The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service on Sunday, September 23, 2023.

Jesus told his disciples this parable:

"The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner

who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.

After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,

he sent them into his vineyard.

Going out about nine o'clock,

the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace,

and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard,

and I will give you what is just.'

So they went off.

And he went out again around noon,

and around three o'clock, and did likewise.

Going out about five o'clock,

the landowner found others standing around, and said to them,

'Why do you stand here idle all day?'

They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.'

He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.'

When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman,

'Summon the laborers and give them their pay,

beginning with the last and ending with the first.'

When those who had started about five o'clock came,

each received the usual daily wage.

So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,

but each of them also got the usual wage.

And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying,

'These last ones worked only one hour,

and you have made them equal to us,

who bore the day's burden and the heat.'

He said to one of them in reply,

'My friend, I am not cheating you.

Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?

Take what is yours and go.

What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?

Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?

Are you envious because I am generous?'

Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20:1-16)

In this passage, we notice two major themes. The first is that God challenges our conceptions about what it means to receive from Him. The second is that He reveals the danger of comparing ourselves to others. Finally, I’m going to bring the two together by sharing with you how this passage has impacted me.

Firstly, we have to understand that all gifts from God are His to give as it pleases Him. He gives in the ways that bring Him glory, which in the moment may not always make sense to us. It is easy for us to sympathize, or maybe even empathize, with the laborer that was hired in the morning, since he received the same wages as the guy who only worked an hour. However, his misunderstanding is that he thinks he earned those wages, when actually they were a gift. He also failed to realize that the labor he participated in was, itself, a gift. The kingdom of heaven is the same way. When we participate in our Community Group, cook meals for students, and have meaningful conversations with others, we cannot always expect to see any fruit. Since God is the one who bears the fruit, and how much fruit is borne, our responsibility is to do the work and to receive whatever God gives us.

Secondly, and in relation to those gifts, God shows us the danger of comparing our work with the work of others. The issue with the worker that was hired in the morning wasn’t that he received a day's wage (since he initially agreed to it), but that the person who was hired at the eleventh hour received the same amount as him. It is natural for us to think that if we are more faithful and obedient to God than others, then we can expect to have better results than them. After all, if we are first, then we are first, right? But again, God challenges our way of thinking. He does not give his blessings that way. Our problem is that we shouldn’t be trying to figure out who is first at all. We should all see ourselves as the last.

Finally, I would like to show you how I have been convicted by this passage. When I first came to The Wesley, I wasn’t sure if this was going to be the place that I would stay. I had some concerns, and I thought that maybe my presence would help correct some of the issues. My problem, though, was that I was comparing The Wesley to my other church, which I shouldn’t have been doing in the first place, and over time, my thoughts shifted to the opposite end. The Wesley has actually helped me to understand some of the flaws that I was once blind to at my other church, and I learned that the Holy Spirit doesn’t change from there to here, or any other place in the world; God is just as likely to bless a church somewhere else as He is here. Ultimately, myself, The Wesley, and every other Christian out there at any other church is considered the last, and it is God that makes us first.

The Laborers in the Vineyard: Austin Shanley

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