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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Grace not Wages |
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Matthew 20:1-16 Septuagesima Sunday February 8, 2009 The parable told in our Gospel Lesson this morning is a jarring story. It jars us because it appears to go against the perceptions of fairness and justice we find throughout the Bible. It jars us because we are accustomed to being paid because we earn our wages, and because we naturally think those who work harder and longer should be paid more. But the householder in the parable paid all the workers the same amount, even though some worked all day and others worked only a few hours or less. And so, at first glance, it seems the householder is unfair because the ones who worked longer seem to us to have earned more than those who worked less. But this parable is not about earning. It’s about giving. It’s not about wages. It’s about grace. A major point of the parable is the neediness of the laborers. These men were idle. They had no regular jobs, no skills, no financial security. They lived from day to day, and they often went hungry and cold, and even homeless. They had no money unless someone hired them for odd jobs that paid very low wages. So these were needy people. And the point is that we are all needy people before God. We are the idle, the hungry, the poor, the homeless. We are the people standing idle in the marketplace, with no way to provide for our greatest and deepest need, a right relationship with God. The householder was under no obligation to these needy people. He did not owe them a job. He did not owe them a living. No one has a right to a home, an income, or even food. We have the right to earn these things for ourselves through godly labor. The purpose of government, as our Declaration of Independence correctly states, is to defend our rights. It is to ensure that we have the opportunity to provide for ourselves. But this householder decides to hire the needy people. These are not the skilled farm workers. These are the unskilled. They have nothing to commend themselves to the householder. He chooses them out of his own kindness. He chooses them to give them hope, to give them a chance to have food this day, and clothing, and a home. He chooses them because of what he can do for them, not because of what they can do for him. The most noticeable point is that he paid all the workers the same wage. There is nothing unjust about this. If I contract to do a job for $100, and $100 is a fair price for the job, and someone else is paid $200 for the same work, I have not been cheated. But of course the meaning here is That God calls us to enjoy His Kingdom because of what He can give to us, not because of what we can do for Him. He calls us because we are needy, and He desires to give His abundance to us freely. This is called grace. And He gives His abundance, and His Kingdom, and His pardon freely without thought of our merit. None of us has earned it. He could have left us all standing idle in “the market place.” He was under no obligation to us for we have rebelled against His holy law and rejected Him as our God and King many times in our lives. That is what sin is. Yet He chose to ignore that and deal with us in mercy. So He calls us to come to work in His vineyard, and as we do so He pays us richly and abundantly, far more than our paltry labor is worth. Why? Because of his great love. And His love gives the same abundance to all who respond to His call of grace. You may be, in the eyes of people, a “bigger sinner” than others. It matters not to God. The murderous Saul received the same grace as the obedient John. All sinners enjoy the same forgiveness, the same cleansing from guilt, the same fellowship with His people, the same home in Heaven, and all the other benefits that only He can give. None of us have earned them; God gives them. Thanks be to God. Amen. The Rev. Dr. R. Dennis Campbell, Vicar, Holy Trinity Anglican Church,
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