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Rev. Will Malambri - "The Last Shift" · Belin Memorial UMC

• Belin Memorial UMC: The gospel message for us today comes from Matthew chapter twenty. I invite you to stand as we hear it together. The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the market place, and he said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right. So they went. When he went out again about noon, and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, Why are you standing here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one has hired us. He said to them, You also go into the vineyard. When the evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last, and then going to the first. When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 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. But he 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. I choose to give to you the to the last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last. This is the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. Some years ago I had a conversation with a Buddhist who dealt cards at a casino for a living. Main reason I'm starting that sermon that way is so I can say, for some time ago, I was able to have a conversation about Jesus with a Buddhist who was a card dealer at a casino. Sometimes it's just too true and too good to pass up. For the record, I was not at the casino. I was not playing cards. We were having a conversation about an entirely different matter. But while we were having that conversation, she brought up Jesus and wanted to talk about what it means to be a Christian, what's the Christian faith about. Asked lots of good questions. She was curious in in such a respectful, wonderful way. One of the things I told her is that we do not believe there'll be a tiered system in heaven. We believe that Jesus' grace covers everyone equally, as we say in our baptisms, all this is God's gift offered to us without price. That we can't buy or earn. I told someone just recently w one of the messages I try to tell families as they think about having their youngest children. baptized. We believe a a seven week old infant and a seventy year old person who might have memorized the New Testament are equally under God's grace. It's what we do as a response that is a demonstration of what we think of our faith. Anyway, I I told the the person that this idea that that we believe there's not a tiered system that there is Grace offered to everyone equally, that there won't be a better heaven for a better people, that sort of thing. And she liked that because she had been frustrated recently that she felt like some of her co-workers were able to have a little more control, a little more manipulation over the schedule than she and some others did, and she didn't think that was fair. She likes equality. We all do, right? At least in principle. We're a little less motivated to achieve equality when it means giving up some of the benefits that we have sacrificing some of our advantages to bring everyone up to equal, but in theory we like it. But what about grace that is so equally distributed as to feel unfair? What about those who've worked longer? What about those who've worked harder? Don't they deserve more grace? But then if it's based in our effort, if it's based in our works, if it's based in our longevity, is it grace at all? Isn't it more payment? Today's parable gets to that. It's a relatable story. The good stories are, and a good story, you can see yourself in the story. You can imagine what you might have been thinking or feeling, how you might have responded if you were one of the characters. Good stories draw us in. We see ourselves in them. And Jesus told a lot of good stories. He told stories that were timeless. He told stories that are about human nature, not about particular humans. He told stories about God's nature, this very particular God. These are stories that go across the millennia because they can affect anybody in any day, including you and me. So there's a good chance that if you as you heard me read that parable, you had some sort of internal reaction to it. If you're the type of person who's the first one up, who works all day into the night, you you heard and felt something as Jesus' story went on and you saw how the payment structure was. If you're one of those who feels like equal work for equal pay, it's a little bit frustrating to you to think that one hour person got paid the same as the many hour On the other hand, if you're one of those people who recognizes you've been paid pretty well doing the same work as others who weren't paid quite as well, you maybe you felt something differently when that story was told. McCard dealing friend felt something as I told her about that story. She she immediately said, That's not fair. Why should the workers who worked just one hour be paid the same as the ones who worked all day long? It's the response Jesus expected us to give. It's the response I have given at times. If you're the kind of person who works who arrives at work before you have to and who works late, then you wonder about that. If you start the day thinking, there's more than I can possibly do in a regular day. I'm gonna have to get there early, I'm gonna have stay there late. But I think I would have less to do if others would show up a little earlier and stay a little later. Then you hear yourself in that story. You've given the response our car dealing friend gave. Early arrivers are n natured that way. They're the kind of responsible people who care deeply about the work, who care deeply about getting things done and done the right way, who want to be recognized for the good work they've done. They think there's some kind of justice involved in the recognition. They want to keep their job. They want to get promoted. Maybe there'll be some. tangible benefit for their dedication and and sometimes life works out that way. I think it should. It it's a shame when it does and it's an injustice when employers figure out how to pay their workers less than they deserve. But that's not what this parable is about. It's not showing us a manipulative way to pay people less. It's showing us a gracious way that we can be given more. I told my new friend that that's how I understand this parable. I said it may not sound fair, but the ones who were paid at the beginning for the full day's work were the ones who were paid at the end after they saw the others. They were all paid the same. They were all paid what the first were promised. It may not sound fair, but they weren't mistreated. If you think about it, had the ones who were paid for the full day's work been paid first and left, not knowing the ones behind them what they were being paid, they would have no complaint. They agreed to be paid a denarius, they were paid a denarius, they went on their way. It was only when they compared their payment to the ones who worked less than them that they had a complaint. Card dealing friend smiled at that. Cause she remembered a day when she sat down at the table and dealt cards and ten minutes into her shift the guy who was playing one big and then he tipped her big. Bigger than she could have expected to be tipped. And she said it's kinda like that. Maybe that's not how you found yourself in the story. But the woman got it. Her light bulb went on. It was not that the pay was unfair, the wage was what everyone agreed to. What made it seem unfair was that the landowner was generous, that he blessed the others as much as he blessed the first. Reminds me of Jonah. You remember Jonah, how God forced him to go to Nineveh and preach that sermon he didn't want to preach, how how God mo made him go and and share with the people that he thought were so horrible they didn't deserve any kind of grace. And how Jonah complained to God after the people, 140,000 gave themselves over to God in God's ways. And Jonah said, I knew that you are gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. Now you would think that Jonah would be the one singing those praises. I knew, Lord, that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. What a great song to sing of praise about God. But instead, because not only was Jonah receiving that grace, God was giving it to people. Jonah did not want to have that grace. Jonah turned what should have been a song of praise into a complaint. I knew this is the kind of God you are. I knew. very thing that gave Jonah hope. was his cause of complaint because it meant the Nineveh also would have that same hope. The very pay that those early workers were promised and received was given to the ones who came on later in the day and worked less, and rather than praising God that they had received what they were promised. They complained, because the others received such a generous gift. But that's God. Gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, relenting from punishment. We know it. That's God's character. So if you're looking for God in the parable, if you're looking for where God is in those characters, He's the generous one. When we expect less, God gives more. Far better than we deserve. But here's the thing. Even if we work the entire day, I believe that we are being treated graciously and fairly by this generous God, still getting far more than we deserve. Now my car dealing friend might push back on that. She might say, that's not how the story goes. The story says they were promised a denarius, they were paid a denarius for the day's work that they were promised they would be paid for. So they didn't get more. They got what was promised. It was the same amount as they should have been given. There's no extra grace in that. And she'd mostly be right. That is how the story goes. They did receive what they were promised, no more in terms of payment. But I would argue that they also received the gift of having been able to work that day. Years ago, about the same time that I was meeting this car dealing friend, our then eight-year-old son Max, said he wanted to earn a little extra money. So he said, Could he wash the cars? And I, gracious father that I am, said, Of course you can. We backed the cars out, we got the supplies ready. I took put him into a car washing 101 tutorial. For those who wonder, there are methods to it just as there are methods to how to load a dishwasher. It's just how life goes. So there I am, benevolently, just like the parable, giving my son more and more, gave him everything he needed, paid him, overpaid him for the labor that I was doing alongside him. And then, even more gracious than that, I imparted wisdom on him for the rest of the time we were washing those cars. Could be why it took him years before he was willing to wash cars with me again. I told him. Why I like to do things like wash cars and work in the yard and even bake cakes, that that I like to use this health that I enjoy and this energy that I have and these abilities I've been given to do something good, to to do something that's valuable, a contribution to the world, that I like to do meaningful work with my life. My days are better because of that. I believe that about the workers in the vineyard. Those workers who worked the whole day were not mistreated. They received a gift. They were paid what they were promised, they would be paid. They were paid what was deemed fair. And they experienced a meaningful day of work. Now maybe, as the interpreters like to tell us, Jesus meant for that day in the parable to represent something like a span of life. Maybe those who are hired at the beginning of the day are like those who came to Christ early in their life, those who still had seventy, eighty, ninety years of life before them to serve the one they came to give their life to. Maybe that's what they represent. And maybe those who are hired in the last hour, those with just one hour to work, they represent the ones who came to Christ in the very last minutes of their life. That they don't have any chance in their life to do anything actively of service for Jesus. And the church. Based on this parable, based on Jesus saying to the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise, the church has come to the conclusion that if it's seventy years of service or seven seconds, if you believe in Jesus for the grace that He can give you, then you will get to be with Him for eternity. But then my suggestion is that we go ahead and start today. Wait. Why would we rather have seven seconds than something closer to seventy years of service to the person that we believe can give us life in this life and life for the next? I don't want to be about me as long as I can be about me and then finally become about Jesus in the very last moment. I want as many years as possible to be about Jesus. I think there's reward in that. Not just for the life to come. I I think it's rewarding. Meaningful. Be about Jesus now. Sure, there's there's room. There's room for those who wait to the very end, those who only have seconds or minutes or days where they trust Jesus for grace. But think what they miss. The earlier we start, the longer we serve. The more we get to give to Jesus, the more we get to receive in this life from Jesus. That is grace too. It's grace enough, I think. That my car dealing friend just might say Be all in.