There’s a true story about a burglar in Antwerp in Belgium who was disturbed during a robbery in a house. Keen to get away quickly he managed to clamber over a 9 foot wall – dropping down the other side, he found he was in the city prison !
I suspect that we could all feel a certain amount of satisfaction in that situation that justice had been done. However this may not be quite so clear from our gospel reading this evening (Matthew (20:1-16). Here Jesus tells a story about a landowner who went out and hired labourers for his vineyard early in the morning – he agreed with them a wage for their work.
Later he went out about 9 o’clock and hired some more, and he did the same thing at 12 o’clock and at 3 o’clock. When, at 5 o’clock he went out and saw some workers still waiting around having not been hired for the day, he told them to come and do some work for him as well.
At the end of the day those who began work at 5 o’clock were paid first and received the usual daily wage – this probably got those who had worked for longer quite excited believing that they would get more – more than was originally agreed. But when their turn for payment came, they received exactly the same as those hired last.
They were not pleased, perhaps understandably, but the landowner reminded them that he was paying them what was agreed at the start of the day – it was his choice what he paid the last workers, and not for them to judge.
It is an incredible story of grace – God’s limitless grace which is shared out to anyone who wants it, regardless of personalities, natures, good behaviour, bad behaviour or anything else ! Someone once put it like this – when a person works an 8 hour day and receives a fair days pay for his time, then that is his wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize and deserves no award – yet receives such a gift anyway – that is a picture of God’s unmerited favour…
It’s a powerful little story because it reminds us of several things about God’s grace. The first is that there is nothing we can do to earn his favour. There are no amount of good works that can ever make God love us – we cannot be paid a wage for doing the job, in other words, living our lives, according to God’s perfect standards… In our gospel reading the workers chosen first thing believed that, having worked harder, they deserved more, but they failed to understand that what they earned was what was promised and what was promised was fair…
The second is that there is no competition we can take part in to earn the prize of God’s grace. Most of us, I hope, think that we’re pretty good people – when we compare ourselves with some others, we know it – we deserve grace more than they do, but it isn’t a competition and most importantly of all it isn’t us who makes that judgement.
Thirdly we think again about earning God’s grace – I’ve served God longer than you is never going to be a phrase that impresses God. He isn’t concerned about long service, but about a willingness to allow him to transform our lives, at whatever stage of those lives we may be…
In each of these things there is I think what seems to be an element of unfairness – we talk about a God of justice, but this just doesn’t seem right !
And in the level of human thought perhaps it isn’t – but fortunately for all of us God doesn’t work like one of us. God’s justice is so great, his grace and mercy are so immense that we can actually all fall into the same club – every one of us, the bible tells us, has fallen short of the glory of God – we have all done wrong and the sentence from God for that could well be rejection or condemnation, but it isn’t – instead God abandons his hopes for a perfect humanity, he accepts that we will never live up to the standards he had hoped, and instead he sent a Saviour into the world, showing how much he loves us, and showing that he would never abandon us…
If God thought like a human and we look at history and we look around the world today, and maybe even in our own lives – then maybe God would have been justified in abandoning us and all the world – but that isn’t a God of love…
The God we know is the one who offers chance after chance when we get things wrong, the God who welcomes us with open arms whenever we call on him, the God who doesn’t allow any past mistake or wrongdoing to get in the way of a relationship with him. The God who loves us and will never abandon us…
The landowner wasn’t being unjust to the workers who started early – he was just being generous to those who started later. The God of supreme justice whom we worship says to everyone ‘come to me’ – and he accepts them, whatever they have done or been or failed to do – and he rewards them just the same – with an abundance of grace, and with a welcoming, encouraging and empowering love which will never end…
There’s a story, just to finish, about a small rural community – so small in fact that the local Church minister was also the local barber. In the community one man had become rich, so rich that he decided that instead of shaving himself he would go down to the barber to be shaved. When he got there the minister was out, but his wife Grace was there.
She explained that she usually did the shaves anyway – and so he asked her to do it. After finishing she told him that would be £25 – he was shocked at the amount, but agreed to pay. The next day he felt his face and it was just as smooth as when Grace had shaved it. This went on the next day as well, and by now the man was thinking this was a bit strange – normally he shaved every couple of days.
And so he went to see the Minister and explained how on day 1 he didn’t need to shave, and then on the next couple of days he didn’t either – the kind old minister gently replied, ‘Friend you were shaved by grace… and once shaved, always shaved !!’
May God indeed bless each one of us as we accept his grace and allow him to transform us. AMEN
I suspect that we could all feel a certain amount of satisfaction in that situation that justice had been done. However this may not be quite so clear from our gospel reading this evening (Matthew (20:1-16). Here Jesus tells a story about a landowner who went out and hired labourers for his vineyard early in the morning – he agreed with them a wage for their work.
Later he went out about 9 o’clock and hired some more, and he did the same thing at 12 o’clock and at 3 o’clock. When, at 5 o’clock he went out and saw some workers still waiting around having not been hired for the day, he told them to come and do some work for him as well.
At the end of the day those who began work at 5 o’clock were paid first and received the usual daily wage – this probably got those who had worked for longer quite excited believing that they would get more – more than was originally agreed. But when their turn for payment came, they received exactly the same as those hired last.
They were not pleased, perhaps understandably, but the landowner reminded them that he was paying them what was agreed at the start of the day – it was his choice what he paid the last workers, and not for them to judge.
It is an incredible story of grace – God’s limitless grace which is shared out to anyone who wants it, regardless of personalities, natures, good behaviour, bad behaviour or anything else ! Someone once put it like this – when a person works an 8 hour day and receives a fair days pay for his time, then that is his wage. When a person competes with an opponent and receives a trophy for his performance, that is a prize. When a person receives appropriate recognition for his long service or high achievements, that is an award. But when a person is not capable of earning a wage, can win no prize and deserves no award – yet receives such a gift anyway – that is a picture of God’s unmerited favour…
It’s a powerful little story because it reminds us of several things about God’s grace. The first is that there is nothing we can do to earn his favour. There are no amount of good works that can ever make God love us – we cannot be paid a wage for doing the job, in other words, living our lives, according to God’s perfect standards… In our gospel reading the workers chosen first thing believed that, having worked harder, they deserved more, but they failed to understand that what they earned was what was promised and what was promised was fair…
The second is that there is no competition we can take part in to earn the prize of God’s grace. Most of us, I hope, think that we’re pretty good people – when we compare ourselves with some others, we know it – we deserve grace more than they do, but it isn’t a competition and most importantly of all it isn’t us who makes that judgement.
Thirdly we think again about earning God’s grace – I’ve served God longer than you is never going to be a phrase that impresses God. He isn’t concerned about long service, but about a willingness to allow him to transform our lives, at whatever stage of those lives we may be…
In each of these things there is I think what seems to be an element of unfairness – we talk about a God of justice, but this just doesn’t seem right !
And in the level of human thought perhaps it isn’t – but fortunately for all of us God doesn’t work like one of us. God’s justice is so great, his grace and mercy are so immense that we can actually all fall into the same club – every one of us, the bible tells us, has fallen short of the glory of God – we have all done wrong and the sentence from God for that could well be rejection or condemnation, but it isn’t – instead God abandons his hopes for a perfect humanity, he accepts that we will never live up to the standards he had hoped, and instead he sent a Saviour into the world, showing how much he loves us, and showing that he would never abandon us…
If God thought like a human and we look at history and we look around the world today, and maybe even in our own lives – then maybe God would have been justified in abandoning us and all the world – but that isn’t a God of love…
The God we know is the one who offers chance after chance when we get things wrong, the God who welcomes us with open arms whenever we call on him, the God who doesn’t allow any past mistake or wrongdoing to get in the way of a relationship with him. The God who loves us and will never abandon us…
The landowner wasn’t being unjust to the workers who started early – he was just being generous to those who started later. The God of supreme justice whom we worship says to everyone ‘come to me’ – and he accepts them, whatever they have done or been or failed to do – and he rewards them just the same – with an abundance of grace, and with a welcoming, encouraging and empowering love which will never end…
There’s a story, just to finish, about a small rural community – so small in fact that the local Church minister was also the local barber. In the community one man had become rich, so rich that he decided that instead of shaving himself he would go down to the barber to be shaved. When he got there the minister was out, but his wife Grace was there.
She explained that she usually did the shaves anyway – and so he asked her to do it. After finishing she told him that would be £25 – he was shocked at the amount, but agreed to pay. The next day he felt his face and it was just as smooth as when Grace had shaved it. This went on the next day as well, and by now the man was thinking this was a bit strange – normally he shaved every couple of days.
And so he went to see the Minister and explained how on day 1 he didn’t need to shave, and then on the next couple of days he didn’t either – the kind old minister gently replied, ‘Friend you were shaved by grace… and once shaved, always shaved !!’
May God indeed bless each one of us as we accept his grace and allow him to transform us. AMEN
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