Matthew 20:1-16

I have shared before the fact that although I tried to play it cool throughout my academic career, the truth is that from first grade through graduate school, I was (and still am) one of those annoying smarty-pants kids who always has the right answer (or at least thinks he does). And that meant that I almost always got really good grades on tests and papers and all that schoolwork kind of stuff. And it was always secretly frustrating to me whenever a teacher would curve a test after I had done well. I felt like if I was able to get an A without the grades being curved, then there should be no curve and the people who failed should have to live with it. Now, I never admitted my secret resentment of curved grades because that’s an excellent way to get beaten up in the parking lot after school. But I felt cheated because I worked hard and did well, and other people didn’t do as well, but they got off easy because of the teacher’s generosity.

You may be able to tell already that I’m talking about the story that we read from Matthew’s Gospel today. You can earn your grades, or your denarius—a denarius was a day’s wages—you can earn your keep by working all day, and being smart, and having the right answers on the test. Or, you can get off easy and have your denarius handed to you on a golden platter simply because the master is generous, because the teacher is inclined not to fail anyone if possible.

The way our world works, generally speaking, is according to the principle of merit. Especially for Americans, we believe that people should work hard and be rewarded for their hard work, and that people who do not work as hard should not be rewarded the same way. You’re supposed to get a promotion based on your good merits, not because you’re related to the CEO. You supposed to get a merit scholarship because you merited it, you earned it, not because the scholarship people decided to grade on a curve and give everyone an award. Generally speaking, you get what you deserve in life. You get out what you put in. This is just the way the world works.

But here’s the problem: According to Jesus, this is not the way the kingdom of heaven works. The world may work according to the principle of merit. But the kingdom of heaven works according to a different principle. The kingdom of heaven works according to the principle of God’s grace, God’s unconditional favor. And that ticks some people off. If you’re a worker who slaved long and hard in a vineyard all day, and some guy next to you only got hired for the last hour, you’d be ticked off if you got paid the same wages. Most of us react to this story that Jesus tells in just the way he wants us to. It rubs us the wrong way because we’re used to thinking the way the world thinks, but that’s not the way the kingdom of heaven works. Look at verse 15: “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” the landowner asks. “Or are you envious because I am generous?” I think some Christians are envious or upset with the idea of God being gracious toward certain people. I have often heard people grumble and say things like, “I just can’t believe God would forgive a murderer just because they asked for forgiveness.” But Jesus turns our normal way of thinking upside down. Because of the price that Jesus paid on the cross, God has the right to be gracious to whomever he wants. And are we going to be envious because God is generous?

It’s a beautiful thing actually. The kingdom of heaven works according to the principle of grace: God’s unmerited favor. From the world’s point of view, that turns everything upside down. The first are suddenly last and the last first. When we really understand the principle of God’s grace, suddenly everything gets reversed. Country club presidents suddenly start serving the neighborhood riff raff. We suddenly find ourselves able to forgive people, even when we are clearly in the right. We discover how to submit to one another out of love. Pride shrinks; life becomes less burdensome; and compassion replaces judgment. Because we realize that the eternal kingdom of heaven is governed not by any principle of merit or just deserts, but by the infinite, gracious love of God.

This principle of God’s grace is the distinctive mark of Christianity. Yes, like all other religions, Christianity teaches a way of life and morality. Yes, like all other religions, Christianity has something to say about the afterlife. But this biblical theme of God’s unconditional love, God’s grace, this is the hallmark of our faith. It is the chief characteristic of who Jesus is.

It was ultimately Jesus who was the epitome of the first made last. Jesus, the firstborn of all creation, the head of all things, the one who merited and earned more than anyone else, he chose to become last and to set aside every good thing that he deserved. And his decision to go to the cross and to take last place in the world, this purchased for us first place in the kingdom of heaven. Because of Jesus, we are the last who are made first; we all are the laborers who were paid without having to work. In this world it is a scandalous and contrary thing to say that the first shall be last and the last first. But it is also the express purpose of God. What we earn or achieve in this world will ultimately be set aside. What counts is simply our saying “yes,” and walking into the vineyard of the king who offers us everything for nothing. The kingdom of heaven has always worked according to the principle of God’s gracious love, and that is something for which we can be deeply, deeply thankful. Amen.

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