A Sermon for the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost, Year A

Exodus 16:2-15; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16

Whenever most preachers sit down with the lectionary lessons of the coming Sunday, we read through them, and we often look for a theme that connects them all. In both the Old Testament and Gospel readings this morning, I found a common theme! I believe the theological term is: whining.

We must admit – sometimes it feels good to whine. But when whining gets out of hand, how often did those of us of a certain age heard the ominous parental voice boom, “Don’t make me pull this car over!” or “I’ll give you something to whine about!”

Before we go much further into the reading from Exodus, we need to recall the immediate context of this story: God has miraculously delivered the Hebrew people from slavery in Egypt, first by striking the Egyptians with the 10 horrific plagues. Just before this reading God had parted the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to escape and destroying the whole Egyptian army. Despite all of these miracles, it didn’t take long before the people are whining. No doubt…because they are hungry.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I do get grumpy sometimes when I am hungry. We all do. These days we call it being “hangry”. The issue here is not really that they are hungry, but it is that already they don’t trust God. This is the very same God who just delivered them from Egypt. This is the same God who promised to never forsake them. But now, they have questions. Does God care that we are hungry? Does God even hear us? And more importantly can Moses do anything about it? The cry goes up – “Hey Moses, things were better in Egypt!”

So, here comes another miracle: God sends them quail, and God sends them Manna, a bready substance which is the Hebrew word for “what is it?” I was trying to find a creation care connection here, but it would be a stretch. Nevertheless, the people’s stomachs are filled, and they are satisfied. But guess what – soon enough the cry is, “We’re tired of just quails and manna. We want fresh water too!” Ah, there’s your creation care connection – fresh, potable water. From Flint Michigan to Nepal and Tibet, we all need it. It’s no surprise that God’s people wanted something refreshing to wash down the manna and quails.

Now, we here this morning can all sit back and say, “Ungrateful people! You’ll eat your quails and manna and like it!” “Stop whining!” “Don’t make me pull this car over!”

Enough of their wining for now. Let’s turn to this parable of the workers in the vineyard in our Gospel lesson this morning. Go on, admit it, you might just agree with the workers hired first thing in the morning. A bunch of slackers show up at the end of the day, and they get the same wage as the faithful laborers who worked all day. You can say it. You know you want to, “But Jesus…that’s not fair!”

Who hasn’t seen a child complain that his little brother got a bigger piece of pie? Or who hasn’t heard a child utter that magical phrase that can bring an entire playground full of children to a dead stop: “That’s not fair!”

Before we go any further, let me share with you how I read a parable like this.

One of the biggest mistakes we make as 21^st Century American Christians is to assume that Jesus is talking directly to us. If we read every story and every line of scripture through our own lens, we are bound to misunderstand what Jesus and the other writers of scripture are saying. American Christians do it all the time, with prophecy too! Guess what, Jesus isn’t speaking to us, not primarily at least. Jesus is speaking first and foremost to the people gathered to hear him, there, in 1^st Century Palestine.

Next, whenever you’ve got these characters in a parable – the landowner or master, and the tenants, or workers, or servants, I believe that Jesus is primarily addressing the religious establishment of his own time, namely the Jewish leadership: Pharisees, Sadducees, and the others. In this reading, God is the landowner; members of the religious establishment are the tenants, or here laborers, the original laborers in the parable.

Jesus often seems to be pointing out trouble between the landowner and his workers. The relationship between God and these Israelites is in trouble.

So in this morning’s parable, the original workers have a strong sense of entitlement. They were hired in the morning and have been working all day. All those new workers hired later by the landlord need to know their place. We were here first! New workers should be paid less and should be treated as less-than-us. That’s fair, isn’t it? Can you hear the whining?

Jesus is at it again – turning tables. Jesus often says shocking and upsetting things. Here he is suggesting something remarkable – the landlord chooses to pay all of the workers the same wage, no matter how long they have worked. Some call the landlord generous, others call him horribly unfair.

And in response, there is grumbling, whining – somebody feels ill-used.

Now recall the audience to whom Jesus is primarily addressing this parable are the ancestors of the very same Hebrews who grumbled and complained in the wilderness that they didn’t have any food. God provided for them then, and God had provided for them in countless other ways ever since. God has been faithful time and time again.

I don’t believe Jesus is condemning them for being ungrateful, but forgetful. When the landlord, the very same person who hired their ancestors long ago, pays all the workers the same wage, the longtime workers pitch a fit. The landlord simply asks them this profound question, “Are you envious because I am generous?”

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day had established a pecking order, a caste system that kept “good”, observant Jews in a higher status than the not-so-good Jews. For as many people were on the inside, there were scores more who were on the outside, further down the ladder.

But don’t begin to think this parable is directed at the Jewish leaders alone. Jesus’ disciples need to hear it too. Remember they always seem to be jockeying for position – who is Jesus’ favorite? They tried to keep children away from Jesus, and those annoying sick people. They whine about a woman who won’t leave them alone just because she has a sick daughter. Don’t bother Jesus! He’s important and you’re not!

Matthew includes this parable in his Gospel for a reason as well. The church community who first heard these stories needed a reminder – don’t forget how much grace has been shown to you!

Very quickly the earliest Christians practiced discrimination. The first Christians were of course all Jewish, and some of them kept Gentile converts at arms’ length. “Because we are Jews”, some thought, we are higher in the ranks than you. We were here first. We are better Christians than you. Remember that many of the Gentile converts were uncircumcised former pagans. But the leaders of the church and the writers of the Gospels were treating these newcomeers as if they belonged just as much as the most faithful long-timers. This angered many of the first Christians. How dare they! It’s just…not…fair!

As with many of Jesus’ parables, I believe this one is meant to remind us that God is not always predictable, and sometimes what God does may seem unfair. The early Church was founded with no pecking-order in place, no hierarchy of those who got more grace. No one got nicer bread or wine at communion because of who they were. Instead the church, like God’s kingdom, was meant to be a place of equality. God’s grace is available to all. All of God’s grace, despite their background, despite their reputation, despite how recently they had converted.

In the church of today, we still see these struggles. While some Christians are striving for racial reconciliation, creation care, LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and more, others Christians prefer their Sunday mornings to be safer and more monochromatic. Some Christians still refuse to allow women to serve at the altar, but others welcome women to be bishops, even the Archbishop of Canterbury. The challenges are many. How do we treat gay people, trans people, immigrants, illegal or not, how do we treat addicts, the homeless, democrats, republicans, independents? The list goes on.

In Paul’s epistle to the Philippians this morning we hear Paul, writing from prison. Paul’s not concerned about his life at the point. He knows that he has accomplished most of what he will likely be able to accomplish, and he’s concentrating on what is to come. But those in the church need to keep working as Paul puts it, “standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel.” This is the ideal, but it has always been a challenge for the church – working together with one mind, striving for unity, so that our work is that much better. We allow things to divide us but we know how desperately the world around us needs to hear good news!

People will still whine, “It’s not fair that you treat those people (fill in the blank) as equals,” but this is who God is, and this is who God has called us to be. We must strive for unity, for equality, and for an end to all this whining. Amen.