“ATONING GRACE”
Saint Matthew 20: 1-16
Septuagesima: 12 February Anno Domini 2017
Father Jay Watson SSP
In the Catechism’s explanation, the Biblical scholars differentiate between three kingdoms. The kingdom of power is The Lord’s omnipotent control over all created matter in the universe. The kingdom of Glory is the state of being which will only occur when Christ returns at the end of time and takes His sheep to be with Him in the new heaven and new earth. It is the third kingdom—the Kingdom of Grace—that is most being referenced in this morning’s Gospel text from Saint Matthew. “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder (landowner, NKJV), which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard” is YOU, the Church; YOU, right here and right now as The Bride of Christ.
The Lord is love. God is the Blessed and Holy Trinity and shows Trinitarian love as God always has by giving, sharing, communing, and interacting. The Lord showed love in Genesis 1 and 2 by making Man. The Lord made Adam and Eve in His Trinitarian image; He went out early in the [Creation] morning to hire labourers for His vineyard…His Garden of Paradise. Left to their own devices, the man was nothing but dead dirt and the woman, a rib, that could make no decisions for itself.
“Salvation unto us has come, by God’s free Grace and Favor.” The Man of the parable, Who would one day be The God/Man Christ Jesus, is the ultimate “householder,” since He is Master of all creation This vineyard owner found Adam and Eve. This Divine landowner made them more than hired hands, far greater than tenant share-croppers. The Lord made them His beloved children. But, because this was not good enough for the man and the woman once they chose to look inside themselves, instead of at The Lord, once they chose to listen to the serpent rather than to The Word, they ceased cultivating God’s gifts and in disobedience tried to justify themselves. They rebelled, they ran, they hid, they blamed each other, and they were naked in themselves.
There was nothing in these, now always, lazy and idle humans except death. But God is love. Not love as a feeling but love as intent and action…love as “person” and “work,” love as giving and forgiving; as sacrificing and saving. God planted another “Garden of Eden” which is the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
The Lord has called you to work as He first called Adam. God made Adam His precious son by His word breathing with moisture onto dirt. God makes you His precious children by His Word breathing the moisture of the Font’s water + onto dry and dead hearts.
In this vineyard—The Church Militant, there too is a Tree of Life that bears the fruit of immortality [Rev. 22.2]. It, He, gives you The Peace which passeth all understanding. The Lord has called you to work as He first called Adam. There is much heat and toil in the vineyard. This work is not for salvation but is the result of Adam’s Fall and your daily trespasses. You should not be envious and greedy, but you are. You should not be hateful and murderous, but you are. You should not be vain, thieving, adulterous, and covetous, but you are. The Law of God condemns and kills you for having an “evil eye” and for begrudging The “Goodman of the house” and His generosity to all…to those who only “wrought but one hour.” You are not better than they. You are not better than the sectarian, the Romanist, the Synergist, or the charismatic. You are not better than the Jew or Muhammedan. You are not better than the liberal, atheist, homosexual, or foreigner. All have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of The Lord. While you must be exhorted and encouraged to love your neighbors, especially those most unlike you, the Law will continue to condemn you for your failure to do so perfectly. You should be sad over this incompleteness, this abject failure, this disease leading unto death. You should be remorseful and contrite that you are not what God desires of you and for you…by you. But you are not by you, that is, you are not by yourself. You have been “hired,” that is, brought into the kingdom which is Christ’s dear family. You are His brothers and sisters. He will never abandon you or throw you out. His Grace, His self-sacrificing on your behalf, will keep you ever in His heart, His pierced side, and at His Table. Jesus bore the day’s burdens in His own 33 years of painstakingly keeping and obeying all of The Commandments perfectly. Jesus did the “heavy lifting” and the back-breaking work of Loving His Father with all His heart and loving His neighbor (everyone, His enemies also) perfectly. Jesus bore the heat of the day, the scorching hot and blazing sun of God’s wrath against your sins. The only work that matters in this Kingdom of The Church was done, first, at Calvary, and then, every Lord’s Day at His font, pulpit, and altar! “Good works cannot avert our doom…they help and save us?... NEVER.” “Faith looks to Jesus Christ alone, Who did for all the world atone; He is your one Redeemer!”
You have been called by the “Goodman.” You have been chosen by Jesus The God/Man. Come to The Altar and be rewarded with The Gift of Forgiveness and Life.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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