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Sermon for Septuagesima
Exodus 17:1-7 + 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5 + Matthew 20:1-16
Today we celebrate grace, God’s grace, grace alone. Today, through the Parable of the workers in the vineyard, Jesus shows us God’s favor, His generosity at work, and to whom He shows this favor, and why. Today, the Holy Spirit teaches you about grace and calls on you to assess yourself: When it comes to God, are you working for wages, or are you relying on grace? It’s either one or the other. There is no in-between. And you need to know the answer. If you’re working for wages with God, then you will receive the true wages you deserve, which is everlasting death. If, instead, you are relying on grace, then the gift you will receive from God is eternal life.
This parable bothers some people. If you’re a store owner or employer, especially if you’re a staunch capitalist, you don’t do what the landowner in the parable did. You don’t hire some people for a full day’s work and then, at the end of the day, pay those who worked only an hour the same as those who worked all day. And as an employee, you can relate to the full-day laborers. You can understand why those who put in 12 hours of work expected to receive more than those who worked only an hour, and you would complain against your employer, too. And children, if one of you spent all day pulling weeds in the yard, and your brother or sister came out for only a few minutes to pull weeds, and then you all got a $5 bill from your parents afterwards, you would complain.
And if you’re working for wages, you may be right to complain. The very nature of things, the very morality that God has woven into the fabric of our hearts says that if you work harder than someone else, then you should get a bigger return, a bigger reward than someone else. And if God’s kingdom were a business in which God evaluates how hard you worked and the quality of your work and then paid out wages to people based on how well and how hard each one worked, then…then everyone would still receive the same wages at the end of the day. The wages of sin is death, and all have sinned.
That’s it, just that simple. If God’s kingdom is a business where you work hard (or not so hard) and expect wages for your work at the end of the day, you will receive the wages of death, and so will everyone who works for wages with God. You could be an Apostle Peter or an Apostle Paul or a Mary, mother of God. If you’re waiting for wages, then you will get paid in God’s righteous wrath against your sin, and you will surely die forever.
But see, Jesus says that God’s kingdom is not like that. It’s a kingdom of grace. The word “grace” can be defined as the undeserved love that God shows. Grace, by definition, cannot be deserved, cannot be merited. It is given freely. It is given abundantly. It is given equally to all, through Jesus Christ, not apart from Christ, because He is the one who merited, who deserved God’s love by His hard work, by His righteous life, by His obedient death on a cross. Christ is the very Throne of Grace where God’s anger is stilled, where God’s generosity is on display.
So where God pays out wages, where God looks at what you deserve, there is wrath and death. But where God hands out grace, where God looks at what Christ has deserved, there is forgiveness for sinners and life and every blessing. Those who approach God for wages, for repayment, relying on their hard work—they will die eternally. Those who approach God for grace, relying on Christ Jesus—they will live eternally.
The Apostle Paul says, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Grace is where the Lord Jesus is. The Lord Jesus is here, for you, in the Word of God proclaimed from this pulpit, in the Absolution proclaimed to sinners in private. The Lord Jesus is here, for you, in Baptism, in Holy Communion. Here is grace. Here is forgiveness. Here is where you receive from God’s generosity, not where you offer Him your goodness or where you tell Him how deserving you are.
Jesus says at the end of the parable, the last will be first, and the first last. Here He comforts us and warns us, too. The workers in the parable who were hired later in the day, the ones who were hired last, didn’t work out a deal with the landowner. They relied on His grace to give them what was right, and they received His kindness and favor. Those who were hired first, who worked the hardest and relied on their work for wages—they were not only paid last, but they were viewed as last by the landowner who wanted His generosity, His grace to be praised, not complained about. With them He was not pleased, in spite of their full day’s work.
Of course, that wasn’t the first time this had happened. It had been happening throughout history. It happened in the first lesson you heard today with the children of Israel. God showed them pure grace by choosing them out of all the nations to be His people. He rescued them out of slavery in Egypt with mighty signs and wonders. And as soon as they got a little bit thirsty, they grumbled and complained about God’s providence. It wasn’t up to their standards. After all, the Egyptians weren’t His people, and yet He gave them lots of food and water.
The children of Israel, the Jews, were God’s chosen people, the first ones hired into God’s vineyard. But, as you heard in the Epistle today, most of their bodies were scattered in the desert. God was not pleased with them. The first became last. Why? Because they were working for wages, as if they deserved something from God. The Gentiles came along late in the day and were given the same portion in God’s kingdom, the same promises, the same blood of Christ, the same baptism, the same salvation as the Jews. And many of the Gentiles believed God; they relied on His grace and were saved. The last became first.
Now, let’s say you really were among the first, the hardest workers. Let’s say you were an Apostle Peter or an Apostle Paul or a Mary mother of God. Let’s say you grew up in the Church and never left, never strayed to the right or to the left. If you’re looking for wages, if you think God will reward you for the hard working and the saintly living you’ve done, then congratulations on being first, but guess what—the first shall be last. The first shall be turned away.
Or let’s say you really were the chief of sinners and could think of no one in history worse than you. Of course, the Apostle Paul already claimed that title for himself, chief of sinners, but let’s say you’re right there with him. Let’s say you’ve spent your life absent from God’s house, either never baptized and never serving God, or once baptized and then walked away from His Word and His people. Let’s say you deserve all the fire in hell and the full wrath of God to be poured down on you. Nonetheless, there is One who has already suffered that fire and wrath for you and who has deserved God’s grace and favor for you, the One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus. God gave His Son for sinners, for those who could never earn their own way into His grace, not all the way, not most of the way, not part of the way. He gave His Son for sinners who can’t earn God’s grace at all. So that everyone who tries to earn His grace will lose it for sure, while everyone who trusts in Christ alone for grace will find it for sure.
That doesn’t mean that works are thrown out, or that Christians can go out and be lazy good-for-nothings. Grace does not mean that works don’t matter. It means that works don’t gain or merit God’s gifts. Works are thrown out when it comes to how sinners are justified. Works are not thrown out when it comes to the good of your neighbor, and so Christians wouldn’t think of abandoning good works, because our neighbor needs them. Our neighbor needs our kindness and thoughtfulness, our consideration and respect, our rebuke and correction, our invitation to come and see Jesus here in His Word and Sacrament. Your parents need your honor and respect; your children need your tireless care and instruction. Your husband needs your loving submission. Your wife needs your complete self-sacrifice and commitment. Your neighbor needs you to respect God’s institution of marriage between one man and one woman for life. Your neighbor who is your employer needs your faithful and diligent work, and your neighbor who is your employee needs you to be honorable and fair in the wages you pay.
Your neighbor needs these things, and if you are God’s child, you will be diligent in serving your neighbor, not because you’re working for wages from God, but because you rely on His grace to you. I translated stanza 8 of the Hymn of the Day today because it stated this same thing very clearly: For faith it is that pleaseth God, but love will do thy neighbor good, if thou art born of heaven.
The first shall be last. That should frighten every saint. When you think you’ve done enough and surpassed enough other people to earn your reward from God, when you think you’re successful enough to prove that God’s face is shining on you, when you think you’ve suffered so much that God just has to reward your suffering with His favor, then know that the first will be last. Repent. Abandon your works and return to Christ, the Throne of Grace! The last shall be first. That should comfort every sinner. No one is too lowly, no one is too far gone. No one comes along too late in the game to receive God’s mercy and grace, and the grace that is received last is the same as the grace that is received first. The kingdom of heaven is a kingdom of pure grace. And you are sons and daughters of the kingdom, through faith in Jesus Christ. Amen.
