David Orendorff, Matthew 16:13-20

Here is how much of the world thinks the kingdom of heaven should operate:

1. Long, hard working people should have preferential treatment.
2. Workers coming late in the day should not receive a full day’s pay.
3. Long time workers, especially Christians, ought to get to move to the front of the potluck line.

However, as the parable makes clear, this is not the modus operandi of the kingdom. The kingdom works this way:

1. There is no preferential treatment
2. The latest and last workers get the same pay as the first.
3. The last move to the front of the divine potluck line.

You might call this equal pay for unequal work.

If you think more is going on here than meets the eye, you are right. There is a historical subtext to this parable that Matthew’s Jewish and Gentile Christian hearers would immediately understand and that we are likely to miss.

The master, God, needs workers in the vineyard, i.e. all creation. Abraham and Sara are the first early workers, followed a little later in the day by their children and all the Hebrew children. These early workers have suffered the full day of labor, suffering in the early cold and the afternoon heat. They have lived through slavery in Egypt, the Exodus, the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, the Exile to Babylon, and more. The Jewish part of the church was the first to say, “Here I am Lord, use me.” They arrived early in the morning, worked hard and suffered God’s use for a thousand years.

At Matthew’s writing we are in the fourth and fifth generation of the church. These were hired at noon or 3:00 p.m. There are those among these workers that knew someone who knew Jesus personally. This generation established the church in its earliest days.

The Gentile Christians are the workers who have come late, very, very late, in the day, around 5:00 p.m. They are first generation believers and have no stories of how their grandparents suffered. Many of them have never even heard of Abraham, Sara, Moses, or Elijah and must be taught the basics. They don’t know anyone who knew Jesus and weren’t around at the first work of the church. They eat the wrong foods prepared incorrectly. They don’t wash their hands in a holy way. Their men aren’t circumcised. If by their recent conversion they have any right to the mercy of God, it is limited. It should certainly not be a full day’s wage!

Bear Creek has a similar situation. We have old timers that were here in the early morning of Bear Creek. They dreamed and made come true this congregation. We have those that arrived slightly later at Laura Engels Wilder School. They helped establish worship patterns and Sunday school. They are the ones who built the congregation and this building. And we have those us of who have those of us who have come very late in the day.

When the Pacific Northwest Conference of the United Methodist Church decided to start a church in this area they found some active and interested United Methodists with whom to work. These are the early first workers, the Abraham and Sara’s of our congregation. They were a dozen folks. This dozen prayed and worked hard, sometimes making tremendous sacrifices in finances and time to keep their fledgling fellowship alive. They organized a worship team and prepared a Sunday school. They made thousands of phone calls to invite neighbors and friends to a first worship in a school cafeteria and a second generation was born.

This second generation joined Abraham and Sara at about 9:00 a.m. Together they hauled equipment and supplies in an old trailer which cost them two transmissions of which I know. They weekly set up and put away the sound system and chairs. They taught Sunday school and created a host of committees to do the work of being a congregation. This second generation also made great sacrifices in time and finances. They continued to invite friends, family and neighbors and the fellowship grew.

When it was time to build a building these first generations labored hard. They raised money a lot of money from a few pockets. They fought the county and a few neighbors for a building permit. As a people of under great stress they also suffered internal problems. The founding pastors, a husband and wife, were lost; members were lost; wounds were inflicted some of which still might benefit from a healing. The exodus to this building was expensive in every way imaginable.

And then late in the day, at about 5:00 p.m., I and some of you showed up. We little know and can’t tell well the old stories. We have not suffered the history. We have not made the remarkable sacrifices. We take for granted that there is a building, a pastor, Sunday school, a variety of small groups, a choir and weekly band, mission work, hymnals, chairs, a sound system, and a congregation. At some point we may join a committee and do some work, even some very good work, but we are the newbie, the Johnny-come-lately, the Gentile arriving in the cool of the evening, enjoying the long labor of those gone before.

Bear Creek, like the early church, sometimes suffers the tension between those who have labored through much of the day and those who came toward evening. Generally, we can discuss these differences and even work alongside each other fairly gracefully. But sometimes we ache in the relationship.

Very occasionally the old timers subtly remind us newborns that they were here first and they have worked longer. And also occasionally we new folks suggest or attempt to make changes to sacred things like the time or order of worship, the timing of Sunday school.

Old timers can miss how it was back when. I have heard of youth missing their involvement in setting up the chairs because the work made them feel integral to making church. I have heard of adults missing the procession of the Bible and cross to open worship. I have been told it is not like it used to be, that folks don’t reach out like they used to, that the level and breadth of commitment has become shallow and that we are losing something precious in the new way it is.

We newborns also miss how it was back in Kansas. We bring with us our own histories of church with preferences and passions. From newer folks I have heard the call for more traditional hymns (or newer hymns), for the Doxology, that I wear a robe, that Sunday school be during church and that we need this or that kind of ministry. We newborns can also under appreciate or even discount the work of those here before us. And in our enthusiasm to share we accidently (I pray it is accidental) step on the long years that have gone to this being Bear Creek.

In this parable both the earliest workers and the latest workers are of equal value to the master and to the work. And this is to be true at Bear Creek. If we are to live the kingdom of heaven then our history and those who made it are to be valued because those of us who are new benefit greatly from the incredible effort and wisdom gone before. And the newest of us are to also be highly valued for we bring a fresh perspective in changing times. Our new eyes and ears are needed if we are to stay alive to the movement of the Holy Spirit among us.

Weekly we live out the kingdom where everyone is a value in Holy Communion. Communion, the body and blood of Jesus, is God’s gift of the kingdom of heaven to us. Whether we have worked hard and long or have just entered the vineyard we all receive full grace. We are each offered full communion because God chooses to be generous. The oldest Christian here and the newest among us receive the same pay, the same gift, the body and blood of Jesus Christ, God’s mercy and healing power made flesh.

This is how it is for the kingdom of heaven. Whether we are old time Jew or newly arrived Gentile, God’s mercies are fully ours. There is no conditional grace of life; the Creator’s love and gifts of life are universal. There is no partial forgiveness of our failures; Christ’s forgiveness is total and complete. There is no half day blessing of the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit’s teaching and healing power are fully available to all who will receive it. At the end of the day, all of us, from oldest member to guest, are invited into a full communion with God. Each of us is offered the blessing of bread and cup in its completeness.

As God guides us to be Bear Creek for 2008 and beyond we will have opportunities to reflect on this parable and to remember that our work in the vineyard is not about who has worked the longest and the hardest but about harvesting the work of God in our world. We live in a vineyard rich with the fruits of God’s grace. Who will come and work to harvest peace, justice, compassion, healing, teaching, and all the other tasks crying to be completed for the Glory of God and the salvation of the world? God needs workers no matter what time of day it is.

For this work we need the oldest and newest to work together, valuing the gift the other brings. And for this work we all receive the same lovingkindness from our master, the true owner of the vineyard.

So there you have it. God’s needs workers for his vineyard. In generosity God gives full grace to the most ancient and most recent alike. May we have the mind of Christ and the heart of God in our work for the master.

Shalom and Amen.