Pentecost 16, 2020

 “Be nice to me, I gave blood today.”  That’s the sticker I used to wear after I donated blood through the Red Cross.  On Wednesday I stopped by Gig Harbor on my way home from the church and donated blood.  I was the only donor there at the time, although they said they had been busy all day.  They were very nice to me.  They laughed at all my jokes and thanked me and asked how I was doing and asked what color bandage I wanted.  I felt very important and very pampered.  And I treated them nicely, too.  They had a phlebotomist in training and I let her prick my arm, laughed at their jokes, and thanked them, too.  Sometimes it’s just nice to treat each other like human beings.  So maybe it isn’t “Be nice to me, I gave blood,” or because I did something deserving, but “Treat me like a human being because that is what I am.”  Or even taking it further, “Treat others the way you want to be treated,” because even the animals are included in God’s plan of redemption—did you notice that at the end of the reading from Johan?  Today’s readings are about treating others with kindness and respect.  Jonah doesn’t want to see that the people of Ninevah are deserving of respect and a chance to hear God’s message.  He doesn’t want to see they are worthy of his time.  But they are and they understand what God is saying to them and they change their ways.  The landlord in the Gospel, too, sees beings that need a daily wage to eat and be healthy, and treats them with kindness and pays them what they need to live rather than what they deserve. 

The past few weeks we’ve been hearing from Jesus about God’s generous presence with us when even a few are gathered and even when we disagree and God’s generous forgiveness which flows from God through us to others, and today Jesus shares God’s generous invitation, opportunity for service, and means for living.

This is another tough parable for people.  It’s a common one that a lot of Christians struggle with.  We struggle for several reasons.  One is that we see ourselves as the one who worked all day and perhaps deserving more than latecomers.  Another is how we see idle people in our pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps culture.  And third is our belief that money will make us happy.  This Parable challenges our values about hard work and people getting what they deserve. 

God’s values are different from many of our widely-held values as as Americans.  God is generous despite whether people deserve it or work hard.  We might ask ourselves why would a person work hard if they can get something for nothing or very little? But I don’t think God sees it that way.  God wanted to be in relationship, so God created the heavens and the earth, plants, and animals and humans and set it all up free of charge for our enjoyment.  God worked hard for no payment except the pleasure of seeing creation thrive and flourish.  Throughout the Bible, God values those who cannot work and earn a living and still sees their value beyond their material possessions or net worth.  Jesus calls the little children to come to him—the disciples don’t see any value in these youngsters, but Jesus sees an intrinsic value in them and wants them to flourish and be in relationship with him no matter what they have to offer, they are of value.  The same with widows.  The same with lepers.  The same with foreigners.  The same for the lilies of the field and birds of the air.  All are valued beyond the work that they do.  God knows what it is like to be measured on the basis of what God can give a person—what’s in it for me.  That is using God.  That is not faithfulness.  The same goes when we treat another according to their monetary value or the even the work they can do rather than by their intrinsic value as another person on this journey of life. 

A more palatable version of this story is the story of the prodigal son.  One son does what he’s supposed to, like the longer workers.  The other son wastes his inheritance like the idle workers.  The second son comes crawling back to dad and dad gives him a party—just like the latecomers who get the whole day’s wage.  The older son goes off to pout, just like the vineyard workers who are grumbling.  Why is one story easier to stomach than the other?  Maybe part of the difference between the two stories is that the Prodigal Son is about brothers.  We can almost maybe see our way to letting go of the resentment because of family relationships and obligations.  The problem is we don’t see the average person standing idle as our brother or sister.  We have all sorts of preconceived ideas that idleness is evil, that laziness is of the devil.  The truth is, we don’t know why these workers are idle.  A lot of farmers had their land taken from them by wealthy land owners, the same way large corporations have bought up little family farms these days which faced debts and droughts and all the ups and downs farms face.  These might have been those farmers who didn’t have any way of making a living anymore. 

My husband is unemployed.  People keep asking me about whether he found a job yet.  He is not looking for work.  I wouldn’t call it idle, because he is overseeing our son’s remote learning.  Even if the kids go back to school, it will only be 2 days a week and our son will need someone to be with him.  A lot of other families are in the same position we are.  Maybe these workers in the parable had other responsibilities that prevented them from working full time, obligations to family of some kind.

Right now, Washington workers are not required to look for a job in order to qualify for unemployment.  The reason is that there are not nearly enough jobs for those people who are unemployed.  Maybe that’s the reason these people are standing around idle, because there aren’t enough jobs for people. 

We have terrible ideas about people who are idle.  But the landowner sees things differently.  The landowner is very active, but doesn’t begrudge those who are not.  There is always more work to be done in the Kingdom of God.  The challenge is to connect people with the work.  So the landowner scours the marketplace.  Like the story of the wedding banquet, scours the hedgerows and ditches, not once, not twice but a lot of times all the time inviting those who are ready to accept the invitation, regardless of their worthiness.

Matthew’s congregation appreciates that, because they are latecomers.  They are a new congregation of young believers.  They are kind of like this congregation, less than 30 years old, a baby.  So they’ve been asking themselves, will we receive the reward?  Are we good enough?  Have we put in the labor to be of value in God’s eyes?  And of course, the reward, the wages are not money—they are the teachings, the life, the sacrifice, the death, the new life, the abundant life of Jesus.  That’s everybody’s wage.  No matter if you work one hour or 100 years.  What more do the longer workers want?  Do they want a perfect-attendance pin or a special seat, a plaque or a statue?  Do they want to be honored or worshipped or get a blue ribbon or a sticker?  What more can you want than Jesus as your savior?  That’s all any of us need.  And most of us might be miffed for a few minutes when we don’t get more, but any of us would tell you after many hundreds of thankless tasks at church and in the community, that the work of the Kingdom is satisfying and beautiful all on its own. When we let go of our resentment, we can accept God’s grace and love.

The truth is, we are the latecomers.  Probably many of us think we’ve been getting it, that we’re special, cradle-to-grave Lutherans or Christians from birth, those who have been building churches and donating money and praying the right prayers and volunteering.  We see ourselves as the workers toiling all day.  The truth is, it has been the little ones, the really old ones, the sick ones, the imprisoned ones, the ones who haven’t had it so easy, the little gathering worshipping in a home, the small gatherings in places of suffering—they have worked longer hours in more strenuous conditions.  And the only one who has born the heat of the day is Jesus.  He has been the one doing the work.  He’s the shepherd, leading us to still waters and green pasture and overflowing our cup and making a dwelling place for us.  We’re the sheep enjoying a snack and keeping back some bushes and we think we’re doing all the good work.  When we stop and acknowledge the free gift of grace, the gift of this amazing world, the gift of family and friends, how our bodies work, how all plants and animals balance each other out, when we take our proper, humble place at Jesus’ feet rather than telling him what to do and who to give what wages to, who to be more and less generous with, then we can really be grateful and receive the full gift that Jesus is to us.  When we realize how late we’ve arrived to work, and find that we get a full measure too, despite our hard-heartedness, I hope we melt into tears at God’s abundant generosity.

A key part of Jesus’ parable is invitation.  The workers are invited to into a relationship of working for the Kingdom.  These days it is hard to know how to invite people to be part of the work of the Kingdom when we have to keep such a distance.  But maybe that looks like inviting them to share with the Food Bank from their gardens.  It could mean recognizing the work they are already doing and naming it as Kingdom work.  The phlebotomists at the blood drive were doing Kingdom work.  The firefighters have been doing Kingdom work.  Grocery store clerks are doing Kingdom work.  We are all part of God’s renewal of the earth and service to those in need.  We also can keep alert to times when God is inviting us further into the work of the Kingdom and respond to invitations coming at all times of day.

As Christians we are invited to be part of the generous Kingdom of God, full of grace beyond any free gift we’ve ever been given.  I’ve seen this congregation be generous.  I’ve seen 20 Thanksgiving boxes filled to the top with all sorts of good food.  I’ve seen the generous amounts of food brought to potlucks and dinners with the Little Doves families.  I have seen minivans filled to the brim with food for 2 large families, loaves of bread falling off the shopping cart on the way up to the car from the Food Bank.  I have heard the expressions of delight seen tummies filled seen community being built.  But we can expect, if we are building the Kingdom of God and being overabundant (another word for that is wasteful) with our generosity as God has been to us, we can expect there to be resentment and grumbling.  Don’t let it stop you.  Let yourselves be encouraged by grumbling to continue to let God’s generosity go all the place God intends it, until abundant life is poured out for all.