The Rev’d Kenneth H. Saunders III
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 20) - September 21, 2008
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
The church has been grumbling for at least 7000 years… and we haven’t stopped yet… We seem to think sometimes that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence… That another way of life is better…
We sometimes act like little children and say, he or she got something that I didn’t get… they got more to eat than I did… or they got the toy they wanted and I didn’t get anything. Or worse yet… they got to do what they wanted and I didn’t get my way… or – they won’t cooperate and play the way we want them to play, so I am going to take my to take my toys and go home…
Have you ever had a job and it seemed your rate of pay was ok, until you found out what someone else was making?… If they were making more… we say, “how dare they think that they are doing as good a job or better than we are”… And if they are making less… we say, “why am I put to work side by side with such worthless people”…
Some of you may be able to identify with this… When I was a technician, I got lots of overtime for the extra hours that I worked… Each minute was accounted for as the clock was punched… but when I moved into management, and became a “professional” employee I caught myself working all the time, not punching a clock, I made a decent wage, but I always worked more hours than I was paid for... It didn’t seem fair… grumble, grumble, grumble…
And look at look at the way we live our materialistic lives… we have always got to have the best toys, the best clothes, the best homes, and the best cars… There is a popular saying that started out with a comic strip early in the 20th century, “Keeping up with the Joneses” – where one is expected to have or maintain a certain standard of living… I personally haven’t figured out who the Joneses are or why in the world we would want to keep up with them.” But for some reason, in our society we want to be considered as good as they are, and we envy what they have… And if we don’t get it, we grumble about what we don’t have. Then when we get it and we have it, we grumble about what a burden it is in our life…
What part of “thou shall not covet” don’t we understand? Don’t we realize that “he who dies with the most toys is still dead?” We grumble about what we should have gotten, or we grumble about the decisions that we should have or could have made…
Today’s lessons are about grumbling… grumbling about the should a, could a, would a’s in our lives…
The Israelites were fussing with Moses in the wilderness after being miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt… They say… “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you (Moses) have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Grumbling about it was their answer to starving to death…
They would rather grumble than figure out how or where to get some food… and remember – when you are grumbling, be sure that you blame the leadership. Cause we all know that it is the leader’s fault… it’s always someone else’s fault… Grumble, grumble, grumble…
They seem to think that the situation they are in now is somehow worse than living as a slave in Egypt… Yes, they were walking around in the desert, and they were hungry. But they didn’t trust God… They witnessed all the miracles that got them to the point that they are, and yet they were still grumbling… Thinking that God had forgotten them – and just left them in the dessert to die. Somehow, to them, being a slave in Egypt was somehow better than being free…
Then we come to the parable that Jesus tells us about the laborers in the vineyard… We get the image of a day-labor house, where a person like a vineyard owner (or a general contractor) can go and hire others that want to work… But this isn’t the case in Jesus’ story… these peasant workers are standing idle in the marketplace… not refusing work… but not doing the honorable thing and seeking it either…
We jump right in… and we are quick to identify with the ones that have worked all day in the scorching heat… We quickly say… “whoa… wait a minute here… we have worked hard all day – and they have only been here a little while… How come they got the same pay that we did???” Because it was expected back then, as it is now, that the folks who worked longer hours get more pay…
But what if, by chance, we were to identify with the ones that had only been on the job for a couple of hours… Would we think that we had gotten away with something? Would we think that we didn’t deserve the wage that we were given? I hesitate that any of us would say… “Hey, wait a minute, I was only here a couple of hours, yet you paid me for the whole day.”
Jesus once again turns the values system of his time on its’ head. Telling them a story like this, and then telling them, “this is what the kingdom of God is like” would completely shock his peasant audience. Shocked, because they still related what Jesus was saying to material wealth. Shocked, because like you and me, they identified immediately with the workers who had worked all day in the scorching sun, only to be given an unfair wage for their labors… Shocked, because they choose to set their minds on earthly things and things passing away, and not focus on heavenly things and things that shall endure…
The past few Sundays, we have learned a lot in the lections about living in community. Of how we are to be together… as a family, on a planned focused mission… and how to act if something goes amiss… How we are to approach our brothers and sisters in Christ, hash it out, learn from each other, pray together and remain focused…
That led up to a parable that we had last week explaining how we are to forgive, without limits, showing others the kingdom of God to others through our actions of forgiveness. We learned that forgiveness is a difficult, but regardless of how difficult it is, forgiveness is a thing that we should continuously work at… letting God be the ultimate judge.
Today we get a glimpse of the generosity of God… but not monetarily… God provides manna in the wilderness, and feeds the Israelites with the manna of the wilderness… God shows grace to God’s people, providing for them, and delivering them from their hardships as they continue on the journey that God has set them on… Jesus has used our system of thinking against us, and sheds light for us again on what the kingdom of God might look like… Not monetarily… but of the generosity of God’s grace and blessing, equal for all who turn to God and focus on things heavenly…
We have a chance this morning to experience the equality and the generosity of God. When we come down the isle, and kneel at the rail, as always, we are all equal in the eyes of God, receiving the grace and blessing that God gives to us through the spiritual food provided to us to sustain us on our spiritual journey.
What we do from there with our material lives – our time, our talent and our treasure – and how we use that life to honor God is all a response to the generosity that God has provided to us…
And we all are so very very blessed in this life… so why do we grumble so much about what we think is happening or could happen?… or about what we think we should be getting in return for our labors?? or about what we think our brothers and sisters in the community should be doing???
Our focus this morning is on things eternal – those things that endure in our life now and in our life to come, Not on things of this earth – those things that pass away… Regardless of what we feel about the equities or inequities of our life, God is always there, loving us equally, providing for us, guiding us, and blessing us…
What we do in response to the generosity of God’s grace in our lives is up to us… Thanks be to God!
Christ Episcopal Church
Cleveland, NC
RCL Year A (Proper 20) - September 21, 2008
Exodus 16:2-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45
Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16
The church has been grumbling for at least 7000 years… and we haven’t stopped yet… We seem to think sometimes that the grass is greener on the other side of the fence… That another way of life is better…
We sometimes act like little children and say, he or she got something that I didn’t get… they got more to eat than I did… or they got the toy they wanted and I didn’t get anything. Or worse yet… they got to do what they wanted and I didn’t get my way… or – they won’t cooperate and play the way we want them to play, so I am going to take my to take my toys and go home…
Have you ever had a job and it seemed your rate of pay was ok, until you found out what someone else was making?… If they were making more… we say, “how dare they think that they are doing as good a job or better than we are”… And if they are making less… we say, “why am I put to work side by side with such worthless people”…
Some of you may be able to identify with this… When I was a technician, I got lots of overtime for the extra hours that I worked… Each minute was accounted for as the clock was punched… but when I moved into management, and became a “professional” employee I caught myself working all the time, not punching a clock, I made a decent wage, but I always worked more hours than I was paid for... It didn’t seem fair… grumble, grumble, grumble…
And look at look at the way we live our materialistic lives… we have always got to have the best toys, the best clothes, the best homes, and the best cars… There is a popular saying that started out with a comic strip early in the 20th century, “Keeping up with the Joneses” – where one is expected to have or maintain a certain standard of living… I personally haven’t figured out who the Joneses are or why in the world we would want to keep up with them.” But for some reason, in our society we want to be considered as good as they are, and we envy what they have… And if we don’t get it, we grumble about what we don’t have. Then when we get it and we have it, we grumble about what a burden it is in our life…
What part of “thou shall not covet” don’t we understand? Don’t we realize that “he who dies with the most toys is still dead?” We grumble about what we should have gotten, or we grumble about the decisions that we should have or could have made…
Today’s lessons are about grumbling… grumbling about the should a, could a, would a’s in our lives…
The Israelites were fussing with Moses in the wilderness after being miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt… They say… “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you (Moses) have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Grumbling about it was their answer to starving to death…
They would rather grumble than figure out how or where to get some food… and remember – when you are grumbling, be sure that you blame the leadership. Cause we all know that it is the leader’s fault… it’s always someone else’s fault… Grumble, grumble, grumble…
They seem to think that the situation they are in now is somehow worse than living as a slave in Egypt… Yes, they were walking around in the desert, and they were hungry. But they didn’t trust God… They witnessed all the miracles that got them to the point that they are, and yet they were still grumbling… Thinking that God had forgotten them – and just left them in the dessert to die. Somehow, to them, being a slave in Egypt was somehow better than being free…
Then we come to the parable that Jesus tells us about the laborers in the vineyard… We get the image of a day-labor house, where a person like a vineyard owner (or a general contractor) can go and hire others that want to work… But this isn’t the case in Jesus’ story… these peasant workers are standing idle in the marketplace… not refusing work… but not doing the honorable thing and seeking it either…
We jump right in… and we are quick to identify with the ones that have worked all day in the scorching heat… We quickly say… “whoa… wait a minute here… we have worked hard all day – and they have only been here a little while… How come they got the same pay that we did???” Because it was expected back then, as it is now, that the folks who worked longer hours get more pay…
But what if, by chance, we were to identify with the ones that had only been on the job for a couple of hours… Would we think that we had gotten away with something? Would we think that we didn’t deserve the wage that we were given? I hesitate that any of us would say… “Hey, wait a minute, I was only here a couple of hours, yet you paid me for the whole day.”
Jesus once again turns the values system of his time on its’ head. Telling them a story like this, and then telling them, “this is what the kingdom of God is like” would completely shock his peasant audience. Shocked, because they still related what Jesus was saying to material wealth. Shocked, because like you and me, they identified immediately with the workers who had worked all day in the scorching sun, only to be given an unfair wage for their labors… Shocked, because they choose to set their minds on earthly things and things passing away, and not focus on heavenly things and things that shall endure…
The past few Sundays, we have learned a lot in the lections about living in community. Of how we are to be together… as a family, on a planned focused mission… and how to act if something goes amiss… How we are to approach our brothers and sisters in Christ, hash it out, learn from each other, pray together and remain focused…
That led up to a parable that we had last week explaining how we are to forgive, without limits, showing others the kingdom of God to others through our actions of forgiveness. We learned that forgiveness is a difficult, but regardless of how difficult it is, forgiveness is a thing that we should continuously work at… letting God be the ultimate judge.
Today we get a glimpse of the generosity of God… but not monetarily… God provides manna in the wilderness, and feeds the Israelites with the manna of the wilderness… God shows grace to God’s people, providing for them, and delivering them from their hardships as they continue on the journey that God has set them on… Jesus has used our system of thinking against us, and sheds light for us again on what the kingdom of God might look like… Not monetarily… but of the generosity of God’s grace and blessing, equal for all who turn to God and focus on things heavenly…
We have a chance this morning to experience the equality and the generosity of God. When we come down the isle, and kneel at the rail, as always, we are all equal in the eyes of God, receiving the grace and blessing that God gives to us through the spiritual food provided to us to sustain us on our spiritual journey.
What we do from there with our material lives – our time, our talent and our treasure – and how we use that life to honor God is all a response to the generosity that God has provided to us…
And we all are so very very blessed in this life… so why do we grumble so much about what we think is happening or could happen?… or about what we think we should be getting in return for our labors?? or about what we think our brothers and sisters in the community should be doing???
Our focus this morning is on things eternal – those things that endure in our life now and in our life to come, Not on things of this earth – those things that pass away… Regardless of what we feel about the equities or inequities of our life, God is always there, loving us equally, providing for us, guiding us, and blessing us…
What we do in response to the generosity of God’s grace in our lives is up to us… Thanks be to God!
