Septuagesima/St. Matthew 20:1-16 

[Jesus said], “The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the 

same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 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 a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Just prior to our text, Peter had said to Jesus, “…we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Jesus had asked for this level of devotion, that they leave their things behind and follow Him. 

You are asked for that sort of devotion, too. You are asked to avoid this world’s wickedness (that it often insists is actually righteousness, and scorns you for avoiding it)—but also to avoid the things about this world that are good and wholesome—if they should encroach upon your devotion to God’s kingdom (even father or mother…son or daughter Jesus said one time—Matthew 10:37). It can be a difficult thing to have this devotion, can’t it?

Jesus had been talking about how difficult it is for certain people to get into the kingdom of heaven. That thought of some being excluded seems to be what got Peter thinking about his question. 

Think about this for a second: some won’t make it into God’s eternal kingdom. The word equal comes up in this text. We’re so used to thinking of everything being equal. To many that means (even concerning eternity), that everyone will go to heaven (except maybe the worst people). Equal means something else entirely according to Jesus in His Parable of the Vineyard.

The real issue in our text is summed up in this statement: each of them also received a denarius. But when we think back on what happens in the story, the equally paid workers had not worked an equal number of hours, not done an equal amount of work. In fact, between the ones hired first and last there was an eleven hour difference. Yet the pay was the same.

And our first thought is: that’s not fair! 

The earliest-hired workers in the parable certainly thought so. When they’d seen the ones last-hired making also the denarius that was promised to them, they’d presumed something. 

• Boss must have had a change of heart about the deal he’d made with them. Perhaps he’d been out enough during the day to realize just how hot it was, and how difficult the work had been. That must have been it; he must have reconsidered paying them only a denarius for such hard work.

• In fact, he must have decided that to be the right wage for the those he’d found late in the day and brought in to work only about an hour.

• From there, presumably, he’d adjusted everything so that those last hired would get the denarius, those in the ninth hour a little more, those in the sixth hour a little more, going all the way back to themselves.

• They would make significantly more than those hired last; that’s only fair (those last ones had barely done anything, after all!).

• That must be what’s gonna to happen, they thought to themselves.

Of course, Jesus’ parable is a story that uses something about life in this world to illustrate what the kingdom of heaven is like. The purpose of it is to shock us in a certain way. It’s demonstrating to us that God is more gracious than we even would have thought. 

With that in mind, think about Peter’s question: “…we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” 

This might be the latest in sort of a thread of conversation Jesus and the disciples had been having. Recently, they’d asked, 

“Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” 

“Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest,” He’d answered (surprisingly).

Jesus’ parable is skillful in that it initially leads the listener to focus on the workers’ contribution. Through the dispute about payment, and all of the hiring talk and everything, it at first appears that what’s important is how much work the first hired did compared to the last hired (“Who is the greatest” —in other words). In this story, it’s a red herring, though. While we’re busy comparing ourselves to those tireless workers and thinking of how important we are and how deserving we are of good things from God (after all, we were baptized in the church as children—many of us, and have always been the good church people; we might even say (like Peter), we have left everything and followed Jesus)—while we’re busy thinking this, the real point is escaping us. The whole thing’s been about God, and what He’s done.

What’s really important is the vineyard master’s relentless pursuit of anyone He can find throughout every hour of the day to bring with him to His place. The way Luther describes the Lord’s manner in the fourth verse of his hymn, Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice reminds us of what this man does in the parable:

But God beheld my wretched state 

Before the world’s foundation,

And, mindful of His mercies great, 

He planned my soul’s salvation.

A father’s heart He turned to me,

Sought my redemption fervently;

He gave His dearest Treasure.

The vineyard master’s bringing of the men to work in his vineyard isn’t even about their work. That’s why in the end, what they all get from it is the same. He didn’t really need them; it was they who needed Him. They needed him to be mindful of his mercies great, and to turn to them with a father’s heart, and to seek their redemption fervently, and to give his dearest treasure. 

Jesus’ answer about the greatest being the one humbling himself like a child is reflective of what happens in the parable too. A little child’s work wouldn’t compare to what was done all day long by the ones first hired. But again, what they did wasn’t the important thing; it was the generosity of the one who put them there. 

We tend to think that how we are and what we do makes God obligated to us—to give us good things in life, to give us the kingdom. Going to that same hymn, Luther’s, Dear Christians, One and All, Rejoice—the third verse, we’re reminded of our real situation before God:

My good works so imperfect were,

They had no pow’r to aid me;

My will God’s judgments could not bear,

Yea, prone to evil made me;

Grief drove me to despair, and I

Had nothing left me but to die;

To hell I fast was sinking.

The tragedy that’s brought out in the parable’s grumbling workers is in not seeing themselves like Luther portrays in that verse. They think (like we do naturally) they have done something that obligates the master to them; but if we're thinking of what they represent in God’s kingdom, it’s only they who owe a debt (like in the hymn verse), one they could never work enough to repay. 

They are you and me in that sense. 

But even though this was the case, the master went to find them (like the previous hymn verse says: having beheld their wretched state before the world’s foundation, and having been mindful of His mercies great, He planned [their] soul’s salvation. With a father’s heart, He sought their redemption fervently, giving them His dearest treasure). He went to find them so that He could give them a gift they could never deserve (like God did for us when He gave us faith through the Spirit’s work in Baptism or though the Word). 

They think they’ve been diminished in being made equal with all the others. But there isn’t anything better than what the master is offering; and he wants everyone to have it.

We have left everything and followed you. What then will we have? You have been asked to devote yourselves to Christ and His kingdom. You have been faithful in this sometimes—entirely by the Spirit’s leading. On account of your Baptism (or your coming to faith through the Word) you have been like someone who was found in a marketplace by a generous master who took you to be in his vineyard (there isn’t any greater situation that could have been offered to you). He has even made you useful among his things, and promised you whatever is right. But he isn’t obligated to give it, and nothing you do there will obligate him. 

My good works so imperfect were, They had no pow’r to aid me—Luther’s words in the hymn do such a good job of describing your situation before God as a sinner. If you were to think that because of how you are or what you’ve done, you are earning His kingdom, He would be forced because of that presumption to say to you, take what belongs to you and go. And that would amount to the wages of sin, which is eternal death (Romans 6:23).

Instead, consider yourselves to be like those workers who were hired at the last hour of the day—not having any illusions of the master owing them anything; but appreciative of anything he would give. Luther was right in describing yours as a wretched state in need of salvation. To see oneself like this is in accord with Jesus’ declaration that the greatest in the kingdom is the one humbling himself like a little child. 

When the master says to the grumblers, I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you—think of what that represents when it comes to the kingdom of heaven. It means forgiveness. That’s what God has chosen to give to every sinner, though not one could ever deserve it. As Luther wrote in the hymn, He gave His dearest treasure. He gave His only-begotten Son to take the place of sinners. That was His dearest treasure. 

And there isn’t any sinner who isn’t included in what Christ earned with His suffering and death on the cross. The Father chose to give the same mercy to every sinner. That’s the kind of equality that happens in God’s kingdom.

Seeing what the master has for you, will you, now, knock it out of his hand insisting that your deeds deserved more? Your leaving of everything to follow Him can never be seen as earning that requires payment for services rendered; instead it is your receiving of a blessed invitation to escape the worst in return for the absolute best. It is the opportunity for the last to be made first entirely by God’s grace. You are the recipient of God’s dearest treasure: forgiveness in the blood of Christ. God be praised. Amen.

Other Lessons for Today:

Jeremiah 1:4-10 

The word of the LORD came to me, saying “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Then I said, “Ah, LORD GOD! Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 

But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord.” 

Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” 

1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness.