Matthew 20:1-16                                                 Ordinary Time

 I went to a meeting in another church recently and had a negative experience – something I hope never happens when Peace is gathered. I walked in, stood awkwardly with no one greeting me, had to figure out on my own if I was going the right way toward the meeting room. People were chatting but not to me. It was not a generous or inclusive welcome. Once someone recognized me as a pastor, everything changed, but how sad. It should make no difference who I am.

 It is so easy for the church to become a meritocracy. You earn the right to leadership by your merits. You earn the right to be loved and appreciated by your hard work or longetivity. You earn your ticket into God’s heavenly realm by what you accomplished in life, even your faith become a merit. When I was a kid, elders were chosen this way: If a man was a fine, upstanding citizen in the community who attended church, he was nominated to be a church leader. As I got older, occasionally women were chosen. They were picked by their worldly merits as much as spiritual merits. But that’s not how it is in God’s economy. Both worldly and spiritual merits are tossed out. God’s grace shows no deference to the deserving. God both chooses and rewards the unlikely. We speak of God’s grace all the time, but what do you really think it is? Pick up and pen and write down a phrase or two. What is grace?

 Here’s how Belonging to God, the simplest PC(USA) catechism, puts it. Grace is
God’s free gift of love that we do not deserve and cannot earn. I don’t think we really get that. We acknowledge that God’s love is gift, but we don’t appreciate how radically generous and inclusive that gift is. Today’s parable helps us see that it is all about
God’s generosity and gracious inclusion, not about our worthiness. This is a frequent theme in the parables of Jesus. Those who think they are more important than others discover that God’s love is for everyone – no favoritism shown, even to those who work extra long and extra hard. Hear now the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.

(Read scripture)

 That final verse is also the verse immediately preceding this text. The last will be first and the first will be last. Except the order is reversed and it is slightly nuanced: Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

 A certain manager of a vineyard begins hiring workers at sunrise, continues to hire workers throughout the long, blazingly hot Palestinian day, even hires some workers just an hour before the day’s end. And then comes this punchline about generosity. The vineyard owner orders the manager to pay all the workers the same wage. . And Jesus says this is what God is like.

 The magic of parables, the reason they are so effective in communicating truth, is that we hooked by the story, without realizing what is happening. As we listen to Jesus' story about laborers in a vineyard, we begin to identify with the characters in the story; And before we know it we're on the inside of the story and it's happening to us.

 And we’re saying, “It’s not fair. What do you mean by paying these lazy people just as much as you pay us?” Jesus wants to get us grumbling along with the offended fruit pickers. He wants the apparent injustice of the vineyard owner to slap us in the face. In fact, Jesus hooks you and me into supporting the common sense world of the parable. I can see it now, Jesus and the twelve walking along, Jesus telling them this story and he's halfway through it, and he's got every one of the disciples shaking his head in total sympathy for the angry laborers. "He can't do that, he can't pay everybody the same. They ought to stand up for their rights."

 On this last journey to Jerusalem, Jesus wants more than anything for his disciples -- Jesus wants more than anything for you and me -- to encounter the God who is not bound by common sense, the God whose ways are not our ways, the God who shatters our expectations, the God who surprises us with a better way.

 The punch of the parable comes only when we recognize to whom Jesus is directing this story. Not the crowd, but the disciples. His own beloved twelve, those who have left everything to follow him. They are the target for this story about God's generosity and radical inclusion.

 In the verses prior to this parable , the rich young ruler is told he must sell his possessions, give money to the poor, divest of anything that distracts him from full service to God. So the proud disciples then say to Jesus, “Unlike that rich man, we’ve given up everything to follow.” The disciples are making a dangerous judgement and comparison. The funny thing is, Jesus tells the disciples that they will be rewarded – that they will receive one hundred fold back what they have sacrificed and that they will inherit eternal life. The disciples are commended on their commitment to follow Jesus, but they are also stunned with the news that they will be last, and many who have not made such a commitment will be first.

 Imagine the poor disciples. Imagine how shocked they must have been. Perhaps as shocked as we Americans have been lately that our economy is falling apart. Large financial institutions, upon which we placed too much trust, are not able to sustain us. And those who thought they were first will now be last. And perhaps some of the countries we have long thought were last, might be first, if this trend continues. God has a funny way of shaking up those who think they are the most important, the favorites – because of their accomplishments, their successes.

 "What? What did you say, Master, we will be last? And who will be first? We...we will be last and those who haven't worked as hard, will be first?" What a challenge Jesus gives to those of us who begin to think we are earning our salvation. Jesus says, “God's generosity has nothing to do with the depth of your commitment. You can live your life as if your commitment -- as if all that you have given up to follow me -- determines your inheritance of grace. You can live your life according to your understanding of what's fair, according to a market mindset, but God does not dispense grace in a commercial marketplace. God gets you in, God pays you in full, whether you have worked the whole day in the blazing heat or whether you have worked just a few minutes in the evening cool.

 "Did you invite yourself to work in the vineyard? God invited you and God invited your co-laborers and it doesn't matter when or why or how God invited you or them, you are all equal in God's sight.

 Your commitment means something, but you cannot commit your way into the kingdom of heaven. You can not sacrifice your way into the arms of God. Your giving up, your commitment, your discipleship, everything you are now as you follow me is generated by God’s generous love.

 So stop comparing yourselves, followers of Christ, who are all loved with the same love. The Lord is glad you are following and wants you to invite others to do the same, but no matter your commitment you will all receive the same reward. In fact, you've already received it, and that's why you labor on Christ’s behalf, that's why you love me the Lord you do. Because God loved you first. Some of you are still trying to earn your way. God appreciates your hard work, but to prove to you that it is all about grace, Jesus tells this parable.

 (These last several paragraphs are adapted from a 1990 sermon by Richard Deibert.)

 We all want to claim credit for our Christianity. We all want God to respond to us as if we are responsible for our changed life. We all want to be called to the front and patted on the back, “Well done good and faithful servant, you have served me well, you have earned what I now give you, eternal life.” We all want to say that we have earned what's been given to us. We're all like Peter and the disciples on that last trip to Jerusalem -- we want the credit.

 And that’s why we tend treat people in the church and in the world as if we live in a meritocracy, as if certain people are more important than others, but to God, they are all equally valuable. God’s reality, the kingdom of heaven, is based completely and utterly on generosity and inclusion. That’s grace. Everybody gets the same generosity and inclusion – no matter who they are or when they arrived or what they bring with them. That's how it works with God. That’s how it should always be in Peace church. Peacemakers are generous and inclusive, just like the Lord, because we know that none of us has any ground on which to stand, except grace.