God’s Infinite Compassion

As you can see there are a few changes happening with respect to our worship space.  Major scaffolding has been erected both outside and here on the inside in order to repair the casement and windowsill of our Sanctuary window.  The casement wood and the windowsill have rotted, and repairs will take several weeks.  We hope the work will be finished by the end of October.  It is costing thousands of dollars, but it is essential that we do this work to keep our beautiful and invaluable window from falling down. 

During the first century in the time of Jesus’ life and ministry poor economic conditions existed. The normal working day in Palestine was from six in the morning until six at night.  A denarius was the normal wage for a day worker.  Our story about the laborers in the vineyard is familiar, and all kinds of sermons have been preached to justify a broad range of issues: social security, full employment, equal pay for equal work, guaranteed income, or free enterprise in a capitalist market. 

As the story goes the owner of the vineyard made a contract with the laborers he hired early in the morning.  He agreed to pay them a denarius for their day’s work.  Later during the day when he hired others to work for six, three or even just one hour he was very generous.  He gave everyone a full day’s pay.  At the end of the day in the presence of all the workers he paid the last one hired first.  By doing this he built up a false expectation among those who had worked more than just one hour.  They likely thought they might receive even more than what they had signed on for at the beginning of the day.  But the owner stuck to the contract he made with each laborer and paid them exactly according to their agreement.

It was a double standard and a fairly common one.  How many times have you thought that another person was getting more than they deserved, more than their fair share?  When have you thought a companion worker, or someone working for the government as an example, got a better deal than they deserved?  What about a colleague who had a better working environment and more income than you thought they should?  Life is not fair.  Perhaps you feel you are not as lucky as others.  Or, maybe you feel you were never in the right place at the right time. 

Some people get what they deserve or negotiate for in a contract.  Others seem to benefit because of a more generous standard.  Since we never know what we can expect we have to be ready for either possibility.

Jesus in telling the story of the laborers in the vineyard wanted to show how inconsistent it was for laborers, and then he wanted his disciples to understand the need for consistency -- for generosity, for grace, for extravagance.  One biblical scholar said, “it is an intolerable situation from the workers’ viewpoint.... The employer has chosen arbitrarily to treat one group according to their rights and another group according to his (or her) generosity.... If the employer acts both on the basis of rights, legalistically, and  generously, then the situation becomes intolerable.  By analogy, if God accepts someone on the basis of merit and others on the basis of forgiveness, the situation is similarly intolerable.  Either all must work out their own salvation in fear and trembling, or all must rejoice in the goodness, kindness, and mercy of God. “

Among the things we can learn from this parable are first, God does not play by our rules; second, God’s love is unconditional; third, the mystery of God’s love is that everyone is accepted; and finally, trusting in God’s grace and compassion results in changing our relationships.

We need to understand that God does not make decisions according to our rules.  Jesus said as much in this parable of the laborers in the vineyard.  God’s justice is not a form of distributive justice, spreading about in some equal fashion all the burdens and benefits that come to us.  Nor does God give to each person according to what he or she has earned.  Instead, God’s justice is like that of a person who pays the same good wage to those who work only an hour as to those who toil for a full day.  God’s very being is love and abundant mercy.  There is no question about who is deserving of that love.  God simply gives to those who are worthy and to those who are not.

It is in and through Jesus’ life and ministry that we are brought to God.  Jesus preached a message of God’s unconditional love and faithfulness.  It was love with no strings attached.  Jesus made this loving relationship concrete by the manner in which he was with people of every race and class, especially the outcasts, the failures, and those who were marginal according to the social and religious standards of his day.  Jesus’ commitment to this way of life met with opposition and eventually led to his death by crucifixion.

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard points to the mystery of God.  Theologian Paul Tillich said the mystery of grace lies in the realization that you are accepted -- beyond your wildest imaginings you are accepted.  This realization is so affirming of your life and worth that it transforms us from mere creatures who are solely dependent to creators, to people who are free and interdependent, to people who are truly in the image of the Creator. 

Look at what happened to the laborers in the vineyard.  Feelings of anger and resentment got hold of them and made enemies out of their fellow workers who worked for as little as one hour.  They also became angry toward their generous employer.  Anger and the fear happen when people cannot trust God’s steadfast, unconditional, and life-affirming love.  Instead they rely on material possessions and the accumulation and of wealth as a substitute.

The meaning of this is that trust in God’s grace is intended to radically change our relationship to God, to each other, and to those who do not belong to the Church.  Our communities of faith are to respond to people on the basis of God’s free grace that goes beyond our standards of fairness. 

God’s grace is expansive and free enough to encompass all sorts and conditions of humanity.  The problems we have with issues of gender, race, religion and class are of our own making, not of God’s.

Jesus reveals to us a compassionate God full of kindness, mercy, and grace beyond any measurements we might contrive.  We are to be vehicles of that grace risking whatever is required in order to live generously, compassionately, openly and freely in extending the love of God to others.  We then grow in the knowledge and love of God’s gracious and compassionate goodness.  Amen.