A sermon based on Matthew 20:1-16, Rev. J. Orlando Flahn
INTRO: I must admit, this is one parable of Jesus that has always challenged my sense of justice. Each time I read it, I feel like something is not quite right or fair. In today’s lesson we find some people who worked hard and long, and at the end of the day, they got the same pay as those who only worked one hour.
I don’t know about you, but that ain’t right! If you were one of the people who worked hard all day as we see in this story, and then seeing yourself getting equal pay with someone who just worked one hour, wouldn’t you look at that and say, “This is not FAIR”?
And when you try to speak up and protest, you hear your employer say, “Hey, I’m the boss, I can do what I want with my money. Deal with it.”
But here is the enduring truth: God, represented by the landowner in this parable, doesn’t operate in His kingdom by our standards of fairness. Instead, in His goodness, He chooses to be gracious, kind, merciful, and generous!
This goes against our human nature. We struggle to understand how God’s “upside-down” kingdom principles work. God’s gracious working unsettles us and challenges our worldview, as seen in today’s gospel lesson—the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.
Jesus says in verses 1–2: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.”
This landowner is exceptionally generous. He goes out early in the morning to find day laborers to work in his vineyard and promises them a wage of one denarius at the end of the day. These workers were likely on the margins of society—destitute, with no money, no jobs, and waiting at the mercy of a kind-hearted landowner to hire them, even for just a day. Without the landowner’s generosity, they might have returned home with nothing to feed their families.
But the landowner finds them and promises he will give them a day’s wage, a denarius, to which they agreed. At the end of the day, they would expect to receive a denarius… nothing more, nothing less.
In verses 3–7, Jesus continues: “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. Again, about noon and about three in the afternoon, he did the same thing, bringing in more workers. Finally, about five in the afternoon, he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ Their answer: ‘Sir, it is because no one has hired us.’ In other words, ‘We are not lucky. No one has shown us kindness. No one seems to care, nobody gives us favor. Everyone is passing by and not even considering our needs.’” Jesus says the landowner told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
In verses 3–7, Jesus reveals a kind-hearted and compassionate landowner who shows concern for men at the margins of society—disregarded, neglected, and destitute. Notice: Jesus says they were in the marketplace doing nothing, standing around all day (verses 3 and 6). He asks them in verse 6b, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” Their response: “Because no one has hired us.” They are at the mercy of anyone willing to show them kindness.
Everyone passes by and refuses to take notice of their situation. No one cares about their needs or thinks about their families—whether they have a meal each day. Nobody stops to find out how they are doing or to help and show them kindness.
Illustration: I was working somewhere in Potomac, MD, and my boss and I would sometimes go out to eat. There, at the corner of this busy shopping center, we would see Hispanic folks standing around, hoping to find some day labor. They would come rushing to our truck to see if we had work for them. Many times, I would get angry, and words would swell up in my heart. I would totally ignore and disregard them—as if they were just beggars standing on street corners, harassing people.
One day, God’s Spirit whispered to me: These are real people, with wives, children, and families just like you. More than that, they are people for whom I died. If you do not have anything to give them, please do not despise or disregard them anymore. They are not objects—they are real people for whom Jesus died. Spiritually, the Lord began to impress upon my heart that I was in the same condition: a beggar, jobless, homeless, destitute, and entirely at the mercy of His kindness and goodness.
Notice three things about the day laborers in this story:
- They all have one thing in common: they had no means of income and could only survive at the mercy and generosity of a good landowner who looked for them early in the morning and offered them hope.
- They received favor in their hopelessness and destitution from a good, generous, and compassionate landowner, who came looking for them to hire them so they could survive another day. The landowner didn’t have to look for them or stop for them—he could have passed by like others or found others down the street. Yet he stopped and restored their dignity, allowing them to return home and make their families happy.
- They all entered into an agreement with the landowner to be paid a day’s wage—a denarius—for their labor.
But in verses 8–12, things take a different turn: it’s payday, and not everyone is happy with how things end. At the end of the day, the landowner keeps his word—he honors his character and keeps his promise. But here’s the problem: those who started working early feel cheated. Those who only worked for one hour received equal pay, and so the early workers complain, “We worked long, tedious hours in the hot sun. We should have received more than those who came last. This is not fair!”
They cry out, “Injustice!” “Discrimination!” “Sir, you are not fair!” The text reads: “When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’” (vv. 11–12)
They complain that they deserved a much larger pay than their fellow laborers. They believe they do deserve equal pay because they worked longer hours. They begin to point fingers: “Those people don’t deserve the same wages as us. They didn’t work as hard. We’ve been coming to church all our lives—we’re more Lutheran than they are. They’re just now coming. They didn’t bear the burden of the work and the heat of the day with us. This is not fair!” Sounds familiar?
In verses 13–16, we hear the landowner’s answer to the disgruntled workers: “I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Did you receive your denarius? Is it less than what I promised? Take your pay and go. You agreed to exactly what I have given you—so what is the problem?”
He goes on to say, “I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
This illustration reveals the radical nature of God’s grace in His kingdom. We do not earn His grace by our performance or merit. The early workers grumbled, not because they were cheated out of what they were promised—they received exactly what the landowner said he would pay them. Instead, they grumbled because someone else received equal kindness, mercy, and favor.
“God, You are not fair!” Really? Are we talking about fairness? If so, none of us would be here today.
You see, God’s love and grace aren’t about us earning a prize or competing to see who works the hardest. God is radically generous. He welcomes everyone into His family, whether someone has loved Him their whole life or just turned to Him at the very last hour….”
If we start to be curious, looking around and comparing ourselves to others….we will definitely miss out on the joy of celebrating God’s goodness to everyone.
Rather than being upset with God’s abundant goodness on everyone, let us rejoice in His amazing grace He has shown us…something totally undeserving!
The Bible says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Rom 3:23; 6:23)
My friend, it doesn’t matter in God’s kingdom whether you come early or late in life; He welcomes everyone with the same fullness of His grace.
Illustration: A young lady who occasionally walked through the park after work, stopped to have her picture taken by a photographer on this particular day. She was very excited about her picture being taken. As she walked out of the park, she looked at the polaroid picture in total amazement. She turned and headed back to the camera man. When she got their she stated, “this is not right! this is not right! you have done me no justice!” The photographer looked at the picture and looked at her and stated, “Miss, you don’t need justice, what you need is mercy.” If God dealt with us justly none of us would be here today. Sometimes we think we look good, but if we look at the real picture under the microscope of God’s eye, justice is not what we really want….Yes, God is not fair, so to speak. But God is so good!
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph 2:8-9 ESV)
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