“Workers in the Vineyard”
Matthew 20:1-16

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Pastor Kevin Vogts
Trinity Lutheran Church
Paola, Kansas
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost—September 20, 2020

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Our text is today’s Gospel Reading, the parable of “The Workers in the Vineyard,” which is introduced and conclude by this enigmatic declaration of Jesus: “The last will be first, and the first will be last.”

As I once again read through this beautiful and inspiring parable, the first beautiful and inspiring thought that came to mind was, “What they need in that vineyard is a UNION!”

Things have changed a great deal in the 2,000 years since our Lord first told this parable. But, some things are still the same. We still have the same love of a good story. That is why this parable grabs our ears, just as it caught the attention of those who first heard it so long ago. We still have the same human work ethic. That is why this parable intrigues us, as much as it intrigued those to whom our Lord first told it.

We see our human work ethic in our society today. We believe that people should work for what they receive. “There’s no free lunch.” And on the flipside, we believe that those who work should receive a just wage and fair treatment from their employer.

That is why this parable is so striking. It somehow just doesn’t seem right that the men who worked 12 long hours through the heat of the day should be paid no more than those who worked only one hour, in the cool of the evening at the end of the day.

Is our human work ethic all wrong? Is this parable telling us that our basic instincts about fair play are somehow out of line with God’s word? No, that is not what this parable is all about. When it comes to work in this world, our human work ethic is right on target, in agreement with God’s word.

God himself gives us our jobs so that we can earn a living.  As Paul says in
1st and 2nd Thessalonians, “We hear that some among you are idle. . .  Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. . .  Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders, and you will not be dependent upon anybody.”

God wants all people to receive fair and just treatment.  As Jesus himself said to the disciples just a few months before telling them this parable, “The worker deserves his wages.”

God wants us to take pride in our work, whatever that work may be.  As Paul says in Colossians, “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.”

Your work is important and essential, as Paul says in 1st Corinthians, “There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but the same God works all of them in all men. Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.”

God wants you to be happy and satisfied in your job.  As Ecclesiastes says, “Nothing is better for a man than to eat and drink and to find satisfaction in his work. This . . . is a gift from the hand of God.”

So, this parable is not correcting our attitudes about what is right and wrong in the workplace. Our human work ethic is not the problem. The problem comes when we take our attitudes about work in this world and apply them to work in God’s kingdom.

That’s what Peter did in the events leading up to this parable. Speaking for all the disciples, Peter essentially said to Jesus: “Look, we have left everything and followed you. What’s in it for us? What are we going to GET in return?”

Peter was treating discipleship just like an earthly job, applying the rules of the human work ethic to spiritual service in the kingdom of God.  The disciples had dutifully done the work of Christ since the day he called, “Come, follow me.” Now they want the particulars about the wages they think they have earned.

Some things are still the same. Like the disciples of old, sometimes we think that we have tried our best to do God’s will, and therefore we deserve to be rewarded, for we have earned our wages in God’s kingdom. But, Scripture tells us there is only one wage that we have earned, or can earn, in the eyes of God: “The wages of sin is DEATH; but the GIFT of God is eternal LIFE through Jesus Christ our Lord.” THAT is the point of this parable.

Our natural inclination when hearing this parable is to focus on the men who felt cheated, because it does seem unfair and against our human work ethic.  But, that’s not who we should zero in on in this parable. Because, the point of the parable is found not in those who felt cheated, but in those who were freely given an unbelievably generous GIFT. For, the point of the parable is that the owner of the vineyard did not pay THEM on the basis of what they had earned.

In the same way, God does not pay US the “wages” WE have earned. For, the wages of sin is death, eternal death and damnation. But, the Good News is, instead of those wages, God graciously GIVES us, as a free gift, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.  So, this parable Jesus tells is a beautiful illustration of Paul’s familiar declaration in today’s Epistle Reading: “For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God—NOT by works, so that no one can boast.”

“The last will be first, and the first will be last.” That saying comes just before and after the parable of “The Workers in the Vineyard.” It is this principle that Jesus is illustrating in the parable.

All who consider themselves worthy of FIRST place in God’s kingdom, on the basis of their works, are in fact in LAST place. And to be in last place means to be completely OUT of God’s kingdom altogether. To be in last place is another way of saying being condemned to damnation in that other place.

Christ Jesus WAS in FIRST place. Since before the beginning of time, he had the number one place, in heaven. Christ Jesus truly was worthy of first place: holy, without sin, perfect. But, on the cross, he took LAST place for us, bearing our sins in his body on the cross. HE received the “wages” we have earned. The wages not of his own sin, for he is without sin, he received the wages of OUR sin: death. He took LAST place in YOUR place. 

Philippians puts it this way: “He humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place, and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

“The last will be first, and the first will be last.”   Jesus took LAST place in YOUR place.  But, God exalted him to first place: the first to rise from the dead, he ascended into heaven, and sits in first place at the right hand of God the Father.

“The last will be first, and the first will be last.”  Because Jesus took LAST place in YOUR place, you now receive from him the GIFT of FIRST place. For, the Father has accepted his sacrifice for you. Like those who graciously received a full day’s wage for only one hour’s work, you, who deserve to be last, have been given first place—not because you earned it, but because, like the owner of the vineyard, God has given it to you as a gift. “For it is by GRACE you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God—NOT by works, so that no one can boast.”

You see, the workers in God’s Vineyard DO have a union. Paul puts it this way in Romans: “All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death. . .  and since we have union with him in his death, we will shall also be united with him in his resurrection.”

The workers in God’s Vineyard DO have a union: spiritual union with Christ, united with him in our Baptism, united to his suffering and death, united to his resurrection and ascension.

The workers in God’s Vineyard DO have a union, and in the parable of “The Workers in the Vineyard” God is telling us the wage scale. For, in this “union” with Christ you have the most wonderful wage scale of all. Never receiving the wages of sin, but like those who graciously received a full day’s wage for only one hour’s work, you are freely, graciously given the gift of God: eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!