“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 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 the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:1-16 (NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from the blessed Trinity: Creator, Sustainer, and Comforter. Amen.
Throughout Lent, we’re continuing to think about what God’s reign looks like, using the theme “The Ways of the Kingdom.” As Jesus has done before, in our reading this morning, he uses a parable to help us understand.
We’re going to play a little game this morning to help us better understand the unexpected and unpredictable nature of parables. I need six of you this morning to help me tell a story. In this basket, I have several different words. I’ll start the story with the words “Once upon a time…”. Then, as I point to each of you, you will continue the story by adding one sentence that must contain the word you drew. The last person should end his or her sentence with the words, “The End.” Got it? Let’s begin.
Did this story that we just told end the way you expected it would from the opening sentence? I think it’s fair to say that the story was very different than any of us could have expected. There were twists and turns and things that might have seemed a little unpredictable.
As we learn the parables in this series, we will realize that God’s kingdom often flips things around. Catching us off guard. A few weeks ago, when we were studying the parables of the wheat and the weeds, and the mustard seed, we learned that Jesus’ parables were intended to have little twists in them that surprised the listeners. These twists highlight the fact that God’s ways are often different than ours. And different from what we might expect. God’s ways can also seem a little unpredictable.
In today’s story, the workers who were hired first thought they knew what was going to happen. But, in the end, they were surprised. And a little grumpy.
So, let’s move to our story. Our story is one of these surprising parables that, once again, tries to help us understand how God’s kingdom operates. To tell the story today, I need a little help. I need five volunteers to be workers. I’ll play the part of the landowner.
The story opens with the landowner needing help in his vineyard. (You all know how much I like vineyards, right? I’ve even been able to help with a grape harvest, so I know how backbreaking this work can be.)
The landowner goes out early around 6 a.m. to the nearest Home Depot, because he (or she) knows that this is a place is where one can find workers. Day laborers. So, that’s what I’m going to do.
After the landowner gets to Home Depot and finds the day laborers, he negotiates with them a daily wage. I have a lot of experience negotiating, so I’m going to do this with these workers.
We all agreed that $60 was a fair wage for the day. So, then, the landowner hired one of the workers, who he took back to work in the vineyard. About nine o’clock, he went back and hired one more. Then, around noon, he did it again. And, around 3 in the afternoon, he did it a fourth time. Around five he went back out and found others standing around. He asked them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They answered him, “Because no one has hired us.”
So, the landowner hired the remaining workers and sent them into the vineyard to work.
Then, it was evening time. An hour later. Around 6 o’clock. It was the end of the work day. So the owner of the vineyard told his manager to give the workers their pay. The owner said, “Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last. And then going to the first.” When the workers who were hired at 5 o’clock came, they received the daily wage of $60. When the other workers came - the one hired at 3 in the afternoon, the one at noon, the one at 9 in the morning, and the one at 6 a.m. - when those other workers came for their pay, they expected that they would receive more. Because they had worked longer than the one hired at 5 in the afternoon. But they each received the usual daily wage. Sixty dollars. A fair day's wage. The amount that had been agreed upon at the beginning of the day.
When these four got their wage, they started to grumble. (Can each of you grumble?) “These last workers only worked for one hour. You have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.”
The landowner said to them: “Friends, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?"
The last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Thank you for helping me with the story. Now, let’s talk about it for a few minutes. In our story, the workers who were hired early in the day, felt like the landowner wasn’t being fair to them. Do you agree with this? Or disagree?
If we look at the story from their perspective, then I would agree that it doesn’t seem fair. If that same landowner did this in our world today, he or she would probably be reported to the Department of Labor. For not being fair. For not paying each of the workers for the hours they had worked. What they deserved. This is how we most likely see this story.
Now, I want you to think of a time when someone was surprisingly generous to you. Think of a time, if you can, when someone completely surprised you with their generosity. When they didn’t have to. How did that feel to you?
What if we looked at this story from the perspective of the last worker who was hired? He had waited all day long to be hired. Standing there. With nothing to do. Thinking about his family at home. And the money he needed to bring home so they could have food on their table that night. Needing a full day’s wages, yet not getting hired. Until the very end of the day. What if, the entire hour he was working, all he could think about was what he would tell his wife when he came home with less than a full day’s wages? And how, once again, they wouldn’t have enough food on their table to feed their family?
But, then, when it came time to be paid, he received a full day’s wages. He was beyond joy. And fell to his knees with gratitude. That even though he was hired last - after all of the other workers - the landowner, in his generosity, knew that, to feed his family, he needed that full day’s wage.
How might our perspective change if we looked at it from his perspective? Instead of from a perspective that brings envy. Or, as the Greek puts it, with an “evil eye?”
We live in systems that are characterized by status differences and by privilege that result in some people being valued more than others. This results in a system of “haves” and “have nots.” A system that becomes our way of living. What if this was the way of God's kingdom? What if, in God's kingdom, we got what we deserved?
But, thanks be to God, this is not the way of God’s kingdom. In God’s reign, we don’t get what we deserve. Instead, we receive what we don’t deserve. We receive God’s grace - an undeserved love that is given to everyone. In equal measure. God’s reign is marked by a surprising equality. The same equality witnessed in today’s parable. Where all receive an equal measure of God’s grace. And where we witness the extreme generosity of God. A generosity fully embodied in Jesus. Dying on the cross. For us. And for all people.
This is the way of God’s kingdom. In the world’s eyes, it is a way that is twisted and unexpected. It may seem unfair to us, who are so influenced by the world’s perspective. Yet, it is the way of God. A way of love. And a way of amazing generosity. For everyone.
May it be our way. May we, who have received everything we need from God and so much more - may we live with gratitude. May we model God’s unquestioning generosity. May we love and serve all people. Generously. Without envy. Amen.
Preached March 17, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Lent 2.
Readings: Matthew 20:1-16; Psalm 16:5-8.
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’”
He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.”
Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet:
“I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.”
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen! Matthew 13:24-44 (NRSV)
Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.
How many of you have ever heard of Aesop’s Fables? When I was younger, they were some of my favorite little stories to read. Can you remember the names of some of them? The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse; The Owl and the Grasshopper; The Hare and the Tortoise - to name just a few. So, do you remember how they were structured? There would be a short little story that was written to teach a lesson. Then, at the end of each of the stories, there was a short statement that was intended to summarize the lesson of the story.
Here’s one example. The fable of “The Fox and the Grapes.”
A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a vine that had grown along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to burst with juice, and the Fox’s mouth watered as he gazed longingly at them.
The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it. The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.
Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust. “What a fool I am!” he said. “Here I am wearing myself out to get a bunch of sour grapes that are not worth going for.” And off he walked very, very, scornfully.
Moral: There are many who pretend to despise and belittle that which is beyond their reach.
Aesop’s fables are examples of morality tales. Stories told to teach us a lesson or to express some moral idea that is intended to help us be better people.
Today’s lesson from Matthew 13 consists of three small stories. Parables. The Parable of the Weeds in the Field, the Parable of the Mustard Seed, and the Parable of the Leaven or the Yeast. It’s easy for us to fall into the trap of thinking that parables are like Aesop’s fables. That they are morality tales - ethical stories intend to teach us the right and wrong about God’s kingdom. To tell us the right and wrong ways to live in God’s kingdom.
But parables are not morality tales. They are not intended to give us clear answers. In fact, they are just the opposite. They are intended to challenge our thinking. To raise questions for us. To make us doubt.
Perhaps the best definition of a parable is found on the front page of your insert. It is a definition from C. H. Dodd, written originally in 1936. “At its simplest, a parable is a metaphor or simile drawn from nature or common life, arresting the hearer by its vividness or strangeness, and leaving the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise application to tease it [the mind] into active thought.” Parables are not intended to give us easy answers. So, if in reading a parable, you reach an easy interpretation, then you are probably missing the entire point.
So, let’s see how this definition fits with the three parables in today’s lesson. First, it is a metaphor that is drawn from nature or common life. Now, it is important to understand that the entire parable - not just the elements in it - are the metaphor. In Jesus’ teaching, parables are usually metaphors for God’s reign. This is so in today’s parables. For example, the reign of God is not being compared just to a mustard seed. But, it’s being compared to the entire metaphor - to the whole story.
Within each parable there will be symbols or content that will be familiar to the listener. It’s why, in Jesus’ parables, so many of them are focused on farming, because Jesus was in the rural areas outside of Jerusalem, preaching in an agricultural area. Sowing seed was familiar to them. Making bread with yeast was familiar to them. Weeds growing in fields would have been a common experience for his listeners.
Second. The parable “arrests the hearer by its vividness or strangeness.” Most parables have a twist to them. An unexpected element. Something uncommon that appears in the image that is drawn from common life. Something that we, with our 21st century sensibilities, might miss if we are not careful. For example, any person living in the rural areas of the ancient Mediterranean world would have know that there is no such thing as a mustard “tree.” There were large mustard shrubs, but not trees.
In another example, the Parable of the Yeast opens with a woman using leaven. This would not be unusual for the listeners, who would assume that she was making the daily loaf of bread for her family. But, what would catch their attention, would be the amount of flour she was using. Three measures, our story tells us. This is the equivalent of about 60 pounds of flour. An amount that would easily make over a hundred loaves of bread.
And, then, there is the Parable of the Weeds. If you truly wanted to ruin someone’s field, would planting weeds really be the best strategy? Wouldn’t you, instead, pull out the wheat? And, certainly, every gardener know that you pull the weeds as soon as you see them to help your crop grow better. But, in this parable, the farmer waits until the harvest is ready to gather, to separate and, then, burn the weeds.
Third aspect of the definition. The parable "leaves the mind in sufficient doubt about its precise interpretation or application." This is the signal that these are not simply morality tales. Instead of giving us that “Aha!” moment, they give us a big “Huh?” This was clearly evident last week in our conversation in Adult Forum on the Parable of the Weeds. There were a lot of questions. And not very many answers. Which is exactly what the parable is intended to do. To create question or doubt in our minds about the precise meaning. It’s no wonder why, in the ancient world, the word “parable” meant riddle.
Fourth and final part of the definition. The purpose of the parable is "to tease the mind into active thought" even to the point of altering one’s world-view. This means that parables are intended to create puzzlement for us about the overall logic of the story. It makes no sense. Yet, if we remember that parables are intended to help us understand God’s reign, and, if we remember from the Jesus’ first teaching in the Sermon on the Mount about how God’s reign is a great reversal from that of the world - where things are upside-down, where the priorities of God’s kingdom are completely opposite from those of the world - then, and only then, will we begin to understand the parable and, particularly, the parable as a metaphor for the unexpected nature of God’s reign.
So, what is the answer then for today’s lesson? I would first suggest that there might be many different interpretations. Our understanding of each parable is often dependent upon where we see ourselves in the story. That understanding can be turned completely upside down if we put ourselves in another place in the story. So, there could likely be many possibilities.
Let me, however, suggest a couple. First, the Parable of the Weeds is not at all about who gets into heaven and who doesn’t. Notice, in Jesus’ interpretation of it later for the disciples, he leaves out one of the key images of the story. The sower is the Son of the human. The field is the world. The good seed are the children of God’s reign. The enemy is the evil one. The bad seed are the children of the evil one. But, who are the slaves? This missing element would likely have invited Jesus’ disciples to see themselves represented in the parable by the slaves. Slaves who were concerned about the field (or the world). Who asked if they should do something about the weeds and were told no. This is reminder for us of the “already and not yet” nature of God’s kingdom. The “already” which requires us to live in the tension of a world where both good and evil exist. And the “not yet” which is a picture of the future fullness of God’s reign, where only good will exist. It is not our job to resolve the tension between the already and the not yet. It is the work of the farmer - of God’s Son - and not ours to resolve it.
And then, there are the two, nearly synonymous, parables about growth. Both of these parables are built around the image of contrast - that tiny beginnings mask the hidden power of God to bring about endings of growth that is beyond our own wildest imagination. That the beginning will be radically different from the ending. As Wes Allen, a New Testament professor at Lexington Theological Seminary writes, “To be a follower of Christ is to know God’s reign on earth already, but not fully, to know the mustard seed, but not yet the mustard tree. We live in the light of God’s salvific and liberating providence, but in the midst of the oppression of the reign of Caesar with all of the poverty, suffering, evil and death that comes with it.”
This is what the reign of God looks like. In the present already and the future not yet. It's what these parables point to.
Let us live into that tension and continue our work as God’s people, trusting in the light of God’s saving grace and in the hidden power of God to bring about the fullness of God’s kingdom. May it be so! Amen.
Preached February 17, 2019, at Grace & Glory Lutheran Church, Goshen, KY.
Epiphany 6.
Readings: Matthew 13:24-44, Psalm 84:1-7.
