St. Matthew 20:1–16
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The words in our Collect for today hit many of the themes from our Scripture readings: O Lord, graciously hear the prayers of Your people that we who justly suffer the consequence of our sin may be mercifully delivered by Your goodness to the glory of Your name (Collect of the Day).
O Lord, graciously hear. If there’s one point to the parable today, it is the teaching of Grace Alone. The late workers should justly suffer the consequence of working only a partial day, maybe even only an hour, and yet, they receive the Lord’s goodness. They do not work for the full day, and yet the Master gives to each of them a full day’s wage. This is what it means to say that we are saved by God’s Grace Alone. We should justly suffer the consequence of our sin, but instead we are mercifully delivered by God’s goodness. We have not worked a full day in the Lord’s Vineyard—we sin, we disobey, we are lazy—and yet, the gift of forgiveness and eternal salvation is given to us by grace. That means it’s free. We don’t earn it, we can’t work for it. It has all been accomplished by the Master of the Vineyard Himself, who paid the price and gave this gift to us.
We can see this same teaching at work in the Old Testament. The Israelites had been slaves to Pharaoh, unable to save themselves. And the Lord came down and delivered them by His goodness to the glory of His name. He broke the power of Pharaoh by His plagues, He led His people through the water of the Red Sea, and He destroyed the Egyptian army. And then, they’re barely out of Egypt, and the Israelites are already grumbling and testing the Lord. First, they come to a place that has bitter, unhealthy water, and they grumble. Well, it’s true that water is important, especially in the desert, but you would think these people, who had just seen the wonders of the Lord in Egypt and at the Red Sea, that they would trust in the Lord to take care of them. And He does, He gives them sweet, good water, and even brings them to a bountiful oasis (with a spring for each tribe), and He promises them, “I am the Lord, your healer” (Ex. 15:26). Then, maybe a month later, they start grumbling again because they’re hungry. And what does the Lord do? He provides them with miraculous manna, bread from heaven, every day.
But then, it all happens again, not long after that. They come to another place with no water, and do they trust in the Lord? Do they remember His promises and have confidence that if He saved them in the past, He would surely save them now? No, they grumble and they test the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Moses prays to God, but I think he might’ve been thinking, “Third strike, you’re out.” And yet, the Lord did not make them justly suffer the consequence of their sin, but instead, once again, He mercifully delivered them by His goodness to the glory of His name. The Lord stood on the rock, and gave the word for Moses to strike the rock, and caused water to flow out for those undeserving, ungrateful people. The Israelites were not worthy of this water. They were not worthy to be saved from Egypt in the first place. And after all their grumbling and stubborn hard–heartedness, they deserved to be left out in the desert to die of thirst. They deserved to be killed, just like their Egyptian oppressors. But the Lord is gracious. He is merciful, He delivers, He is good. He saves by His Grace Alone.
We, living in America, in the 21stcentury, with smart phones in our pockets, multiple cars and other machines that make life easy, sitting comfortably with our savings, our clothes, our food, our place in the church—we deserve nothing more than those Israelites. We deserve nothing more than those vineyard workers. We should justly suffer the consequence of our sin. We deserve to go to hell. What’s kind of funny though, is that while many Christians will agree with that—“Oh yes, I’m a sinner. I deserve death and hell.”—when it comes to any suffering in this life, we are suddenly put out and think there has been some grave miscarriage of justice.
Justice would be you go to hell right now. In fact, you’re long overdue. We justly suffer the consequence of our sin. If you deserve hell after this life, then what makes you think you deserve anything better than that in this life? Surely, you should suffer here on earth too. Our general confession of sin is absolutely right (even if we often mumble the words without meaning it): I justly deserved Your temporal and eternal punishment (LSB p.184). That means punishment in this life and for eternity. And yet, we don’t get the full force of this punishment. We get to enjoy lots of good things in this life. We are not in hell. And we have the confident hope of life in heaven because of what our Savior has done! Even if we do suffer some in this life, we are not getting the full measure of justice. So, let’s not grumble, but say, Thanks be to God for that!
Still, sin has consequences. And anything we do suffer, we suffer it justly. Sinful people, in a sin–broken world, will bear the damaging marks of sin. There are diseases and natural disasters and evil, violent people. And even though your sickness or misfortune may not be a direct consequence of some sin, you’re still getting no more than you deserve. And sometimes, particular sins do carry direct consequences. The murderer deserves to die and can be executed. The unfaithful pastor deserves to be removed from his office. Treating sex as something casual brings with it terrible diseases, no amount of human protection can keep you safe from it all. A life of laziness and disrespect to parents and other authorities will usually bring poverty and hardship. When you endeavor to keep God’s Law, even though you won’t be perfect, your life generally will go better. But the flip–side is also true: when you persistently ignore God’s Law, your life generally will get worse and worse.
So, we pray that the Lord would graciously hear us. Because whatever we suffer, we justly suffer as the consequence of our sin. And we pray that we would not suffer all of the consequences of our sin. We pray that we would be spared in this world and also in the next. We pray that the Lord would mercifully deliver us by His goodness to the glory of His name. And He does. The Lord is gracious and merciful and good. In fact, what’s so amazing is that the Lord ONLY loves unworthy people. There is no one worthy of God’s favor, and yet, He gives His goodness to us because of what He has done, because of the price He paid in our place.
Knowing all of this, let’s not think too highly of ourselves. We must be on guard against covetousness. We must not envy what someone else has, or think that we deserve more than them. That idea is pure self-righteousness. That’s what the first vineyard workers do. They deny who the Lord is—they deny the very essence of God, that He loves and forgives sinners. And if they do that, then they deny that love and forgiveness for themselves. The Master challenged those prideful workers, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to Me? Or is your eye evil because I am good?” Are you envious and wicked because God is good to all? That’s the kind of God He is. Our Lord wants to be known as the God who saves sinners. That’s how He gets glory. He mercifully delivers by His goodness to the glory of His name.
So, our Lord pays what He does not owe to people who could never pay Him back. He saves and preserves people who grumble against Him and test Him. He gives generously to those who do not deserve it. Our Lord is the Rock who was struck and gives life–giving water to His people. He was pierced for our transgressions and from His side flows water and blood to cleanse us from sin and give us everlasting life. From this Rock flows the fountain of Grace Alone, filling the font, and filling the chalice, up to the brim, so that we can be saved. I love You, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my Rock and my fortress and my deliverer (Introit: Psalm 18).
In the Holy + Name of Jesus. Amen.
Artwork copyright (c) 2010 Edward Riojas. Used by permission.
Artwork copyright (c) 2010 Edward Riojas. Used by permission.
