Work for Love

September 26, 1999

Matthew 20:1-16

Goal: That the hearer find fulfillment in being thrilled by God’s generosity, not in “competing successfully.”

Jealousy is a powerful emotion. As a product of the sinful nature it can cause all kinds of havoc. Marriages are torn apart, relationships are severed. People are abused, even murdered, out of jealousy. But, there is also a good kind of jealousy that seeks to save and protect. It’s God’s kind of jealousy: “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Ex 34:14). Can you think of someone who has been jealous for you and your best interests? Perhaps your Mom, or Dad; Grandpa, or Grandma. Maybe even your pastor. You parents, aren’t you jealous for your children’s well-being? Let’s consider these two kinds of jealousy.

Destructive jealousy—jealous toward others.

Jesus brings the point home in the parable. The comparison He makes is to help us see what the kingdom of heaven is like. In His kingdom God calls people to work in the harvest fields of salvation. Those fields are ripe and ready for harvest. The fact that the landowner keeps looking for more workers indicates the need and the urgency of getting the grapes gathered, before it’s too late. For their work, the landowner will pay the usual wages for the day.

It’s here that we notice the apparent inequity in the landowner. The “early birds” who put in a full 12 hour day are upset and ready to register their grievance because those who worked the least amount of time received the same wages as they did.

Well, what would be our reaction if we worked all day and got the same pay as someone who worked only part of the day? Keep in mind that in Jesus’ day if a man did not work, his family didn’t eat. Having a job was tantamount to survival. Do you see the apparent inequity? Why should someone who didn’t work all day get a full days pay? Do you see the jealousy that is stirred when we judge something to be unjust? Gee, even in our own community Habitat for Humanity has been vilified because people see it unjustly providing help to people who don’t deserve it.

My dear Christian friends, that is the point. We look at what we have as being owed to us. “By gosh, I sweated to get what I have.” Even the spiritual blessings we have we easily think are owed to us. But to this, God as much as says, “Beware of your jealous hypocrisy friend, all that you have is mine.” Hey! We all know that Jesus came to help those who needed a hand up; the lost, the lonely, the guilty, and the spiritually starved. Who are we to begrudge his outlandish generosity? Especially when we consider that it is because of His constructive jealousy that we also live.

Constructive jealousy—jealous for others.

The owner addresses the discontented worker in a conciliatory way: “Friend, I’m not being unfair with you.” Then he proceeds kindly but firmly, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?”

You see, we might say “It’s all in the eyes.” Jesus said, “If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light.” Matt 6:22. When the landowner confronts the man with his jealousy he is pointing at the man’s ungrateful heart, his works righteousness, and his diseased eyes. It’s as though Jesus is asking: “Are your eyes diseased so that you project evil intent on me because I choose to be generous?” Are we looking to Jesus and His interests in our work in the Church, or to our own selfish interests?

Jesus wants us to see that this parable is not so much about work as about how we look at God and each other. It’s about whether we look to God in faith and gratitude for being so generous to us. It’s about how our own sinful heart affects our feelings toward each other. It’s about revealing our own works righteousness to us. And it’s about how God feels so strongly, so jealous, for us as sinners that he would rather give up his own son than to see us destroyed by sin and jealous hypocrisy. The apostle Paul encourages the Corinthian Christians this way: (2 Cor 8:9). “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.”

Jesus goes on to portray the owner of the vineyard as also being jealous for the healing of the eyes of the “early birds.” Jesus is jealous for the healing of our spiritual eyesight. And, as we receive His Word in faith it is in fact God’s work in progress for us.

Jesus is jealous for the complete healing our eyesight (our spiritual insight). Consider this real life story.

On October 25, 1517, just six days before Luther gave his Ninety-five Theses to the world, he delivered a sermon in the chapel of the castle of Duke George the Bearded in Dresden, Germany. He said in part, “Our salvation must ever remain our foremost concern. Man can obtain it only through faith in Christ Jesus, not by his own good works.” The Gospel he spoke was clearly and powerfully comforting to struggling sinners. Later that day over dinner, the duke asked Barbara von Sala, his wife’s friend, “How did you like Brother Martin’s sermon?” “Oh,” she replied, “let me hear just one more like it, and I can die in peace.” This made the duke angry. He blurted out, “I’d give much money not to have heard it. It makes men secure and reckless in sin.”

Do you hear the jealousy in the Duke’s voice? Does the Gospel make people reckless when heard? Not the true Gospel of Jesus Christ. I believe the true Gospel of Jesus Christ changes us from people sick with jealousy and works righteousness to people who gladly work for love, the love God has provided in Christ for all to freely receive. We are receiving that love this very moment in the proclamation of the Word of God. We will receive that love also in the Sacrament He has given us. And through these means God will continue to keep us alive unto eternal life. When God reigns, you see, God’s people are transformed by love to WORK FOR LOVE. It works in the hearer’s heart a fulfillment in being thrilled by God’s generosity, not in competing successfully. Amen.