Sunday
09/24/17 Freeville/Homer Avenue UMC’s
Sermon Title: “Is Jesus Unfair?”
Old Testament
Scripture: Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
New Testament
Scripture: Philippians 1:21-30
Gospel Lesson:
Matthew 20:1-16
Well my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ, I have
a question for you on this Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost.
This question is, how many of you don’t like it when things
are “Unfair?” Sometimes in our lives, we see, we witness, or we hear about “Unfairness.”
Maybe we have been working hard at a job for years and
years, hoping for that promotion. Instead of us getting that promotion though,
the boss’s son gets the promotion. We have worked much harder and we have done
more for the company, than the boss’s son gets the job. After all, he is the boss’s
son.
Sometimes we say things like, “why do bad things happen to
good people, and sometimes good things happen to bad people?” I think of the
recent hurricanes.
I don’t know about you, but this really gets at the core of
Christian justice, of biblical justice, of gospel justice. What is fairness,
and how should we as Christians practice fairness?
Sometimes, someone breaks the law, and they get as the term
goes, “a slap on the wrist”. Other times when someone commits the very same
crime however, they then go to prison. Is that fair?
A strong area of biblical and Christian justice for me, is
being accountable to God for our actions. Do I believe that we will one day be
held to account by God? I do. For if I didn’t, then Adolph Hitler doesn’t have
to be accountable for all of the terrible things that he did. Then the young
man who shot all of those children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut
has no reckoning for his actions. I believe in justice.
In preparing for this sermon this week, I asked a few
people the following question. The question was this, if you died and went to
heaven, and Adolph Hitler was in heaven, what would you think of that?
Well some people that I talked to went as far as to say
that they would leave heaven altogether, but most said that that would not be
right, or that it would be “Unfair.”
Justice, fairness, righteousness, these are things of God,
of Jesus Christ. Perhaps growing up, our parents were much more lenient with
one of our brothers or sisters than there were on us. Maybe we got “the brunt
of it” as the term goes. Was that fair?
In the gospel of Luke 15:11-32, we have the famous story of
the Prodigal Son. This is the story where a rich man has two sons. One son asks
for his inheritance early, and the rich father gives the son half of his
wealth. The son then goes off and spends all the money on dissolute living. The
son is then penniless and homeless, and comes home begging to be one of his
father’s servants. The father instead runs down the road when he sees him
coming, puts sandals on his feet, a robe on him, and ring on his finger. They then
have a feast in his honor.
As you might remember though, the older brother who did not
take his inheritance early, and who stayed and worked for his father, was angry.
He was angry that his younger brother did what did, and was welcomed with so
much. It was “unfair,” the older brother might have said to his wealthy father.
The wealthy father then told the older brother, but you have never gone
without, and you have always had what you needed with me.
Justice, righteousness, and fairness, these are things as
Christians that are or should be important to us.
In our gospel reading this morning, Jesus tells us the
story or the parable of the vineyard owner. Anyone here by the way, like to
drink to wine? Well a vineyard is where they grow the grapes, to make the wine.
So let’s dissect and look again at the gospel
reading for this morning from the gospel of Matthew. Once again, this gospel
reading is Jesus giving us the story or the parable of the vineyard owner. This
story or parable, discusses how the vineyard owner hired and paid workers.
Now Jesus also compares this story or parable to what the
Kingdom of Heaven should look like. Jesus says,
“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” (Mt.
20:1-2. NRSV).
My guess is, is that vineyard owner hired these workers for
the day, at maybe six or seven o’clock in the morning.
The gospel then continues with the vineyard owner hiring more
workers. It says:
“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’ (Mt. 20:3-7, NRSV).
So to review, the vineyard owner hired workers first thing in
the morning, then at about nine o’clock, then at noon, then at three o’clock,
and then at five o’clock. The vineyard owner therefore, hired workers
throughout the day to work in his vineyard.
The gospel then continues with:
“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?’ (Mt.
20:8-15, NRSV).
If we’re being
honest though, how many of us would feel that it would be “Unfair” if we worked
hard all day, and is those who worked less than we did, got the same pay? As I said
earlier, we have multiple experiences in our own lives like this. Experiences
where we say of something, “Well that is just unfair”.
Looking at
this story or parable that Jesus told us this morning then, as my sermon title
says, “Is Jesus Unfair?”
Well I think
of two things, first, that God has a different standard in dealing with people,
than we do (African Bible Commentary). Second, that this story or parable is also
about forgiveness and salvation.
For my first
idea about God’s standards, is the idea that God can choose to bless us
differently. We by our very natures might be jealous, or envious, or angry that
some “have it so much better than us,” but God’s blessings, at least in the way
of possessions and material wealth are often not equal for all of us. Is that “Unfair?”
Or does God chose to bless us differently, with different gifts and graces, and
in different ways? Now not all gained wealth and possessions are because of God’s
blessings, some have been ill gotten. Believing in “Divine Justice” though, I
believe that those persons will have to answer to God one day. Yet, God can
chose to bless us differently.
In the parable
of the vineyard owner for this morning, the vineyard owner, who represents God,
gives all of his workers the same pay. Is God a socialist? No, I think Jesus is
just showing us how God is generous, but can bless us differently.
I have met
some couples for example, that wanted to have children, but weren’t able to.
Sometimes these couples had more money without children, and were thereby able
to pursue missionary activities, or they chose to adopt children. We are all
blessed differently, but God is generous. God’s generosity and love is
something we can all have, but God blesses us differently sometimes, and in
different ways.
To be honest
though, because I am just so human, and because I am just so flawed, if I
worked in the vineyard all day, and got paid the same amount as those who
worked much less, I would be angry. Yet the vineyard owner told me first thing
in the morning that he would pay this much. He gave me work, he blessed me, and
he pays me. What’s the problem then? Well it’s “unfair.”
Perhaps this
is story or a parable on being grateful for what God has given us, even if we
think it’s not enough, or if it’s “unfair.” This is a tough story.
The second
take I have this parable is that of forgiveness and salvation. Generally speaking,
in most Protestant Christian denominations, including the United Methodist
Church, we believe that our salvation is based on faith. This means, that if we
ask God for forgiveness of all of our sins and wrong doings, and if we believe in
his son Jesus Christ, and what Jesus has done for us, then when we die on this
earth, we pass to heaven. We go from earth to eternity with God, with Jesus.
Who hear believes
that your faith in Christ, is how you go from earth to heaven when you die on
earth one day? I do.
So what is my
point? My point is, if you believe in Jesus at the crack of dawn, you will be given
eternity with God, with Jesus. You will also get the exact same thing, if you believe
at nine o’clock, at noon, at three o’clock, or at five o’clock.
I have heard
stories of people who lived rather selfish and destructive lives. Yet as they
lay in their beds old and dying, they decided that they needed to ask for
forgiveness. That they finally acknowledge the harm, the pain, and the hurts
they have caused. In that moment they asked God to forgive them. They accepted
Jesus, and they believed in what he had done for them.
I have heard these sorts of stories be
called “Death bed conversions”. Given this, is eternity, is heaven, as we believe
it as Christians, based on faith and forgiveness? I believe it is. If this
eternity and this heaven is a free gift, can’t we receive at five years old, or
at ninety-nine years old? I believe that the answer to this is yes. Only God
knows our hearts, and only God will judge us on our faith and our lives.
If someone
though, lived a long and a destructive life, and then two days before they died
asked God to forgive them, accepted Jesus, and were truly changed, do they get
this free gift of heaven, or eternity? Well in most Protestant Churches,
including the United Methodist Church, we would answer this with, yes.
Is it fair
though, that someone lived a terrible life, and right before they die, they gain
faith and get the same reward?
Is Jesus this morning
in the gospel of Matthew reading “unfair?”
The example question I gave to some this week was, what if
Adolph Hitler, shortly before he died, feel on his knees and begged God for
forgiveness. Would he have it? I believe he would. If Adolph Hitler had done
that, could he be in heaven? He could.
To be honest
though, I get angry when I think that Adolph Hitler, or the kid that shot all
of those children at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut could be
in heaven. The question though my brothers and sisters, is how forgiving is our
God?
The answer is
to me, is that our God will always forgives, always embrace us, if we but ask
and repent. This doesn’t always seem fair, yet the grace of our God is simply
put, beyond our comprehension. The love and mercy of our God. is beyond what we
are capable of understanding. Forgiveness, Jesus, eternity, well those are free
gifts, and we need to do is repent and ask for it. It may seem “unfair,” but like
vineyard workers getting paid the same for different amounts of work, our God
is simply that loving with grace and mercy.
While the
earthly blessings that we may receive will be varied, forgiveness, salvation, and
eternity, I believe, are free gifts, and all we need to do is repent and ask
them.
As for this morning’s
gospel of Matthew reading, it ends with the vineyard owner saying, or God
saying:
“So the last will
be first, and the first will be last” (Mt. 20:16, NRSV).
For our God is that loving, is that mighty
to save, and is that mighty forgive. Amen.
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