Our God Is So Very Good :: Matthew 20:1-16

Friend, I am not being unjust to you. Did you not agree to a denarius with me? Take what is yours and go. I desire to give to this last [worker] as I also give to you. Is it not proper for me that I desire to do [what I want with the things] that are mine? Or [do you see only] evil because I am good? (vv 13-15)

And there’s the point of our Gospel reading from Matthew 20 ...

OUR GOD IS SO VERY GOOD.

YHWH, the Great I AM, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in faithful, covenantal love (Ex 34:6). His work is perfect, and his ways are just (Dt 32:4). When we were dead in our sin and trespasses ... that is, useless, lazy, idle, good-for-nothings (vv 3, 6) ... he came to us (v 1), he found us (v 6), he called us and gathered us in his vineyard (vv 2,4,6). He put us to work doing the good things he prepared for us to do, and nurtured us.

And, behold, he didn’t stop there. As we were wondering where our next meal ticket would come from, he had compassion on us. He came calling again and again, giving us all that we need all day long. And in the end, he demonstrated how strong his desire is to save all men and to bring them to the knowledge of the truth.

That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is a quick summary of our Lord’s Parable. We call it the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, but it’s really about our heavenly Father. Our God is so very good.

I. [The point of parables.}

It’s been a while since we have taken up a parable for preaching. You should know that parables are meant to be heard. They are told in such a way that they aren’t necessarily easy to understand, but they’re easy to remember. And that’s a good thing. You can meditate on them. 

Many, if not all parables, do not conform to life as you and I know it ... but you can be sure of this ... they are about Jesus through and through. They give us a glimpse of the Kingdom. Like grace and faith, they proclaim the Gospel: They describe what the Kingdom of the Heavens is doing for you ... how all of God’s promises find their yes in him ... how God is saving you ... how our God is so very good.

II. [The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard]

And wouldn’t you know it, that is exactly what the disciples questioned right before our reading today. Jesus had just told the disciples how hard it is for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of the Heavens (Mt 19:24). With man, Jesus said, it’s impossible, but with God, all things are possible. In other words, you can’t save yourselves. You can’t create saving faith. You can’t nurture saving faith. You can’t build upon your faith. You cannot search for God. You cannot find God. You CANNOT save yourself! 

But God is so very good. He is always calling, gathering and enlightening the whole Christian church on earth. Today, he illustrated that in a parable. 

Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like a master of a house who went out at first light to hire workers for his vineyard. And, after agreeing with the workers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard (vv 1-2).

In other words, the kingdom is like creation, a kingdom of beauty, rest, and enjoyment. In the beginning ... when God made Man in his image ... he put him in the Garden ... a Vineyard! ... which was ripe with fruit. It was in the Garden that Man and Woman were called to be fruitful and to multiply. Every day, God would give Man and Woman a denarius ... that is, all they needed to support their body and life ... so that they would and could enjoy eternal life. 

In this Vineyard, they also received a gift of God called work. Although you and I know that work can be a pain, we also know it’s good to work ... because God is so very good. It can be hard, tiring, and frustrating, but ... at the end of the day ... God is so very good that he still graciously gives you all you need every day ... not only clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land and animals ... but all that we have. He richly and daily provides us with all that we need. ... Because God is so very good. 

Jesus used the picture of a vineyard for this parable because it was a familiar one to the people of Jesus’ day. Many people had their own vineyards. The scriptures are ripe with vineyards. Perhaps most notably, the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel all liken the city of Jerusalem, which sits on the mountain of God, to the best vineyard of all.

Then Jesus said, And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the marketplace being useless. And he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. When he went again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did likewise. Then about the eleventh [hour], when he went out, he found others standing, and he said to them, ‘Why have you stood the whole day being useless?’ They said to him, ‘because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go also into the vineyard’ (vv 1-7).

At the beginning of this parable, we are struck by the fact that the Kingdom of the Heavens is described in terms of action. We can’t help but see right away that this is the gracious and compassionate work of God. He is the one who initiates the Kingdom. He is the one who is responsible for its inception, as he told us through Isaiah ... My beloved had a vineyard on a richly fertile hill, Isaiah 5 says. He cultivated it. He cleared it of stones. He planted it [with] choice red grapevines. He built a watchtower in the midst of it. And even a wine vat, he shaped in it (Isa 55:1b-2). 

God is so very good ... he does everything for us, setting us up to be fruitful. In the parable, we don’t see people knocking on the door of the vineyard to get in. No one is making a decision to do anything at all. They are, as Jesus says ... useless, lazy, idle ... standing around ... just like we do. But God is so very good. 

Did you hear how he is the one who has come into our town, our marketplaces, our homes, our church, our lives ... how he loved us in this way, sending his own Son ... the Lord of the Vineyard ... to be in communion with us? The coming of the Kingdom is embodied in the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus. And as the Lord of the Vineyard, he will deliver the fruit of the vineyard to us, and share it with you. 

And when evening came, the Lord of the Vineyard said to his foreman, Call the workers, and give them their wages, beginning from the last until the first. And when those around the eleventh hour came, each received a denarius. And when the first came, they thought that they would receive more. Yet each of them received a denarius also. But when they received it, they grumbled against the master of the house (vv 8-11).

III. Hear now the call to repent and enjoy the gifts of heaven. 

As Jesus said, Friend, I am not being unjust to you. The Kingdom of the Heavens is here! Jesus has drawn near. You ... who have heard the call of God ... are receiving salvation. So come and enjoy the fruits of his labor and generosity. Jesus is calling us through the Gospel that manifests itself in his service of Word and sacraments. Jesus desires to give whatever he has to all who have faith in the work of Christ. Jesus is calling us to return to our baptism and receive the fruit of his body and blood, his Eucharist ... that is, his thanksgiving ... at His Table. Jesus’ continual call never ends, as he says ... I desire to give to this last [worker] as I also give to you. Whether first or last, you will be saved. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, when you have seen Jesus suffer for you, work for you, bear the heat of the day for you ... and the blood, sweat and tears on a cross for you ... dying for you ... you know the Kingdom of the Heavens has come for you, too. When you see Jesus rising again into eternal life and serving you ... even today in the Divine Service, you know that all that is his now belongs to you. Now you know that all of your failures, all your offenses, all your guilt, all your shame, all your punishment, and all your sorrow have been laid on Jesus, who lived and died and arise into the resurrected life that is yours ... today and every day ... forever in the Kingdom of the Heavens. Our God is so very good.

[Conclusion]

We know this because the Lord’s disciples were the first in a long line of people sent into the world to seek workers to become part of the Kingdom that is now here. Through their preaching, the invitation to come into the Kingdom continues to go to all people ... to you and me. Each time the Word of God is proclaimed ... in preaching and the administration of the Sacraments ... the call to come is given again and again and again ... just like in the parable. In the end, everyone will receive the just gifts of God. We will all receive the riches of his grace, which are manifested in the fruit of the Spirit ... because our God is so very good.

So let us come sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving. Let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise ... In Jesus’ name. Amen.