Saint Mary and Saint James, Sunday 18th November.
Matthew 20.1-16
Why has God called you? For be assured he has. You would not be here if he had not. What has he called you to? To eternal life? And what is that? Eternal life is not the same as everlasting life. Everlasting life is just more and more of the same for ever and ever. Eternal life is something new. Eternal life is being caught up into the heart of creation, allied with God who created and sustains and redeems the Cosmos - all that is. Eternal life is different. It begins here and now, it is not just when we die. Jesus came that we might have life, and life in all its fullness. Life in all its fullness is not just what we have now but bigger. Life in all its fullness is different to the values of the world we have built for ourselves.
Jesus said life in all its fullness is the kingdom of God - the place where God is. And he opened the way to it. ‘Dying and living, he declared you love, gave us grace and opened the gate of glory,’ That’s part of one of our post communion prayers which we make to God at the end of our service.

Jesus tries to tell us about this kingdom through his parables; stories, sometimes exaggerated, from ordinary life. They are often a challenge. They often turn things upside down.

If we go back to the end of the previous chapter we see Peter, spokesman for the disciples that he is, saying to Jesus - ‘Look, we have left everything to follow you’, looking perhaps for special approval.  Jesus replies, yes, there will be rewards for those who follow him. But then, rather enigmatically he says, but the first shall be last and the last shall be first. That’s what it is like in the kingdom of heaven: the first shall be last and the last shall be first - in other word, the values of the world will be turned upside down.

Then Jesus tells this story of the workers in the vineyard and at the end again he says: the first shall be last and the last shall be first. Jesus often used the vineyard in his parables. In fact throughout the bible the vineyard is used as a metaphor for God's people. The owner is, of course God. Jesus’ disciples would have understood this.

The parable is primarily about the generosity of the owner but also obliges us to consider the reaction of the workers. And indeed our reaction to the story. Its not intended as a model for economic policy.

One thing we need to understand is that no one is underpaid - the one who worked longest got a fair wage. The problem arose when they started started comparing themselves with those who had only worked an hour. They forgot that these men had been waiting desperately all day for work to feed their families. That did not matter to those who had laboured all day. They were children who are quick to complain that it's not fair. Quite likely we would think the same.

But our relationship with God is not fair actually. Nor is it about making a deal with God where our wages rewards are calculated on the basis of how much or how long we have served God. Which is just as well. Psalm 30. verse 3: ‘If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?’ The psalmist then says in the next verse:  ‘But there is forgiveness with you,so that you may be revered’. Saint Paul wrote: ‘For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’; (Romans 3.23). He too, like the psalmist continues, however, ‘they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.’ (Romans 3.24). Like the owner of the vineyard, God is gracious to whom he chooses, and in God’s case, that is all people.

We have no business comparing ourselves with others. Our worth is simply decided by God.
God gives equally to all - out of his generosity Our relationship with God is not about rights and rewards but about grace and generosity. And is this not the opposite of the world's values. There’s a great lesson to a society that is always chasing after its rights. We need a fair and just society but rights alone are not enough; we need grace and generosity or life becomes tough and the survival of the fittest.

Now if God is so gracious to us then we must echo that grace in our lives and in our dealings with others. If we think about it those who were hired last were those 'surplus to requirements'
Today perhaps these would be the growing number of less fortunate ones, the unemployed, the homeless ones, those who have passed their use-by date, the elderly, the misfits, those of a different colour from ourselves. “The last” in the economic world’s scale of values. This is a call to all of us to bring the last to the front; and to help, in our own way, to make those the world considers the last into our first.

O, and there’s another thing too; they were paid at the end of the day, not the next day, or the next week or month. Did you know this was an often forgotten Old testament Injunction?

‘You shall not defraud your neighbour; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a labourer until morning. (Leviticus 19.13)

God calls us. To eternal life. But not just in the next life. He calls us now. And that has a responsibility of playing our part in sharing this eternal life with those who do not know it. All people. And we start with quality of our own fellowship, for this is the place where the values of eternal life are showcased as it were.

Earlier I quoted from the Eucharist about about Jesus opening the gate of glory. I conclude with the next line: May we who share Christ's body live his risen life; we who drink his cup bring life to others; we whom the Spirit lights, give light to the world.