The Rev. Carl Saxton- A Modern Parable

In the name of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Please be seated.

I know it's hot, folks, but you gotta wake up.

So today we get the parable of the workers in the vineyard, or of the generous vineyard keeper, or of the workers, or of the vineyard, or there's a million names for it, depending on what you think the point is.

And you have to know that this parable exists only in the Gospel of Matthew.

It's not in any other gospel.

So it's pure Matthew.

And I don't think it can stand all by itself.

Partially because it's only Matthew, but also because of how Matthew chose to integrate it into the stuff that we do find in the other synoptic gospels, Mark and Luke.

So while I love the lectionary, there are times when I think, why did they leave that part out?

It's important to what this means.

So if you'll bear with me, I'm going to read you the stuff around the parable of the worker and the vineyard.

That was chapter 20, verse 1.

I'm starting at chapter 19, verse 16.

Then someone came to Jesus and said, Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?

And he said to him, Why do you ask me about what is good?

There is only one who is good.

If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.

He said to him, Which ones?

And Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, honor your father and your mother.

Also you shall love your neighbor as yourself.

The young man said to him, I have kept all of these, what do I still lack?

Jesus said to him, If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.

Then come, follow me.

When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.

Jesus said to his disciples, Truly I tell you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Again, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.

When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astounded and said, Who then can be saved?

But Jesus looked at them and said, For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible.

Then Peter said, in reply, Look, we have left everything and followed you.

What then will we have?

Jesus said to them, Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, tribes of Israel.

And every one who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life.

But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.

So you see, this is a series of things that happen, and Jesus' response to them.

First, you have the rich young man or the rich young ruler who comes to Jesus and says, What do I need to do?

Tell me what I gotta do.

And he looks at him and he says, Follow the commandments.

And the rich young man says, Done.

What do I still lack?

And Jesus says, Well, go and sell everything that you have.

If you want to be perfect, go and sell everything that you have and give the money to the poor.

The English translation says that.

In the Greek, it just says, give to the poor.

Give the money to the poor and then come and follow me.

And what does the gospel writer say?

The rich young man goes away what?

Grieving.

Sad.

Why?

Because he has lots of stuff.

That's what it says.

He goes away grieving, for he has many possessions.

See now, on the face of it, this guy is the perfect candidate for a follower of Jesus.

He's well known in his community.

He must be liked, right?

Because he's rich.

He keeps the commandments.

He's righteous.

He's just.

And most importantly, perhaps, he knows something is missing.

And so he goes to this rabbi and he says, What do I have to do?

He's open to the message.

He's open.

But he can't quite get there.

And so Jesus turns to his disciples and says, a line that we Christians from time immemorial have detested.

Truly, I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.

We hate it so much that in the early Middle Ages, we Christians made up a whole story to make it easier to swallow.

We said, oh, we know what the answer is.

In the ancient days, there was a small gate in the city wall of Jerusalem.

And it was called the needle's eye.

And the only way for a camel to get through the needle's eye was for its burden to be removed and for it to get down on its knees and make its way through the gate.

Right?

That's a great vision.

Take off your burdens, get on your knees.

The problem is it's baloney.

There never was a gate called the eye of the needle.

There never was a small gate in the city wall of Jerusalem.

When Jesus said, Truly I tell you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven.

He meant exactly what he said.

It ain't easy.

But what did he say before that?

When the disciples said, Well, who can be saved?

Do you remember?

This is the most important line in the whole thing, I think.

For mortals, it is impossible.

But for God, all things are possible.

Because what Jesus is talking about is grace.

It is impossible for us who are so attached to our things, to our money, to our stuff, to our reputation, to all the things that we think are important in this life, to even keep our minds on the things of God.

But because God loves us and showers us with grace, we are still able to pass into the kingdom of heaven, both here and after.

But the rich young man rejects it outright.

He walks away from that grace because he's too concerned with this stuff.

So then you get the whole conversation with the disciples, right?

And at the end, Peter, God, I love Peter because he's an idiot just like I am.

Peter says, What about us?

We here, the 12 of us, the ones who walked away from our boats and our families and all that stuff, right?

Remember us?

We follow you around, we're poor with you.

We get thrown things thrown at us, and people look at us sideways.

What do we get?

And Jesus tells them, Oh, you'll get everything.

Thrones to sit on, and everything will be returned to you a hundredfold, and you'll get eternal life, and la la la la la.

And then, but the first will be last and the last will be first.

And then he tells this parabola about a vineyard owner who goes out periodically throughout the day and hires people to work in his vineyard.

And at the end of the day, he calls them all to be paid and he pays them all what?

The same thing.

He pays them all exactly the same, a day's wage.

And then what happens?

The ones who were there first exactly.

The ones that were there first act like three-year-olds.

Not fair.

Absolutely not fair.

If we were here first, we should get more.

Give me more.

And I love the line at the end when that vineyard owner says, Am I not allowed to do with what I want with what's mine?

Or are you jealous because I'm generous?

See, this parable is about the grace of the kingdom of God as well.

But the problem is that we want things to be fair.

We human beings in general are more concerned about justice than we are about grace.

We're more concerned about retribution than we are about.

We want things to balance, like a checkbook.

We want it all to add up on both sides.

If I get more in, I should get more out.

But the kingdom of God doesn't work like that.

The kingdom of God is not concerned about balance or fairness.

And the justice of God is concerned entirely with grace and love.

Not with keeping things right.

Not with making me feel better.

Now, I'm gonna do something I hardly ever do.

I found this modern parable, and it's a bit long, so I'm gonna read it to you, and then I'm gonna walk away and let it sink in.

Because I think this modern parable, if you will, says even better what Jesus' parable of the vineyard was trying to tell us.

So here you go.

Once upon a time, there was a very holy and wise rabbi who loved the Torah, the scriptures, passionately.

His whole life revolved around the word, and he was recognized as a living Torah because of his belief and his practice, which was generous, universal, and single-minded.

He had many disciples and students, and people from many distant countries came to him for advice and prayer.

Many came to his study houses just to be in his presence for a short time and to be able to say that they had been his student, that they had known him face to face.

For the people believed that if their rabbi was holy, then his holiness rubbed off on them and affected their life and soul.

And then one day he died, and he found himself at the gates of heaven.

He was horrified to find that Peter was standing at the gates.

And he thought to himself, Did I miss the Messiah?

Has my life all been in vain?

And yet, to his surprise, Peter threw open the gates of heaven and welcomed him warmly.

Rabbi, we've been waiting for you to come for years.

God has told us about you, about your great love for the Torah and for the Word of God, and your equally great devotion to the law, to justice, and to people.

Come, welcome to the kingdom of heaven.

The rabbi was stunned.

Not only was he getting in, but he was being praised by God, blessed be his name.

He spoke again to Peter.

You mean that I'm welcome in heaven?

Welcome, Peter said.

You have one of the highest seats in the kingdom.

Oh, said the rabbi.

Can I ask a question?

Of course, Peter said.

If I'm getting into heaven on my holiness and love for the law and justice, do you think I could get some uh someone else into the kingdom on my holiness of life?

After all, in the Jewish community, the only reason I am holy and just is because of my students.

They were the ones who watched me and held me accountable and called me forth to ever greater devotion and faithfulness.

Do you think the Almighty, blessed be his name, would let all my students into the kingdom on account of my holiness and devotion to his law?

Peter thought for a moment and said, Wait here for a second, I'll go ask God.

Peter went off, wasn't gone for long at all.

He returned and said, Rabbi, I can't believe it, but God says yes.

All your students may enter on account of your life.

Now, welcome to the kingdom of heaven.

But the rabbi said, Do you think the Almighty, blessed be his name, would let others into the kingdom of heaven on my account?

After all, all good Jews love the Torah and are dedicated to the study of its scriptures and would love to be able to be disciples of the rabbi.

But you know, they have to obey the commandments, to be fruitful, to multiply, to marry, and then to care for those in need.

So many people help my students and myself with bread and shelter, charity and hospitality.

Do you think they could come in too?

Peter responded, No, wait here.

Off he went, and soon he was back again, shaking his head.

Rabbi, God says yes again.

All those who helped you and your disciples and served your communities may enter into your holiness.

Now, come into the kingdom.

No, the rabbi says, I have another question.

Why am I not surprised?

says Peter.

The Rabbi says, In our tradition, if one person is holy, then the whole nation is saved.

After all, when David sinned, all of Israel did penance with him.

And when God, blessed be his name, was pleased with David, then all the nation flourished and lived in peace and serenity.

Do you think that God would let the whole nation of Israel in on my merits and holiness?

This time Peter hesitated and said, This might take some time.

Wait here, I'll be back.

The rabbi waited and waited and wondered if he'd overstepped his bounds with the Almighty.

But Peter came back, smiling broadly, and said, Rabbi, God can't get over how you use the law on behalf of the people.

He loves it.

Yes, on your holiness, the entire Jewish nation, for all of history is welcome in the kingdom.

Now will you come in?

The Rabbi smiled, warming up.

I have another question.

Peter said, What could you possibly ask now?

Well, Rabbi said, What about the Christians?

After all, the only reason the Jews have made remained so faithful is because of the persecution and hounding by the Christians all these years.

Do you think the Almighty, blessed be his name, would let the Christians in on account of my justice and love of the Torah?

Peter couldn't believe his ears and shook his head.

Sit down, make yourself comfortable, Rabbi.

I know this is going to take a while.

And off he went.

The rabbi waited, it seemed endlessly, and Peter still didn't come back.

He began to worry, but finally Peter returned, shaking his head.

This time he said, No.

No, Rabbi.

God says, no, there's a limit to who can come in under your shadow.

The Christians can't come in.

Why?

The Rabbi asked.

Well, Peter said, that's what took me so long.

God knew that you'd want to have a reason why there was a limit to what your holiness couldn't do, and he had to teach me the answer.

God says this.

The Jews are judged on their holiness and their response to the law, the Torah, and the word of their tradition.

However, the Christians aren't.

They're judged on the spirit and on the law of love and the beatitudes that fulfill the old Decalogue.

Christians are judged on what they did for the poor and how faithfully they loved their enemies and prayed for their persecutors.

So, no, you can't get them in.

Now, will you finally come in?

The rabbi thought.

And then he said, No, I'm not coming in.

Why?

yelled Peter.

Because the rabbi said, I'm a Jew.

And as a Jew, every year at Passover we bless God and lift up four cups of wine in his honor and remember his kindness to the house of Israel.

But we do not drink the third cup of wine.

Instead, we pour it into the ground, because it commemorates the death of the Egyptians, our enemies.

We cannot rejoice in the death of our enemies.

I will not come into the kingdom of heaven until I know that my enemies are home as well.

I'll wait.

And no matter how hard Peter tried, he couldn't get the rabbi to come in.

So the gate slams shut.

So, if you're Jewish, you die, don't worry.

Besides, Peter, the first person you'll see at the gate is the old holy rabbi.

And he'll wave you on in.

And if you're a Christian, as you go by, the old rabbi, he'll count off his enemies as they become friends.

And when all of us are one, the old rabbi can finally go home.