September 21, 2008 Sermon
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Proper 20 - Year A
Matthew 20:1-16 September 21, 2008
Gary Sanford San Angelo
Glory to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen
I am going to start this morning by telling you a story I came across the other day. The author is unknown and it is told in first person. Titled "GRACE (God's Riches at Christ's Expense)", it goes like this:
I left work early so I could have some uninterrupted study time right before the final in my Youth Issues class. When I got to class, everybody was doing their last minute studying.
The teacher came in and said he would review with us for just a little bit before the test. We went through the review, most of it right on the study guide, but there were some things he was reviewing that I had never heard of. When questioned about it, he said that they were in the book and we were responsible for everything in the book. We couldn't really argue with that.
Finally it was time to take the test.
"Leave them face down on the desk until everyone has one, and I'll tell you to start," our professor instructed.
When we turned them over, every answer on the test was filled in! The bottom of the last page said the following:
"This is the end of the Final Exam. All the answers on your test are correct. You will receive an 'A' on the final exam. The reason you passed the test is because the creator of the test took it for you. All the work you did in preparation for this test did not help you get the A. You have just experienced...GRACE."
He then went around the room and asked each student individually: "What is your grade? Do you deserve the grade you are receiving? How much did all your studying for this exam help you achieve your final grade?"
Now I am not a crier by any stretch of the imagination, but I had to fight back tears when answering those questions and thinking about how the Creator has passed the test for me.
Continuing, the author says: Discussion afterward went like this: "I have tried to teach you all semester that you are a recipient of grace. I've tried to communicate to you that you need to demonstrate this gift as you work with young people. Don't hammer them; they are not the enemy. Help them, for they will carry on your ministry if it is full of GRACE!"
Talking about how some of us had probably studied hours and some just a few minutes but had all received the same grade, he pointed to a story Jesus told in Matthew 20. The owner of a vineyard hired people to work in his field and agreed to pay them a certain amount. Several different times during the day, he hired more workers. When it was time to pay them, they all received the same amount. When the ones who had been hired first thing in the morning began complaining, the boss said, "Should you be angry because I am kind?" (Matthew 20:15).
The teacher said he had never done this kind of final before and probably would never do it again, but because of the content of many of our class discussions, he felt like we needed to experience grace.
My question to you is "How do you experience Grace?" In his parable, Jesus tells of a landowner who goes to the market place early in the morning to gather workers for his vineyard. Like any reasonable businessman he wants strong, able bodied workers who can stand up to a hard day's work in the hot sun. He wants the best quality he can get for his money and offers them a full day's pay for a full day's work. He returns to the marketplace four more times, the last near the end of the day, and each time he sends more workers to the vineyard promising to pay what is right. We can only imagine, but it is reasonable to assume, that each time he returns the quality of worker has diminished. By the end of the day all that would have remained would be those who were old, injured or sick...workers that were passed up by other employers as being unfit for a day's work.
Yet, these last workers have the same needs as the first. Each is concerned with earning enough money to feed his family. The last hired only expect to get very little...after all, they will only work for one hour, but a little is better than none and somehow they will make it do. Imagine their surprise when they receive the same pay as those who have worked the whole day...and the anger and frustration experienced by those who did work all day.
"It’s my money and I'll do what I want with it," the land owner tells them. "You got what you agreed to work for," he says. Not a very good business practice, I agree, but it is GRACE. It is putting the needs of others ahead of what is considered 'fair' or 'proper'. To paraphrase last week's Gospel reading, if you haven't given from the heart, you really haven't given anything.
Aid to impoverished nations has always been a concern of more affluent governments. In 2001 the United Nations recognized the need for more aggressive assistance. The Millennium Development Goals were established in hopes of reducing, among other items, extreme poverty by half by the year 2015. We are now at the half way point of that effort and on September 25 the UN Secretary General and the President of the UN General Assembly will convene a High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals. While significant progress has been made, it is obvious that more intense effort is needed. Their goal will be to encourage governments to be more generous in their foreign aid programs.
I am not asking you for money, or to write letters, or to call your congressional representatives...I am only asking you to offer a prayer that God will guide their hearts. I am asking for GRACE.
Almighty and eternal God: may your grace enkindle in all hearts a love for the many unfortunate people whom poverty and misery reduce to a condition unworthy of human beings. Arouse in the hearts of those who call you Father a hunger and thirst for social justice and for love in deed and in truth. Grant, O Lord, peace in our days, peace to souls, peace to families, peace to our country, and peace among nations; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
-- Pope Pius XII
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