The Gospel today comes from Chapter 20 of Matthew. We skip Chapter 19 in this sequence. Jesus is making his final trip to Jerusalem. In Chapter 21 he will enter Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. We focus on Jesus’ “Farewell Discourse” in the Gospel of John during the Christmas and Easter season—that’s the discourse where Jesus provides a lot of comforting words.
Chapters 19—25 in Matthew could also be called Jesus’ Farewell Discourse, because great chunks of those chapters are parables and guidance Jesus gives to his disciples. These words, as much as the words of John 14-17, are Jesus’ final instructions to those whom he expects to build his Kingdom after his death. The church puts them in these September-November Sundays in Cycle A, so commentaries seldom talk about them as “last will and testament” guidance. Yet that is what they are. They are an important commentary on what disciples must avoid and do to establish and build the Kingdom of God.
They are written from God’s point of view. And God’s point of view is substantially different from our own—as today’s reading from Isaiah reminds us. As we enter into prayer and study of these last parables and stories, it is good to remember their context: this is what Jesus says to his disciples when he has little time left.
Isaiah 55:6-9
The first reading is from the last chapter of what is considered “Second Isaiah,” Isaiah written during the Babylonian exile. This chapter begins with the well known verses, “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come without paying and without cost.” (Isaiah 55:1) The verse right before today’s reading gives a context to today’s verses: “So shall you summon a nation you knew not, and nations that knew you not shall run to you, because of the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, who has glorified you.” Today’s verses then both call on the people to seek the LORD and his ways and remind people that God’s ways are not ours, because God thinks differently from us and sees things from a wiser, bigger perspective.
All of this combines to predict the coming of Christ: “So shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth…achieving the end for which I sent it.”
In today’s liturgy, this reading both affirms that God knows what he is doing and has a grand plan–Jesus and the Church–AND prepares us for Jesus’ parable—a parable that flies in the face of a sense of justice in Jesus’ time—and in ours.
Matthew 20: 1-16a
I encourage you to read Matthew 19:16-29 if you find today’s parable disconcerting.
In Chapter 19 Jesus talks to the Pharisees about divorce, blesses children in spite of his disciples’ hesitation, predicts his coming passion and death for the third time, and lets a holy, rich young man walk away from him because he is not willing to sell all he has to come follow Jesus.
Jesus tells this parable to his disciples as they question him about the rich young man. He approaches Jesus and asks him, “What GOOD must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus first answer is, “Keep the commandments.”
The young man answers, “Which ones?” Jesus names the main ones, what we know as the 10 Commandments. The young man then tells Jesus, “I have kept all these; what do I need to do further?”
Jesus then says, “IF YOU SEEK PERFECTION, go, sell your possessions, and give to the poor. You will then have treasure in heaven. Afterward, come back and follow me.” That is too much for the young man. He walks away. (Matthew 19:16-21).
The disciples are distressed by this. Riches were supposed to be a sign of God’s favor. Jesus tells them this is not necessarily true: “I assure you, only with difficulty will a rich man enter into the kingdom of God.”
The disciples response? “When they heard this, they were completely overwhelmed and exclaimed, ‘Who then can be saved?’” Jesus assures them the Father knows what he is doing.
Then Peter asks a question in an interesting way. He says, “Here we have put everything aside to follow you. WHAT CAN WE EXPECT FROM IT?”
Jesus assures the disciples that “in the age to come” they will be rewarded BUT “Many who are first shall come last, and the last shall come first.”
Then he tells Peter what to expect: “Thus the last shall be first and the first shall be last.”
Interesting that Jesus tells his disciples twice: expect to be last. (They were among the first called by Jesus, some three years earlier.)
What is Jesus saying?
One way to look at what Jesus is saying is: From God’s point of view, it’s not about the paycheck. In the parable, the vineyard owner (a) asks everyone to come into his vineyard; (b) meets each person where they are—ready to work at daybreak, noon, or 5 pm; (c) all then WORK in the vineyard; (d) the owner of the vineyard treats them all fair in the sense that everyone gets the usual daily wage; (e) but it doesn’t seem fair because the 5 pm hires only work an hour to receive what others who worked 3 hours, 6 hours, 9, hours, or 12 hours receive.
A meaning: “God is free to do with his money (rewards) as he wishes—and he doesn’t give rewards based on how long or hard we work at our salvation. WE DO NOT EARN OUR SALVATION—though we are expected to answer the call and work toward it. There are no people in the parable who stood around, once they came to the vineyard. But the amount of the paycheck did not match the hours worked.
How do we think about this? Philippians 1:20c-24, 27a
Once we are in God’s vineyard, i.e. the Kingdom of God, we belong to God. It doesn’t even matter if we live or die—we are the Lord’s. Still, it’s not a free pass. The final words here: “Only conduct yourselves in a way worthy of the gospel of the Lord.”
A Whole Different Way to Think
It seems the lesson here is the same lesson YHWH taught the Israelites in the dessert with the manna. Manna was on the ground six mornings a week. People who tried hoarding—picking up more than they needed—found their extra manna spoiled overnight. But, on the sixth day, the people were to pick up twice as much, so they could rest on the Sabbath. If they didn’t, they went without food on the Sabbath.
Walter Brueggemann, in his book Delivered Into Covenant, makes the point that this was to teach the people the difference in God’s Way and the slavery to work economics they had known in Egypt. As God’s people, they could count on him to provide what they needed. Beyond what they needed–they did not get.
So, then, in Jesus’ parable today, the vineyard owner gave everyone a full daily wage—enough to provide food for self and family. The people had to come and work—then God gave them enough, whether they worked an hour or all day.
It was a matter of relationship and trust, rather than a matter of bookkeeping. And those who get paid first are perhaps the ones who are most in need. Yet all must enter the vineyard and work. I take that to mean we deliberately enter into God’s ways and work at them. But then, God simply takes care to give us enough.
It’s not about the paycheck. It’s about doing what we can, then letting God be God. God saves us because of his generous care for us, not because we work and earn it.
Prayer:
Lord, this parable causes me to wonder a lot. In your eyes, whether it is about earned money or “merit,” does it matter how much I do? You know I’m one of those work dawn to dusk types! Or is this not about how much effort we put into loving You or building Your Kingdom–is it about everybody needs to have what they need: do I claim too much? I’m more than a bit befuddled. I hang on to what Paul said to the Philippians. Help me to conduct myself in a way worthy of the Gospel. Lead me and guide me to understand.
