17 Pentecost (Proper 20A) 2026

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III
Greeneville, TN

Jonah 3:10-4:11
Psalm 145:1-8
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

People have been complaining as long as there have been people, and apparently, we’ve gotten pretty good at it. We complain about the weather. We complain about traffic. We complain about the price of groceries. We complain about our neighbors. And, yes… sometimes we complain about the church. Sometimes we even complain about the complaining. “Why is everybody always complaining?”

We seem to have this remarkable ability to look at what we have and immediately notice what somebody else has. And then we complain about that. “They got more than I did...” “They got something I wanted...” “They got their way... And I didn’t.”

It starts when we’re children. “He got the bigger piece!” “She got to stay up later!” “He got the toy I wanted!” “It’s not fair!” And somehow, when we grow up… we don’t necessarily outgrow it. We just get better vocabulary. 

Have you ever had a job where you thought you were being paid pretty well, until you found out what somebody else was making? Suddenly, your paycheck doesn’t look quite as good. Or maybe you discovered somebody was making less than you. And then you thought, “Why am I even working beside that person?”

We have a remarkable ability to turn almost anything into a comparison. I know something about this personally. When I was a technician, I got overtime. I worked extra hours, punched the clock, and got paid extra for those hours. It was a beautiful system. Every minute was accounted for.

Then I moved into management. Suddenly, there was no clock to punch. And I found myself working all the time. There were plenty of weeks when I realized I was working more hours than I felt I was being paid for. And I thought, “Well… this doesn’t seem fair.” Then I started to complain… 

That word “FAIR” is important today. Because fairness matters. Justice matters. People should be treated fairly. People should be compensated fairly. But there is a problem when we assume that God’s grace operates according to our definition of fairness. Because grace is not a transaction. Grace isn’t a paycheck. Grace isn’t something we earn. God’s grace is a gift from God.

And that brings us to Jonah. Jonah is sent to Nineveh. And Jonah does not want to go. He doesn’t like the Ninevites. He doesn’t trust them. And he certainly doesn’t think they deserve God’s mercy. But after being carried to Nineveh by a big fish, Jonah reluctantly goes. When he gets there, he preaches. And the people repent.

And because the people repented, God changes God’s mind about the disaster that had been threatened against them. And because of this, Jonah is furious. Why? Because Jonah knows God. Jonah knows that God is gracious and merciful… slow to anger… and abounding in steadfast love.

And Jonah doesn’t like it. Because Jonah thinks Nineveh should get what he thinks Nineveh deserves. Jonah wants God to operate according to a simple equation: You do this… you get that. You work twelve hours… you get twelve hours’ pay. You work one hour… you get one hour’s pay. That makes sense to us. That’s how transactions work.

And then Jesus tells us about a vineyard. He tells us that the Kingdom of heaven is like… Then he goes on to tell us a parable of a landowner who hires workers at six in the morning, then at nine, then at noon, then at three... And finally, at five o’clock, he finds people still standing around. “Why are you standing here idle all day?” “Because nobody has hired us.” So he sends them into the vineyard.

At the end of the day, he pays everyone. And here’s where the story gets interesting. He pays the people who worked one hour the same as those who worked all day. And the people who worked all day start grumbling. “Wait a minute!” they say. “We worked all day in the scorching heat! They were only here for an hour! How come they got the same thing we did?”

And honestly… I get it… I understand them. I might have been standing right there with them. Because something in us immediately says, “That’s not fair!” But notice something important. The workers who came first weren’t cheated. They received exactly what they had agreed to receive. The problem wasn’t that they received too little. The problem was that somebody else received something they considered generous. And that is different.

Sometimes we don’t mind God’s generosity… until it is extended to somebody we don’t think deserves it. That’s Jonah. That’s the workers in the vineyard. And, if we’re honest… sometimes that’s us.

We don’t mind being forgiven. We just wonder whether somebody else has earned forgiveness. We don’t mind receiving grace. We just wonder whether somebody else deserves it. We don’t mind God welcoming us. We just get nervous when God starts making room for people we aren’t sure belong. We want grace for ourselves… but we want fairness for everybody else.

But Jesus keeps reminding us that the Kingdom of God is not a transaction. It’s a relationship. It is not about keeping score. It is about love. And that’s got to be one of the greatest challenges of being in Christian community. Because we can easily turn church into a transaction. “I came to church... I gave my money. I served on the committee... I taught Sunday school. I worked the rummage sale. I’ve been here for thirty years!” Therefore… “I deserve something.”

And once we start thinking that way, we start keeping score. Who did more? Who gave more? Who sacrificed more? Who deserves more? And eventually, we become Jonah… sitting outside the city… angry that God has been too generous. 

But God asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?” And Jonah doesn’t answer very well. He sits under a bush. God gives him shade. Jonah likes the bush. Then the bush dies. And Jonah starts complaining again. God sends a worm. God sends a scorching wind. And Jonah says, “I’d rather die than live.” And God says, in effect, “Jonah, you care more about that bush than you care about all those people in Nineveh.”

There it is. Jonah is keeping score. God is keeping relationship. Jonah is worried about what he thinks he deserves. God is worried about the people. That is the difference between a transactional life and a life shaped by grace.

A transactional life asks: What do I get? What do I owe? What do they owe me? Did I get my fair share? Did they earn it? Or, do they deserve it? Grace asks a different question: What has God already given me?” and how can I share it?

That is the economy of the Kingdom of God. And it is radically different from the world’s economy. There is a common idiom that refers to comparing oneself to one’s neighbor, with the neighbor serving as a benchmark for social or economic class…

It’s called keeping up with the Joneses… Have you ever heard that? Well… The world tells us to keep up with the Joneses. It started with a comic strip in the early 20th century… But I’ve never actually figured out who the Joneses are… or why I would want to keep up with them. But apparently, they have a really nice house. A nice car. Nice clothes. And they take really nice vacations.

And somehow we convince ourselves that if we can just catch up with them or keep up with them… then we’ll finally be happy. But somewhere in the mix, we lose the realization that the Joneses are probably trying to keep up with somebody else. And somewhere along the way, everyone gets exhausted.

We complain about what we don’t have. Then we finally get it… and discover that it has to be maintained. Then we complain about that… What part of “you shall not covet” do we not understand? And as somebody once said, “He who dies with the most toys is still dead.”

Jesus invites us to live by a different economy. An economy of grace and generosity. God’s love is not a pie. God doesn’t give someone else a bigger slice and leave less for us. God’s love grows as it is shared. It creates room. It opens doors. It changes communities. And it changes us.

Over these past several Sundays, we’ve heard Jesus talk about how we live together. How we resolve Conflict, reconciliation, and forgiveness in relationships. And today, Jesus takes us one step further. He asks us to stop keeping score. Because we cannot build Christian community while we are constantly calculating who has earned what. 

The Christian life is not a transaction. We don’t come to church so God will owe us something. We don’t pray so God will give us what we want. We don’t serve so God will put another gold star next to our name. We don’t give because we are trying to buy God’s favor. We give because God has already given us everything. We don’t forgive because someone has earned forgiveness from us. We forgive because we have been forgiven. We don’t welcome people because they have proven they deserve a place. We welcome them because God has already made room for us.

And that brings us to this table. We come to this table carrying everything in our lives... We carry our successes and our failures. Our faith and our doubts. Our gratitude, yes, and even our complaining. And God says, “Come.” Not because we earned it. Not because we deserve it. But because God is God and God is good.

There is room. There is grace. There is enough. There is always enough. When we come forward to receive the bread and wine, we are reminded that grace is not something we earn. It is something we receive. And then we are sent back into the world empowered to give it away.

So perhaps instead of complaining today, and asking, “Did I get what I deserve?” We could ask, “What am I going to do with the grace I’ve already received?” What will we do with our time? Our talents? Our resources? Our relationships? Our lives? Because we are blessed. We are all deeply blessed.

Blessed through the sacraments. Blessed through worship. Blessed through this loving and welcoming community. Blessed through our friends and family. And, yes, sometimes we are even blessed through the difficult people in our lives… Blessed because they give us plenty of opportunities to learn something and practice grace.

So when you find yourself complaining this week, and you probably will, stop. Take a breath. And remember Jonah. Remember the workers in the vineyard. Remember that God’s grace has never been a transaction. It has always been a gift. And remember that we don’t earn God’s grace. We receive it. And because we receive it freely, we are called to give it away freely.

So let’s stop keeping score, start giving thanks, and make a little more room in the world for God’s abundant grace.

15 Pentecost (Proper 18A) 2026

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth H. Saunders III

Greeneville, TN 

Ezekiel 33:7-11
Psalm 119:33-40
Romans 13:8-14
Matthew 18:15-20

Have you ever noticed how quickly a disagreement can become something much bigger than the original problem? Especially in the Church. A simple misunderstanding becomes a hurt feeling... A hurt feeling becomes a conversation we avoid... The conversation we avoid starts to become built-up resentment. And before long, we are no longer arguing about what happened; we are arguing about what we think the other person meant, what we think they always do, and what we think they will never change. And if you have ever been part of a church, you know that even people who love Jesus can be incredibly good at this.

Today’s Gospel is what I like to call Jesus’ quick tips for resolving Church conflict. Because, Lord knows, the Church has plenty of conflict. And I suspect that if Jesus were giving this advice today, he might begin by saying… “Before you send that email, post that comment, or forward that message to three other people, stop… stop and take a breath.” Because we live in a world where disagreement is everywhere.

We see it in our politics, in our communities, and increasingly in the ways we speak to one another. A difference of opinion can easily become a personal attack. A disagreement about an issue can become a judgment about someone’s character. And sometimes, the folks who claim to be defending Christian values seem to have forgotten the “Christian” part.

We have all seen how quickly a conversation can turn into a contest… not simply about who’s right or wrong, but about who gets to win. And that is not an entirely new idea. I spent a few of my younger years on the debate team in High School, and I dabbled a bit in collegiate debate when I was in college. Through those experiences, I learned that there is a distinct difference between disagreement and disrespect. 

Debate, at its best, is about listening... Listening, thinking, and then making a case… Treating each other with respect during any civil discourse can help us discover what we believe and why we believe it. Healthy debate can lead to progress and change. But even when disagreement is healthy, it can still be difficult. 

It’s difficult because we are human. And as reasonable human beings, we have a need to be understood… we want to be respected… We want validation that our concerns matter. And sometimes, if we are honest with ourselves, we want to win. The problem is that we can begin to tie our sense of worth to being right. And when that happens, someone else’s disagreement can feel like a personal attack and a threat to our identity. That is when the conversation becomes a conflict. And that is why today’s Gospel lesson matters.

Jesus does not pretend that his followers will always agree. He doesn’t promise that the church will be a place where everyone thinks alike, votes alike, or sees every issue in exactly the same way. Instead, Jesus acknowledges something that we already know... That we are going to disagree. The question is not whether conflict will happen. The question is what we will do when it does. And Jesus gives us a way forward.

The first step is simple, but it may be the hardest... “If another member of the church sins against you, he says, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone.” In other words, talk TO and WITH the person. He doesn’t say talk about the person or around the person. He definitely doesn’t say, "Talk to everyone else first." He says, go and talk TO the person.

Now, I know that sounds obvious. But how often do we actually do that? How often do we have the difficult conversation in our heads, rehearse everything we want to say, and then decide it would be easier to avoid the person altogether? Or worse yet, disparage the person rather than have a conversation with them.  

I had a mentor once who, when talking about difficult tasks, would say, “If you have to swallow a frog, make sure that you swallow the big ugly one first.” I have never been entirely sure where that saying came from, but I have found it useful over the years. Because sometimes the big, ugly frog is the conversation we have been putting off. And sometimes, when we finally have that conversation, we discover that what we thought was happening was not what was happening at all.

A tone of voice was misunderstood. A comment was taken the wrong way. Someone was having a difficult day. Someone else was carrying a burden we knew nothing about. And sometimes, of course, the hurt is real. But even then, a direct conversation can be the beginning of healing.

Jesus is not telling us to ignore conflict. He is telling us to face it honestly, directly, and with the hope of reconciliation. And notice that Jesus says, “when the two of you are alone.” There is wisdom in that. Because when we bring an audience into a disagreement, we often bring our pride along with it.

The second step, Jesus says, is to invite one or two others to help. In other words, if you cannot work it out on your own, ask for help. That is not a sign of failure. It is a sign of maturity. Sometimes we need someone who can listen to both sides, help us see what we are missing, and remind us that the goal is not to win an argument but to restore a relationship. That’s important because there are times when we are so determined to prove that we are right that we forget to ask whether the relationship is worth saving.

The third step is to bring the matter before the church. Now, to me, that sounds a little intimidating. But remember, this is advice given to a Christian community. Jesus is not describing a public spectacle or a church-wide gossip session. He is describing a community that takes responsibility for the well-being of its members.

The church is not simply a place where we come together because we agree. It is a place where we learn how to live together when we don’t agree. That is part of what makes Christian community so challenging, and so beautiful at the same time. We are not all the same. We don’t have the same experiences, or the same backgrounds... the same opinions, or the same ways of seeing the world. But we are called to love one another. And that means we have to learn how to disagree without destroying one another.

Now, the Gospel does speak of a final step, when someone refuses to listen to the community... And that can be a pretty serious matter. And we should be careful not to use this passage to justify shunning or banning anyone who disagrees with us. Jesus is not giving us permission to turn the church into a place where only the people who think like us belong.

In fact, the very next words remind us of the heart of the Gospel... “Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Jesus is present not ONLY when we agree, but also when we are trying to find our way through our disagreement. Jesus is present when we listen to one another… and when we ask for forgiveness. Jesus is present when we try to understand someone whose experiences differ from our own. Jesus is present when we are struggling to find a way forward... and when we are trying to decide what it means to love our neighbor in an increasingly divided world.

The goal of the Christian community is not to create a place where everyone agrees with everyone else. The goal is to create a place where everyone is loved, everyone is valued, and everyone is invited to grow into the likeness of Christ. That doesn’t mean we will never hurt one another. Or never misunderstand one another. Or never have difficult conversations. What it means is that when those things happen, we do not have to face them alone. We have one another. And we have Jesus.

So perhaps the next time we find ourselves in a disagreement, we might remember a few things from today’s Gospel. First, talk openly to the person. Second, ask for help when you need it. Third, remember that the goal is reconciliation, not victory. And finally, remember that Jesus is there with us.

He is there in our difficult conversations... He is there in the awkward silence... He is there in the apology. He is there in the work of forgiveness. And Jesus is even there in the moments when we are still trying to figure out how to live together. Because that is what it means to be church. Not a community of people who always agree, but a community of people who are learning, day by day, how to love one another as Christ loves us.