Jesus Never Said That - ”You get what you deserve.” Matt 5:43-45, Matt 20:1-16

Well, friends, this morning we continue

our second week in a new series entitled

Jesus never said that.

Um, we're talking about some well-known

sayings and cliches, phrases, platitudes

that I think most folks assume are part

of the teachings of Jesus.

Um, idioms like money is the root of all

evil or hate the sin and love the

sinner.

Or everything happens for a reason.

You've heard these, yes?

Now, some of you might be wondering why

on earth we're talking about things

Jesus didn't say in church.

Let me explain.

>> [clears throat]

>> If you are newer to reading the Bible or

newer to faith, um, you might discover

that in the New Testament and the in the

first section of that library, in the

second half of your Bible,

um, there are four Gospels according to

Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

Uh, we call them Gospels um, because

they are the good news of Jesus Christ.

Gospel literally means good news. And so

they are the written accounts of Jesus'

life, Jesus' teachings, his death, and

his resurrection.

Um, and in many Bibles, uh, maybe the

Bible you own at home, um, if you turn

to those Gospels and you go to some of

the direct teachings of Jesus, the

things Jesus said, those are printed in

red ink in many versions of scripture.

Um, there are are actually a whole bunch

of Christians who kind of refer to

themselves as red letter Christians.

And what they mean is that they're

trying to live their life in alignment

with the direct teachings of Jesus

Christ, often printed in red.

Um, and here is what I will say. The

words of Jesus Christ, they are distinct

and profoundly meaningful.

Um, there's something holy and deep and

true that kind of goes beyond our

expectation um, in the teachings of

Christ.

It's why they have been transforming

people's lives for thousands of years.

It's why even people that would say,

"I'm not religious at all or I'm not a

person of faith." They still find the

compelling um teaching of Christ a

demand on their life, too. I mean, Jesus

really is that good. His teachings

really are that good.

And so, the issue, however, for us is I

think we often go through our lives, of

course not meaning to do this, but we

end up adding in these like extra

phrases. Um these extra idioms, and some

of which might be kind of loosely

connected to scripture. Some of them

are.

Um but many of them actually aren't.

And we start to incorporate them in our

lives. We start to believe that they are

true and how we ought to live. And in

our world, right? Like a world of sound

bites and Instagram memes and all the

things. Um I think that when we adopt

some of these things, these phrases end

up getting tossed around with such

frequency that they can really start to

distort healthy belief in our lives. And

so, over the next month, we're just

going to unpack some of the most common

ones.

Today, we're looking at a phrase that

I'm sure you've heard from friends and

parents and teachers and bosses and

probably lots of churches, too.

You get what you deserve. You get what

you deserve.

And And I'll say this, it sounds right

because it sounds fair.

It sounds fair.

And so much of our life really does run

on a transactional sort of meritocracy.

It's true. You work, you get paid.

You study, you get a good grade.

If your child disobeys, they get a

time-out.

If your dog does, you know, like their

little cues, sits down and shakes your

hand, they get a treat.

If your farmer who sows crops, you're

going to get a harvest.

You get what you deserve.

Now, even though Jesus never said this,

I want to explain why you probably think

that he did.

Um to begin with, this phrase, it's

really just the modern equivalent of you

reap what you sow.

But for those of us in our own time that

probably don't travel and farm metaphors

so much anymore,

um we we say you get what you deserve.

But this phrase, its larger concept of

like cause and effect, it is found in

the biblical narrative. Most notably in

the book of Proverbs in the wisdom

literature of the Old Testament. And so

you'll find things like this. Those who

plant injustice will harvest a disaster.

Or your your reward depends on what you

say and what you do. You will get what

you deserve.

Even Paul in the New Testament picks

this theme up and he says in 2

2 Corinthians 9:6

Corinthians 9:6 this. He says, "Whoever

sows sparingly will also reap sparingly.

And whoever sows generously will also

reap generously."

Now, here is Paul is talking about like

giving to the poor and using your

financial resources for good in the

world.

But you can start to see why this phrase

has sort of leaked into our moral and

theological imaginations, especially as

we think of what Jesus might have said

and how we are to live.

The The problem is is that Jesus

actually never said anything of the

sort.

Um and in fact, he taught quite

effectively against this principle.

To a frustrating amount, actually.

Um hear the word of the Lord from

Matthew 5 and then again from Matthew

20.

You have heard it said, "Love your

neighbor and hate your enemy." Yeah,

that's fair. That makes sense. "But I

tell you to love your enemies and pray

for those who persecute you, that you

may be children of your father in

heaven. God causes the sun to rise on

the evil and the good and sends rain on

the righteous and the unrighteous.

Well, that doesn't sound very fair.

Jesus, um, in Matthew 20 tells this

parable.

For the kingdom of heaven is like a

landowner who went out early in the

morning to hire workers for his

vineyard. He agreed to pay them a

denarius, which is like a day's wages,

for the day, and he sent them into the

vineyard.

Now, about 9:00 in the morning, he went

out and saw others standing in the

marketplace doing nothing, and he told

them, "You also go work in my vineyard,

and I will pay you whatever is right."

So, they went.

He went out again about noon and about

3:00 in the afternoon and did the same

thing.

About 5:00 in the afternoon, he went out

and found still others standing around.

And he asked them,

"Why have you been standing here all day

doing nothing?"

"Well, because no one has hired us,"

they answered.

And he said to them, "You also go and

work in my vineyard."

And when evening came, the owner of the

vineyard said to his foreman, "Call the

workers and pay them their wages,

beginning with the last ones hired and

going on to the first."

And the workers who were hired about

5:00 in the afternoon came, and they

each received a denarius.

So, when those who came who were hired

first, they expected to receive more.

But each one of them also received a

denarius.

And when they received it, they began to

grumble against the landowner.

"These who were hired last worked only 1

hour," they said, "and you have made

them equal to us who have borne the

burden of the work and the heat of the

day."

But he answered one of them,

"Am I not being unfair to you, friend?

I'm not being unfair to you, friend.

Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?

And so, take your pay and go.

I want to give the one who was hired

last the same as I gave you. Don't I

have the right to do what I want with my

own money?

Or are you envious because I'm generous?

So the last will be first and the first

will be last.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

This story is wildly unfair.

It really is. I mean to simply pay

someone the exact amount no matter how

hard they work.

Not a chance.

No way.

We expect that those who work hard

should be paid and those who don't work

hard shouldn't be.

We expect that if we study really hard

in high school, we're going to get into

a top-tier college.

And we expect if we put in a lot of

extra hours at the office, then surely

we're going to be the one who gets the

bonus and the promotion.

We expect that if we pray hard

that God's going to do what we ask for.

We expect that if we're just good

people, life is going to work out how it

ought to.

And here's the truth.

We expect that because that is often how

the world works.

It's really true.

It's generally true that you get what

you deserve.

It's generally true that you reap what

you sow.

And so honestly, it's really jarring for

us to read a parable like this and to

try and imagine how we might respond.

Especially if we are the workers who

started early in the morning, right?

It's just not fair.

We are supposed to get what we deserve.

Now in our own world and culture,

I think we have so many messages of

fairness

of this concept.

Um these messages, they're just

everywhere. In fact, I want to see if

you guys can fill in the blanks with me.

I know you can.

What goes around

comes around, doesn't it?

God helps those

who help themselves.

Your past will come back to haunt you.

You made your bed,

so now you get to lie in it.

Or my favorite, it serves you right.

I didn't put in I told you so, but it's

a little tangential, but it could fit in

there, too.

Now, if we're honest, right? Like we're

not just comfortable with this sort of

cultural expectation of meritocracy,

we actually like it.

As long as it's someone else

who's getting what they deserve, of

course.

I was driving on the freeway not very

long ago, and this guy in a little

sports car like zipped right past me

going about 90 mph at least.

And he wasn't just driving fast, he was

driving like aggressively. He was like

zipping in and out of cars, um, revving

his engine, honking at people that he

felt were going too slow. Um, really, it

was quite dangerous. I was frustrated. I

was of course like, "What's your

problem, man?" from inside my car.

Uh,

but wouldn't you know it that like 5, 10

minutes down the road, there he was.

Lights on, sirens blaring, he got pulled

over by the police.

And there was a part of me that was

like, "Yeah, that's right. You were

dangerous. This is This is the just

outcome." But actually most of the

Mostly in me, I was like, "Ha-ha-ha,

they're going to stick it to this guy.

He's going to get what he deserves."

The Germans have a great word for this.

You may know this. Schadenfreude.

It literally means harm joy. Puts the

two words together.

But it's it's the feeling, it's the hit

of delight that we get when we see

someone get what they deserve.

It's that bit of pleasure that we

experience from someone else's suffering

when, you know, that cosmic karmic

scales get balanced a little bit.

Until, of course, it's us

who are in need of mercy.

Until, of course, it's us

who really, really hope we're not going

to get what's coming to us.

Um 13-ish years ago when our daughter

Mila was an infant, um

I had this like awful day um of running

all over town for a variety of reasons.

She was our foster baby and when you

have a child in foster care, uh you have

to go to a certain doctor's offices and

you have to keep with a very particular

schedule for immunizations and things

like that. So, on this day

um I ended up pulled over on the side of

the road by the police for speeding.

And I was most definitely speeding.

Um

and it's because I got to the doctor and

didn't have the exact correct form for

her.

And so the doctor said, "You're going to

miss your appointment, but you better

hustle home and grab that and then come

back and we can take care of her."

And so I ran home. But, you know, that

extra 40 minutes or so

made her like feeding schedule off and

so she started to be hungry. She needed

another bottle.

And and so by the time we got back in

the car after the doctor's appointment

and the back and forth to the house and

her getting a couple immunizations and

all of the things, I now had a crying,

angry, hungry infant in the backseat

screaming their head off.

And so I was frustrated. I was out of

patience and I was pedal to the metal.

Oh, yeah.

And so that cop pulled me over

and you know, came right up to the

window

and said, "Ma'am, do you know how fast

you were going?"

And I promptly burst into tears. This is

not who I am, those of you that know me.

Um I promptly burst into tears and then

started over explaining why I was so

frustrated and why this baby is not

actually being abused, but she's just

had shots and she's starving and I need

to get her home for a bottle. So this

poor cop is like looking at me and my

daughter are both screaming our heads

off now.

And with a straight face, he just took a

breath and he said, "Well,

my wife would never forgive me if I gave

you a ticket.

I am so sorry that you've had such an

awful day.

Go home and feed that sweet baby.

You are clearly a very, very good

mother."

And then he just turned and walked away.

I did not get what I deserved.

And boy was I thankful on that day.

Now I am sure you have had your own

moments of experiencing mercy

when you did not deserve it.

In fact, I would wager that most of us

sit in this room today because we have

received the mercy of God when we

absolutely did not deserve it.

Our lives were a hot mess. The road had

run out on all the ways we were trying

to do it ourselves and somehow God still

met us with grace,

forgiveness,

and an invitation to be transformed.

But if that's the truth, and this is

where the rub is here.

If that's the truth, then why is it so

easy for us to jump back into this like

tit-for-tat meritocracy?

Why?

Right?

It makes me think of people when they

start dieting and eating healthy, it

becomes like very obvious to them how

unhealthy everybody else eats.

Like you could have been pounding Oreos

last week, but now you're eating kale.

And so when you see your co-worker with

like a bag of Doritos, you're like, they

must have given up on life.

What is it about us that does that? I

mean, we move really quickly from like,

I'm doing the best I can, to

you're going to get what you deserve.

That jump is fast for us.

But it's even deeper than that. Because

how can we possibly believe that this is

how God operates in the world?

Really.

When we slow down and think about it,

something in us knows that there are

serious cracks

to this logic.

Because what about the newborn baby

that's born into a drug-addicted home?

Did they deserve that?

What about the teenager who lost his

parents in a war-torn country and is

just trying to function?

They deserve that?

What about the person that did literally

did everything right?

And they still didn't get into that

college or get that job or end up with

the marriage they hoped for.

Did they deserve that?

I mean, this isn't just like a

philosophical question, right? It's a

deeply human one.

And it shapes how we see God and we have

understand our world.

Now, in our reformed theological

tradition in the Presbyterian Church, we

often talk about how we believe in

justification by faith and grace alone.

Not by our own striving or efforts or

works.

And what we mean by that is that there's

no amount of our good deeds

that are going to get us to salvation.

That actually like God's reconciling

work, it happens because God is good.

It's because of God's mercy,

not our human effort.

And so everything that happens in us and

through us happens because of God's

immense grace. It's why we baptize

infants here. We did so last week with

Olivia.

We know that that child is too young to

profess faith in Jesus Christ, but it's

because we believe that actually God

acts first. God acts on our behalf

first. It's not about our human striving

that's ever going to get us there.

And I do think we believe that, or at

least we really want to.

We want to embody this idea that we are

saved by grace and faith alone, rather

than pinning it on our own efforts,

on our own striving, we not a long to

that truth.

The God came into the world to save us

because we could not save ourselves, no

matter how hard we had tried. We believe

it. We believe it.

But then,

when you start to pause and like

investigate your own everyday life, and

you look around at so many of us,

it becomes very clear that maybe that

isn't what we believe.

Because friends, here's the truth. When

you stress out and you overcompensate

because you feel like you must do

something more spiritually,

you are believing the lie that I get

what I deserve.

I get what I earn.

When you promise God

that you're going to do better next

time,

that you that if you just try a little

harder, you're going to figure it out,

so that God might not be so disappointed

in you.

That is meritocracy whispering in your

ear.

When you're convinced that the mercy of

God, it's just

can't be trusted, not in your life, not

in your experience, not with what you've

done,

and that you're going to have to earn

your worthiness.

Well, that is the lie of God helps those

who help themselves, ringing loud and

strong in your heart.

It's almost like we live as if there is

this like small part of us that really

believes that our salvation comes down

to our own striving.

Yeah, God loves us, but we're going to

have to try really, really hard.

We're going to have to earn some of

this. And so we get up early on Sundays

and we drag our kids in the car and we

make them sit with us in the pews

every week for worship.

And we volunteer to make sandwiches at

St. Vinnie's for our homeless friends

and we sign up to be a deacon and we

bring in stuff for Pamela's Closet. But

all the while, it's almost like we're

ticking a checklist. Look what we did.

Let me punch my like Christian time

clock.

We're earning, we're striving.

And and we know we're not perfect, but

at least we're trying really, really

hard.

That's got to count for something,

right?

But then what happens when we start to

live this way and think this way and

believe things like this? We look over

at the rest of the folks around us,

especially the folks that showed up at

the last hour of the work day.

Mhm.

Mhm. And we still think and we maybe

even hope that they're going to get what

they deserve.

And you know, if they don't,

then we find ourselves like those in the

parable that start wagging our finger

at the boss and saying, "How could you

do this?

How could you make them equal to me?"

Seriously, there's something about those

early morning week workers.

The grumblers and the complainers and

I'll be honest, I put myself in that

category a lot of the time.

We can't handle the unbelievable

kindness and over-the-top generosity

that God gives to those latecomers.

How could God put them in equal standing

with us?

Not with us early morning try-hards.

But it's not like

the early morning folks aren't a fan of

mercy and grace, right?

It's just that we're only against that

kind of mercy and grace when it's this

immense. It's this undeserved.

And it's given to people that don't look

like us or think like us or vote like

us. People who act differently than we

do.

And for that kind of overwhelming

undeserved grace, it might just imply we

might just have to come face-to-face

with a God who does not care about all

our neat and tidy categories of who's in

and out, of what's fair and unfair, of

what's right and wrong, who's deserving

and who's not.

Because all those neat categories, they

don't seem to be the way God operates,

friends.

It may just be that the kingdom of God's

grace is so utterly unlike the kingdoms

of this world that all bets are off.

All calculations of merit are done with.

And that is a shock to the system for us

early morning workers.

It really is.

But perhaps the one thing Jesus actually

is trying to help us see is that this is

simply the way God is. This is who God

is.

Perhaps God operates in a way that is

not at all fair,

but instead is generous.

Perhaps God operates in a way that all

people, all sinners,

all of us are equally deserving of God's

love

for one reason alone,

because we are all beloved children of

God.

Period.

And so here's what I want you to know,

friends.

The Gospels, the words of Christ,

never once suggest that Jesus thinks,

believes, or ever says that you get what

you deserve.

Actually, they consistently are going to

show you a God who surprises people with

mercy.

And a savior who is for not 1 second

threatened by your sinfulness and your

woundedness and your brokenness.

I've said this over and over, and I will

say it again. Go read the Gospels. What

you are going to find is that Jesus is

shockingly not upset with sinners.

He's just not.

No, he's just out there loving sinners

back to life

and pouring out this cup of mercy that

never runs dry. Never.

And it transforms everything.

Everything.

Friends, we worship a God that gives

strength to weak people

and compassion to sinful followers.

A God who restores doubters and

wanderers and forgetters and the

fearful.

And a God who pays folks who showed up

in the last hour of the work day the

exact same amount as he paid the people

that had been there all dang day.

And for those of you

who know what it feels like to be one of

the late in the day workers,

or for those of you who can't even

remember what it was like to need God's

grace and mercy like you needed your

next breath,

then I will remind you that Jesus never

said you get what you deserve.

And thanks be to God for that.

Amen.