Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 24, 2023
Jonah 3:10-4:11+Psalm 145:1-8+Philippians 1:21-30+Matthew 20:1-16
One of the most powerful scenes in the Hoboken-centered film "On the Waterfront" happens fairly early when the dock foreman begins calling laborers to work for the day and tosses the work tabs into the air, leaving grown and desperate men to scramble on the ground for one of the precious tokens that would allow them to work that day. It's the scene where Marlon Brando meets Eva Marie Saint, and you can already feel the energy between them, but she doesn't yet know what he knows about her brother's death that opens the movie. Because Terry Malloy, played by Brando, keeps his mouth shut about that, he gets a preferred work spot, barely lifting a finger for the day while others labor and toil to load or unload the ship.
Imagine for a moment that Big Mac, the foreman, tosses those work tabs five times throughout the day, hiring more people to work, even as late as almost-whistle time that closes the day. And then imagine that he hands out the pay, starting with the last hired, and gives them a full day's wage. By the time he gets to the first ones hired that morning and gives them that same amount, it wouldn't take mob boss Johnny Friendly to toss him into the river to sleep with the fishes. No, those frustrated workers would take care of that for him.
It is an oddly simple yet complicated parable, and it is as provocative as it is comforting. We know, however, that Matthew must have gotten it close to right when socialists and capitalists alike can use it for their own purposes, from a fair wage argument to 'a boss can do whatever he wants' interpretation. I think for most of us, there is something grossly unfair about paying someone who did an hour's worth of work the same as someone who performed that back-breaking agricultural job for an entire day. It just doesn't sit right.
But here's the thing. It isn't really about money.
Jesus was really good at telling stories about everyday things. Wayward sheep and ungrateful sons, yeast and salt and light. And this time, he pulls out of his bag of stories one that would have a familiar ring for most of his listeners. They were, after all, laborers, whether farmers or shepherds or fisherfolk. They were looking for Good News, for release from the oppression of Rome and the overseers who enforced Roman rule. They were poor and they were sick and tired of being sick and tired. And along comes Jesus with his stories about the last being first and the first being sent to the back of the line.
Our lectionary skips entirely over chapter 19 of Matthew that ends with the story of the rich young man, the one who is sincere about keeping the commandments and wants to know what else he needs to do. And what does Jesus say? ‘If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me' (29:21). He follows this with the analogy about it being easier for a camel to thread a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven. The disciples are baffled by this. How can anyone be saved? We left everything to follow you and you're telling us stories about barriers instead of opening doors?
To this, Jesus says two things: "For God, all things are possible" (19:26) and "Many who are first will he last, and the last will be first" (19:30). If you pretend for a moment that there is not a separation between chapters 19 & 20 (which there wasn't originally), then you can hear how this parable of the laborers in the vineyard would follow. Those last who will be first? Those are the ones hired later in the day.
"But," you say, "Pastor Elaine, you just said it wasn't about money." Well, it isn't. The very first words Jesus says here are "For the kingdom of heaven is like..." (20:1). He's talking about something more important than money. He's talking about what God's reign looks like.
In the story of Jonah, part of which we read a moment ago, Jonah gets mad at God for not destroying the city of Nineveh. This happens after God told him to go preach to the people of that wicked city, but he goes the other way and gets thrown overboard and swallowed by a great fish, and only then does he go walk through the city warning people of the destruction to come. And they listened to him. You'd have thought he'd be happy, but he resented God's mercy and goodness toward them.
In Matthew's time, those who had been followers of Jesus early on resented that the latecomers to The Way were to receive the same benefits, the same promise of God's reign, as those who had been there all along. They did not like it one little bit. As in the story of Jonah, Jesus asks them what they are so angry about. "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 20:15-16).
Take money out of this equation for a minute. If you walked through these doors for the first time this morning, you are as loved and as welcome as those who have been here for decades. That is the way it works. And as we seek to make Christ known in this world, it doesn't matter who's been at it the longest. We are all on Team Jesus, whether you grew up in the Church or are just now exploring the idea of faith. We are not here to set up barriers or roadblocks. We are here to welcome, to offer hospitality to strangers, to "live (y)our life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ" as Paul put it in Philippians (1:27).
Rejoice and give thanks for God's abundant love for every single person who labors in the vineyard to make real God's reign on earth as it is in heaven.