The Parable of the Generous Master

Matthew 20:1-16
To understand what God is saying to us today through Jesus’ parable of the generous master, it is necessary to set it in context. A rich young man came to Jesus and asked him how to have a life with God. The way he asked that question was revealing. He said, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” That is the way that the world approaches this question of life with God—it depends on what I do.

Having asked his question that way, Jesus answered it in the same way: Keep the commandments and you will have eternal life. The young man replied that he had kept them all. (I wish I could have seen the Lord’s face when he said it!) Fine, Jesus said, if you want to be perfect (which is what God requires after all), go and sell all that you have, give it to the poor, and come and follow me and you will have treasure in heaven. The Bible tells us that the young man went away sad for he had many possessions.

Listening in to this exchange were the disciples. When they heard Jesus’ words about giving everything up to follow him, Peter spoke up for the group: “We’ve done that very thing Lord, what will we have?” In other words, what we will we get out of it?

And so Jesus told them that everyone in the kingdom who had given up something to follow him would receive it back a hundred times more. There were blessings from being a part of the kingdom!

But it was there that Jesus added these words: Many who are first will be last, and the last first. And when he finished telling this parable about the generous master he repeated those same words: many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Well, that’s the context. But what does the parable mean and who is Jesus talking to? The words of our text are not spoken to the rich young man—he rejected the invitation to come and take his place in the kingdom.

Instead, these words are spoken to those who have accepted the Lord’s invitation to come and take a place in the kingdom—spoken to the disciples who answered the Lord’s call to come and follow him--spoken to us who have also taken our place in the kingdom. They are spoken to remind us that our life with God is by his grace alone.

The unbelieving world wants to know what they have to do to have a life with God—it is a question deeply rooted in fallen humanity. But even we who have a place in the kingdom because of God’s gracious invitation still struggle to remember that our life with God depends only his grace—not on what we do—not on what we give up.

And so the rich young man’s question about what he had to do to have eternal life- and Peter’s question about what those followed Jesus would get out of it -were really not all that different because they both saw their life God in terms of work and reward-- instead of grace and blessing.

We are made of the same stuff as the rich young man and Peter and so we need to hear these words spoke to us and learn the lesson of the generous master. Jesus said:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

This is a parable about the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is telling a story about how life with God works. And that begins with his call. He is the master. We don’t storm our way into his kingdom or dictate the terms of our life with him. We don’t have any claim upon him. He is the One who comes to us and invites us to take a place with him.

The vast, vast majority of people in Jesus’ day lived on their daily labor. They worked a day and received a day’s wage and in that way they and their family were cared for. How glad, how thankful, how joyful they were to hear this call to come and take their place in the vineyard—how grateful to the master!

So it is for us in the Lord’s kingdom. We are completely dependent upon his call. What we need for life and eternal life is found in him. And that he has called us by the Gospel to come and take our place in his kingdom, that he has graciously made a place for us where before we were on the outside looking in, how glad and thankful we are for the master’s generosity that not only extends to us—but to all! Jesus said that the master:

“…going out about the third hour, saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

From the day that Jesus called Andrew to come and be his disciple (the first-called of the disciples) to this day throughout the church where children are baptized and sinners hear the Good News and come to faith, our Lord has been graciously calling people to come and have a part in God’s kingdom. His kingdom is overflowing with grace and blessing and he wants all people have a part in it.

During our Lord’s earthly ministry, it was Jesus who issued that invitation to come and follow him. Then it fell to the disciples who were commissioned by the Lord to take that invitation to the world. Today that invitation comes through you and me and Christians throughout the world.

But it is still the Lord’s invitation to all those who do not yet have a life with God—an invitation that comes from a heart that is generous and merciful and full of compassion for human need.

The master in the parable seeks and calls again and again—whether those called can do much or little—whether they have a lifetime to serve him or just a few hours—he does not want anyone to miss out on his gracious invitation to come and take their place.

Each day is day of God’s grace—a God –given opportunity to hear Jesus’ call to come and have a part in his kingdom with the promise of blessings to come. And that day of grace will continue until this world comes to an end. Jesus said:

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

The Bible teaches that there will be a final judgment--a day of reckoning—a day of strict accounting. The day of grace and opportunity and invitation will be over. That is the moment we have before us in these words of the parable.

At the beginning of the sermon I mentioned that there was a saying of Jesus that provides “bookends” for this story that he tells. He says: “Many who are first will be last and the last first.” Now we begin to see what that means as the workers line up to receive their pay.

The last called, those who only worked an hour or so, were paid first and they received a denarius. And then those who worked three or four hours were paid and they received a denarius, and then those who worked six hours or so were paid and they received a denarius, and then those who worked all day were paid—each of them receiving a denarius. It’s important here to…

Remember the context. Peter wanted to know what’s in it for him and the other disciples who had been with the Lord from the beginning—who sacrificed and labored in his vineyard. And so the question is, if our relationship with God is only about what we can get out of it, what do we have a right to expect?

Closely connected to that question is a another question: what does the denarius represent? It’s not salvation. The Bible never teaches that we get salvation as the payment for what we do. It’s not eternal life. That is a gift from God.

Instead, the denarius is all of those earthly benefits that come from being a part of the visible church: People around us who can help us out in time of need--a set of friends who share the same values and lead decent lives--the respect of others that comes from being known as a decent, upright Christian.

All of these are blessings that come from sitting in these pews and they are just as available to the new member as they are to the old. There are temporal blessings that come being a part of the church and so that is the answer to the first question as well: if our focus is on the material blessings that we get out of being a member of the church—the Lord is perfectly just and will give us those blessings.

But if that is where our heart is, we will never really be satisfied and we will miss out on what matters eternally. The Bible says that those who were the first-called:

Grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’

Did you catch the change that happened to these men over the course of the day? When they were graciously called into the master’s vineyard how happy and thankful they were—how glad they were to have what was needed for life! But after the labor of the day they were no longer glad-- but grumbled against the master. Why the change?

It’s because their focus shifted from the graciousness and generosity of the master to themselves and others. Can you imagine how light their labor was at the beginning—to have a purpose—to be productive—to have what was needed to sustain life-what a blessing to have been called! How glad they were to take a place in the vineyard!

But they no longer saw their relationship with the master that way. All they could see was the hours they worked and the burdens they bore and the scorching heat that beat down upon them. What made it even worse was that not only were they focused on themselves (instead of the generosity of the master) they were focused on others.

The others hadn’t worked as long. They hadn’t done as much. They spent part of the day in ease. And yet they have same blessings as we do? That’s not right, just, fair!

Dear friends in Christ, where is the focus of your faith this morning? Is it on the generosity of the master who has called you into his kingdom? Do you still have that thankfulness and gladness that you had at the beginning of your life of faith? Do you count it a privilege to work for the Lord and trust his generosity?

Or is your focus on yourself and how hard you have it? Is your focus on others and how good they have it?

Jesus knows that this is a temptation for us. The disciples fought and argued over who was the greatest among them. Peter wanted to know what he would get out of his life with God. That is why Jesus warned him with the words of the first being last and the last being first--so that all of us would understand the dangers of making our life with God about justice rather than grace. Jesus said that the master:

“…replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go.

On the last day there will be countless people who will say: Didn’t we preach in your name and didn’t we heal in your name and didn’t we do miracles in your name—look at what I did! And Jesus will say to them: depart from me, I never knew you.

This is what the master says to those whose eyes were fixed upon the hardships they endured and the blessings of others instead of the master’s graciousness and generosity. If we demand that our life with God is about what we deserve—if we demand justice from him—Jesus will give it--but nothing more.

Take what belongs to you and go. You see dear friends in Christ, if we demand it, Jesus will give us what belongs to us. Judgment. Material things that end with our death. Separation from God. This is what we deserve. This is what is ours by right. But what Jesus wants to give us is what doesn’t belong to us. The master said:

I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Our life with God—from beginning to end—is based upon his generosity—his undeserved grace. The gift of his Son—the Spirit’s calling us into the church—the forgiveness that have in Christ’s death and the hope of the life to come we have in Christ’s resurrection—all of it is God’s gift.

We have deserved none of it—all of it belongs to the Lord as the fruits of his saving work--and yet God graciously gives it to us. Do we begrudge the Lord his generosity? It’s easy to do when the focus of our faith shifts from his grace to our works.

If we count ourselves first—if we demand a strict accounting from the Lord—if we make our life with him about what we get in this life—God will count us last.

But if we humbly confess that we are last—that we deserve none of the good things that we receive from the Lord—if it is gladness rather than grumbling that fills our hearts, we can be confident that God will make us first, blessing us in time and eternity with his good gifts. Amen.