, and we often shy away from him and sometimes can even be ashamed of Him, because we see this gnarly and twisted appearance, and we would rather go to some other tree. But we can’t judge these things with our eyes. Remember in the Garden of Eden when the fall into sin happened. We read: When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. So, when it comes to this twisted and weak appearance of the grape-vine, we need to judge not with our eyes, but with our ears, according to the word of God, as Jesus teaches it. Now, there are so many things that we could consider about the kingdom of heaven and the vineyard, but for the moment we’ll leave it there.

Now, let’s go back to our reading. We read that Jesus says: For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Now, let’s think for a moment about the labourers. The master sends his labourers to work for a denarius for the day’s work. Now there are various countries, mostly in the Middle-East, but also including Serbia, where they use a currency called a “dinar”. This word comes from the word “denarius”. A denarius was a normal day’s pay for a labourer. Today, we would think of it as somewhere between a hundred dollars, and a few hundred dollars, depending on the type of work.

Anyway, in our parable, we read there is a master of a house—who we assume is God himself—who goes out and hires labourers to work in his vineyard. What a wonderful privilege it is to be called to be a labourer in God’s vineyard. Actually, all Christians are labourers in God’s vineyard. Now, there’s two aspects to this: the first is the honour, the great joy, the great privilege of simply being asked, being called, to be part of this kingdom. The second aspect to this is that there is a task, there is work, there is labour.

Now, as Christians, in the kingdom of heaven, as labourers in the vineyard, we are called to work. We are called to do things. Now, each of us has a particular calling in life, a particular place where God has called us to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit. For example, maybe you are husband, a wife, a father, or a mother, or a son, or a daughter, in the family. We’re called by God to be a good husband, a good wife, a good father, a good mother, a good son, a good daughter – we ask the Holy Spirit to bless us in our place in life in the family, so that we can shine the light of Christ from that place. Also, we might have some particular employment, or career, or work that we do during the week: we are called to do it well, to the best of our ability, to be a good worker, a good boss, so that the Holy Spirit may also shine his light through us in whatever place we are. We also might have the vocation of being a pastor, or a member of the church, a hearer of God’s Word. Some people find themselves called upon by God to go further afield and serve the kingdom of God in a far-off country as a missionary, or something like that. Of course, we are never perfect, because we it’s in all these particular places, and particular aspects of our lives, that we realise that we have let those down around us the most. And so, in all our labours, we always need to ask for the forgiveness of God upon our lives. It is only Jesus who is perfect, and we are simply unworthy servants. But when we receive the forgiveness of sins, even in this life, through the Word of God, through the blood of Jesus, everything wrong is covered by Jesus, so that when we stand together with Him, it is as if there were nothing wrong, because the blood of Jesus, which has paid for and atoned for every single sin in the whole world, has washed everything away.

Now, the other thing that goes on in this reading is that all throughout the day, the master is going out all day to call the different labourers to work. We read: And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

Here we see a picture of how God is constantly going out every day, all throughout the day, all throughout the history of the world, stretching out his arms and calling people to come to himself. In fact, not one single labourer could even work at all in the vineyard, unless God has actually called them. So, none of this depends on us, and on our choosing, but it depends on God and his choosing. He is the one who through His holy Word calls all people to Himself.

You see, sometimes, we hear about some Christians even who are constantly asking people to make a decision to follow Jesus. But that is something that an unconverted sinner can’t do. A sinner can only choose sin, and not good. God must come with His Holy Spirit, and He is the only one who can convert people and change their hearts. And so, God is the one who acts here, who does something. He is the one who calls and hires the labourers. He must change people’s hearts, before they can make any good choices about spiritual things in their life. When we are converted to God, it is not our choice, but it is God who has chosen us. Even in the passage about the vine and the branches that we read before, Jesus says: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. Let’s look at a couple of examples of this. Take Peter, for example. He was the apostle who was the first preacher when the Holy Spirit came down on the day of Pentecost, and three thousand people became Christians. But when Jesus called him to follow him, and they were fishing in the boats, and Jesus caused them to catch a huge number of fish, we read that Peter said: Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. Yes, Peter was right: he was a sinful man. But that is no reason for Jesus to depart. In fact, quite the opposite. It’s the reason for Jesus to draw near. And that’s exactly what happens. Jesus said to Peter: Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men. Peter didn’t know how to choose to follow Jesus: his sin wanted to push Jesus away from him. So Jesus then calls him to work in the vineyard. And we read: when they had brought the boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

But then, look at Paul, the other great apostle. Paul was actually a persecutor of Jesus and his followers. He had approved of the execution of Stephen and was on his was to Damascus to round up other Christians to have them executed too. But as he was still breathing threats and hatred against the Christians, Jesus converted Paul on the road. He says: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do. When Paul went into Damascus, he met a man called Ananias, who said to him: Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. So, here you can see again, that it was not Paul who made a decision to follow Jesus, but it was Jesus who reached out to him, despite his sin, despite even his hatred and contempt for Christians. So we can see that it is a wonderful thing to be called by Jesus, a great honour, a great joy, because we realise that the work of converting us and changing our hearts and not been our own doing, but it has been his doing. It has all been by his grace, his mercy, his love which he has shown to us.

Now, at the end of our reading we read about how all the people who were called at different times came to be paid. We read: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and do. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or is your eye evil because I am good? So the last will be first, and the first last.

Now, let’s summarise what happens here. This whole part has to do with how we are saved by God. Are we saved because of the good works we have done, or are we saved by the grace and the mercy of God? Well, firstly, in this life, we are called to work, and do good things for people, and good things which are to the praise and honour of God. But when we do them, we are not counting them, as if we will be paid a particular reward by God because of them.

No, our salvation, our forgiveness, the kingdom of heaven, doesn’t come because we earn it, or because we pay for it, or because we have done some work for it. It is not a reward, or day wages. It is a free gift, which we receive by simply believing in it. St Paul says in Romans: The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. So the reason why it is free is not because it is worth nothing. Not at all. No, it is worth everything in the whole world and more. It is free, because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has actually come down from heaven, entered into this world, and has paid for it himself through his suffering, his death on the cross, through his holy and precious blood, through his sacrifice.

And so, then, when we are baptised, and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit through the water and the Word of God, this is not a work that we do. This is an event where God himself adopts us as his own child, and where he pours out his Holy Spirit to fill us, and where he actually forgives us our sins. And we don’t earn any of it, we simply believe that God’s word is true and that it has been given freely for us. When we believe in it, it is ours, completely apart from any our works, or whether we have done anything.

The people who come at the eleventh hour get the same pay, because it is a gift from God who gives it. He says: Friend, I am doing you no wrong? Did I not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. Those who complain about the payment wanted to be rewarded for their labour. They worked, God should pay them. But this is not how it works. Some people work very hard in the Christian faith and in the kingdom of heaven. Some people only come recently, or even close to the end of their life. The master says: I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Not only does God do what he chooses with what belongs to him, but he also promises us certain things too. For example, we do not go along thinking that at the end of the day, God can do what he likes, and can just chuck us in the bin if he chooses. No, God promises, He actually binds Himself to his Word, and says: Whoever believes in Jesus will not perish but have eternal life. He says: Whoever believes in Him will not be put to shame.

So, let’s commend ourselves into the wonderful hands of our dear Lord Jesus, ask him to fill us with His Holy Spirit, so that we may be useful in all kinds of ways in the Lord’s vineyard. And let’s look forward to that wonderful time, when he will receive us into his kingdom, together with all his saints and angels, and all the company of heaven, not because of anything that we have done, but because Jesus has done everything. It is paid for in full, it is paid for with his blood! And it is poured into our lap in abundance, completely for free, totally freely. All we do is believe it, and even our faith itself is his gift. All the glory, honour, the power, the wisdom, the righteousness, and the kingdom belongs to Him! Amen.

 

And the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.