Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 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.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers 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 go. 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 do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Gospel reading for Sunday, September 24, is from Matthew chapter 20. verses one through 16. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard, 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 11th hour he went out and found other 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, Go, you go into the vineyard to and when evening came the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last up to the first and when those hired about the 11th hour came, and 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 own worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I am doing you no wrong. Do you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, 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 do you begrudge my generosity so the last will be first. And the first last hearings, the reading. This is quite the story that runs contrary to everything that human beings generally believe in about fairness, in in life. The Master goes out and he hires people. And he says, I will pay you one denarius a day that's a pretty standard wage for a worker, one denarius. And then he hires several people throughout the day. This is right away in the morning, and then at the sixth hour, and the ninth hour and the 11th hour and the 11th hour would have been right about at the end of the workday, just before the end. And so people are working various amounts of time. And he doesn't hire them hourly, he hires them by the day. When they line up to get paid, which is how you would do it. At the end of the day, if you hired day laborers, you hire them for the day, and then you pay them for the day. In fact, the Old Testament talks a lot about withholding the wages of workers and not paying them on time as a terrible thing. So you pay them out at the end of the day, and we get this variation. It says and when those hired about the 11th 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 in a denarius. I think we can understand those workers frustration, right? They work the whole day, and they get paid a denarius and someone who shows up and does just a couple of hours works also gets paid a denarius Come on. That's not how it's supposed to work. We are supposed to get paid at the appropriate sum for the right amount of work. We who got here first should have been paid more. When they grumble, the master says, I am doing the you know wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go, am I not allowed to choose to do what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity that's really a reminder that what we perceive as fairness is not always actually fair. They contracted to work for one denarius a day and they got what they contracted for. The people also, it doesn't really reflect on their contract what others get, right. So there really is no reason to complain. They agreed to work for a denarius. They got to denarius doesn't matter what God decides to do or the master decides to do with others. Now, what we see here is that Jesus compares this to the kingdom of heaven and When he does parables like this, the master is always God of some way. And so God is gathering workers into his vineyard. vineyard is often image for Israel or for the world. He says he's got people in the vineyard, and they're working. Some people work various amounts, but they all get the same reward. And this is true for us in the kingdom of God. People who've been Christians their entire life who've been devoted, who've been baptized as children and stayed in the church and have always done what is right, we receive the same reward, the same gift of God, as people who are dying on their deathbed and are baptized and converted. We're all in Christ, everything is the same. When we see that, sometimes we get well, we get a little upset, right? That someone in our congregation is treated with the same amount of, of respect, and honor. No matter how often they've been to church, no matter how, how long they've served the gospel. It's all the same. And sometimes we're like, wait a second, I have been in this congregation for years and years and years, and this person is new. Or I have been on this served in this committee, I have done all of these things. And these new people are trying to do whatever we have to remember, all of us are equal in the body of Christ, all of us received the same reward, because none of us have actually deserved it. It's given to us by grace in Jesus Christ. And so Jesus here is reminding us that there is no first or last in Christ, but all are the same. And we all receive the same reward. That's it for this reading today. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai