“I AM GOOD”
Saint Matthew 20: 1-16
Septuagesima: 9 February Anno Domini 2020
Father Jay Watson SSP
An interesting text, this morning’s Gospel. Christ’s parable does have condemning force. Your fallen nature either resents that it occurs yearly in the readings, or hypocritically places yourself in the position of the faithful workers “hired” at the eleventh hour. I guess a third sinful thing you do is to fixate on the final phrase of Jesus: “…for many be called, but few chosen.” We don’t know why God does what He does, save for The Truth that God is both Truth, and, Love. God is Love. God is mercy and goodness. What He does is always right. But, you don’t understand, you can’t—He’s God—and you don’t like the fact that not everyone will be saved.
So, we will not examine that phrase, your curiosity or frustration, along with either your incorrect Arminian or Calvinistic views on election will have to be addressed another time and place (though, not in our Study Class at 10:30 either). Suffice the Hidden and Ineffable and Inscrutable Blessed Trinity to choose the lost lambs that It will. God loves the world but the world will not be saved. He hires who He hires. God’s workers, vineyard labourers, will be saved. They, you, are the sheep rescued.
The Church Fathers from Irenaeus, Athanasius, Chrysostom, to Aquinas, Benedict, and Luther have all found in this story of Jesus—“types,” symbolic signifiers, and allegorical representations for God’s truth about The Kingdom of Heaven. Some of these correlative “Gospel tags” have been preached from this pulpit before.
This morning we won’t compare “a penny a day” (or denarius) the various “hours,” the “Householder,” or the “market place” to referents in Christ’s day or yours.
Cutting to the chase: all men, born into Adam’s fall and sin, every one of you, is an idle, unemployed, damnable orphan. There are no bootstraps you can pull up—you have not feet; there is no special gumption and grit and inner desire to work hard—you have no hands, heart, or life-force.
Do not treat The Lord’s parable like some special information you’ve mastered because you’re special, gifted, “confessional,” or “Lutheran.”
No one in the vineyard is there because of anything they have done. No one is here this morning because of anything special you’ve done or are. You are owed nothing, you deserve nothing, and you earn nothing. This is because by yourself you are nothing. The “Goodman” the God/Man does it all. His Vineyard is His reclaimed and re-born Eden. It is made vibrant and fertile, and life-giving by the fruit of the grapes He has planted. He worked the soil with His plowing and disking, and cultivating. You see it in His obedience to the Commandments and in His suffering at the hands of the crucifiers. He did the fertilizing and watering in His own precious bleeding. He is the “Miracle-Gro” that causes all the clusters of luscious grapes—all you clusters of Christ—to bloom now, and forever.
All labourers labor, sure. All blueberry bushes produce blueberries. All dogs bark. All Christians are “in Christ” and thus are about their Christian vocations of receiving the Word and praising God—repeating His Word back to Him and to all others. You want a cookie? You don’t deserve any treats for being what He has made you: One in His Vineyard; One In His Green Pasture; One in His Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. No treats, but full reward equal to all other whom He has brought in.
You are + Washed. You are cleaned, clothed, and fed. You are participants at the Vineyard’s Feat wherein you drink The Finest Wine and eat the most delectable Bread.
Is The Vineyard the New Heaven and New Earth which will be When the Goodman of The House returns at the end? Yes. Is The Vineyard the Church right now and Her various parishes throughout the world? Yes.
By being brought into The Goodman’s Vineyard you have a new home and a new family. You’re not there/HERE because of your work, any of it, but since you are here you do work—naturally—without most of the times even thinking about it. When hired: first, middle, last…who cares? You are here.
Jesus has not just made you equal to all others who are here, He has made you “equal” to Himself by giving you His Father as yours, and giving you His Body and Blood to eat and drink—God’s Body and Blood. You are the best kind of His friends…you are His brothers and sisters. Why? He answers you: “because I AM good.”
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of The Holy Ghost
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