“Scandalous Grace”
Psalm 105:1-2, 37-45 and Matthew 20:1-16
Allen Huff
Jonesborough Presbyterian Church
9/24/23
Give thanks to the Lord;
call upon his name;
make his deeds known to all people!
2 Sing to God;
sing praises to the Lord;
dwell on all his wondrous works!
Then God brought Israel out, filled with silver and gold;
not one of its tribes stumbled.
38 Egypt celebrated when they left,
because the dread of Israel had come upon them.
39 God spread out clouds as a covering;
gave lightning to provide light at night.
40 The people asked, and God brought quail;
God filled them full with food from heaven.
41 God opened the rock and out gushed water—
flowing like a river through the desert!
42 Because God remembered his holy promise
to Abraham his servant,
43 God brought his people out with rejoicing,
his chosen ones with songs of joy.
44 God gave them the lands of other nations;
they inherited the wealth of many peoples—
45 all so that they would keep his laws
and observe his instructions.
(Psalm 105:1-2, 37-45 – CEB)
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion, he sent them into his vineyard.
3 “Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing.4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ 5 And they went.
“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. 6 Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’
7 “‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.
“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ 9 When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion.10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. 11 When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’
13 “But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’
16 So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.” (Matthew 20:1-16 – CEB)
In Genesis, God tells Abram, “I will make of you a great nation and will bless you…[and] all the families of the earth will be blessed because of you.” (Genesis 12:2a, 3b)
Unlike other nations, though, this new, blessed to be a blessing nation will linger through the ages not because of glorious cities and powerful armies. This nation-within-the-nations identifies itself by doing justice, loving kindness, and walking humbly with God. (Micah 6:8) Israel’s defining characteristics derive from her signature innovation—monotheism. The people proclaim Yahweh, the Holy Onewho creates, sustains, and redeems, all things, everywhere.
In the experience of the Exodus, and in the giving of the law, we see only the preliminary markings of Israel’s foundation. While under construction, the Hebrews learn to trust and follow God—no matter where they are, no matter their joys or sufferings. And when the people do suffer, God sends prophets to call them back to the ways of hesed—the ways of steadfast love. To be restored, say the prophets, care for those who cannot care for themselves. Work for and demand justice from the powerful and the privileged. Embody humility, hospitality, gratitude, and generosity.
Faithfulness to God becomes complicated, though. And many generations into Israel’s existence, when she is still barely a toddler, God, through Isaiah, says, I understand how difficult this is for you, so remember, “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my” thoughts and ways higher than yours. (Isaiah 55:9)
When Jesus shows up, he reminds us that God’s creation of the new community continues to be a work in progress. With one disruptive teaching after another, Jesus pushes the spiritual, social, economic, and political ethics of hesed to a whole new level. And he reveals that God is, frankly, not entirely fair. And yet it’s God’s lack of fairness that reveals God’s unfathomable grace.
In the parable of the workers in the vineyard, those who worked only the last hour receive the same pay as those who worked all day. And like the Hebrews grumbling in the wilderness, those who worked all day grumble at the vineyard owner’s scandalous generosity. When confronted with pure grace, a heart driven by ego and narrow dualism will protest saying, That’s not fair!
A preaching professor in seminary began a sermon one time by saying he had some bad news and some good news. The bad news was that God isn’t fair. The good news was that God isn’t fair.
It seems to me that the grumbling of the workers sums up human sin. Human beings have always been obsessed with measuring the value of others over against the value we place on ourselves or our groups. And while it is harmful to under-value ourselves, God compels us to accept as equals even those people, whoever they are. And this can perplex the dual mind with its black-white, us-them mentality. Indeed, it can become as offensive as the Hebrews’ suggestion that one God, their God, created and watches over the whole world.
All around that world today, people cry out in anguish, desperate to be recognized as fully human. And their cries are often met with the grumblings of those who don’t understand, and who feel threatened by calls for equality and action for justice.
I feel the anger and grief of those whose humanity has been ignored and attacked. And as a follower of Jesus, I try to stand in solidarity with them because they are children of God who bear God’s image. I am no more valuable than someone languishing in the slums of Baltimore or Bangladesh, or locked up in prison. And when I act as if my life matters more than theirs, I’m a worker grumbling at the end of the day because I don’t want to imagine them as equals before God. And when I’m honest, I have to admit that because of the skin, family, and culture into which I was born, I received more than a day’s wage before I even showed up! So, when I grumble, my own condemnation lies in my grumbling. When I grumble, I reject the grace of God who does not need my permission to love and to value all that God has created. That’s when God says to me, Allen, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?”
Now—I also feel angry and grieved when cries for equality and justice turn violent. Violence redeems nothing. That’s the very point of the cross in the Christian faith. The Church has too-often claimed that God was so perplexed and offended by human sin that if there were to be heaven at all, there had to be hell to pay. Someone had to die. So, God sacrificed Jesus to satisfy God’s fury and to restore God’s ability to love.
As I’ve said many times: Any god who requires violence to be restored to wholeness is a golden calf, an idol made in our image. The cross does not reveal God’s wrath in the face of human sin. The cross reveals human frailty when it meets the height, and depth, and breadth of God’s grace. God did not demand Jesus’ death. We did. We killed Jesus because he was just too good to be true.
Jesus loves beyond the boundaries set by tradition. He offers a full day’s wage to last-hour hires. And yet, because God’s grace has no end, even our brutal violence against God Incarnate, does not condemn us forever. Friday is not the last word. Sunday is. Sunday is also the first word of new beginnings. Sunday lays new foundations. New promises. New hope.
“If I were to name the Christian religion,” says Richard Rohr, “I would probably call it ‘The Way of the Wound.’ Jesus agrees to be the Wounded One, and…we…come to God not through our strength but through our weakness.”1
The parable of the workers in the vineyard proclaims God’s incomprehensible grace. And in doing so, it exposes human weakness. It exposes our self-consuming appetite to see ourselves as superior to others. And even that is grace because before grace saves us, it scandalizes us into wakefulness.
Before grace can make a difference in our lives, we have to admit our aversion to grace. We confess our religious devotion to things like materialism, individualism, and retribution. And we must acknowledge the various Christ-denying supremacies of race, status, and culture to which that religion leads. When we surrender to the scandal of grace, we begin to recognize and celebrate God’s Sunday love for all people and all Creation.
I love all of you, says Jesus. There is no black or white, rich or poor, male or female. So, receive my love. Receive it for the sake of others as well as for your own sake. It comes to you by grace alone.
And when latecomers receive what you have received, celebrate with them. For you, as a nation-within-the-nations, are a sign of God’s household of grace.
And when you just can’t comprehend God’s grace, says Jesus, share it. The best way to understand that there is enough for everyone is by giving something away—especially to those who don’t seem to deserve it.
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