September 18, 2005 at St. Mark Church in Norman, OK

Isaiah 55:6-9 + Philippians 1:20-24 + Matthew 20: 1-16

There are a lot of things going on in this parable that is only found in Matthew’s Gospel; many more than a few moments this weekend would allow. I had the luxury of spending a week with it before standing here.

There are a couple of interesting elements I would propose for you.

Perhaps during this week, you might sit with them and listen to the Word.

I found it significant that God is calling people again and again from the marketplace to the vineyard. Think about that for awhile.

Calling people to work in the vineyard is a constant in the life of Jesus.

Calling them out of the marketplace and into the labor of the vineyard is such a wonderful thought as our faith continues to challenge the materialism of the marketplace with the duty of work in the vineyard.

What are we doing in the mall time after time when we could be here or at helping at Birth Choice or at the Food Pantry, or helping our neighbor or those waiting for our precious time in nursing homes?

No matter when you get to the vineyard, late or early, there will be a reward.

Then I sat for a day realizing that the kingdom of God isn’t really about things; it’s about people. And it isn’t about who gets the most and who gets the least; it’s about how you treat the people you live and work with; it’s about how you receive the stranger in your midst; it’s about how you accept amazing grace and what you do with all that you have been given.

One of the days while driving up the freeway to a meeting in Oklahoma City, I began to remember how often this same story is told in the New Testament. realizing that the repetition must mean it’s important.

There’s the story of Jonah who sat and pouted on a hill outside Nineveh when the people repented and God forgave them rather than destroy them.

Then there is that elder brother who resented his doting and foolish father for celebrating the return of the reckless, wasteful wild brother,

along with the story of that Pharisee who boated gratefully to God that he was not like the “rest of men” or the sinful publican

along with all the others who feel as though God owes them something for their right behavior. What kind of thinking is that?

The next day there was that big fuss raised over how people were using those FEMA credit cards and what they were buying! I read this Gospel again in the light of how others felt; those who workday in and day out for just barely enough to get by, contributing to a system that works this way. I went to bed pondering how radical grace is, and how offensive it is to those who slip into thinking there’s not enough to go around.

From there, I got up the next morning and read it again and sat thinking for a bit about the truth. We are all 11^th hour workers whose debts have been paid and whose freedom and forgiveness have been secured through the saving sacrifice of a loving Brother and Lord. I spent the day deeply grateful that God is generous to us and I forgot about grumbling against the grace shown to others.

Perhaps that’s where we ought to be this weekend. What will determine this parable’s potential to offend or to comfort will depend upon which of the laborers we choose to identify with. Many of us may feel disgruntled as the parable is read, perturbed that the daylong laborers, like us, there for the long haul, present in the pew week after week, generously supporting this church, always ready to do more get the same as those who come late to faith, late to church, late in fulfilling their duty, and always late in sharing the burden.

Perhaps we ought to simply count ourselves fortunate to be among God’s forgiven and grateful for the mercies of God that go beyond justice giving us cause for Joy.

This parable is not about justice but about generosity;

not about money but salvation;

not about comparison with others

but individual relationship with God.

A key to the parable’s secret is the owner’s question:

“Am I not allowed to do what I choose with my own money?”

If the workers had known Catholic Social Justice Teaching,

they would have replied:
“No matter how hard you worked for your money,

it is not only a personal benefit but a community trust, so it must be spent responsibly.

No one ever gains anything without the help of others.

The world’s bounty belongs to everyone.

A challenge to envy, this parable speaks to a human trait we see to often in ourselves.

We never complain about benefits to ourselves or even to others

as long as we end up getting the most.

In caution, this parable warns of envy in all its forms,

because envy is a denial of God’s generosity.

We can never see that generosity with a jealous eye.

Perhaps what God really did in this story was give to each one

exactly what they needed, not what they deserved.

It’s the best definition of Mercy, and the best way to recognize the hand of a forgiving God.

September 4, 2005 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Ezekiel 33:7-9 + Romans 13: 8-10 + Matthew 18:15-20

What is set forth in this Gospel is not merely a matter of charity, but an absolute ethic by which the community is bound to conduct itself. Before Moses, the law of retribution was wild and uncontrolled. I would call it the “law of rage”. If someone shot your dog, then you burned down their house and barn with all the livestock in it. We still find this system working these days in conduct called “road-rage”. Some folks have not gotten much past that age of human history. Then, Moses. In an effort to calm the desert passions of nomadic tribal peoples, he promulgated a code we called: “an eye for an eye, a tooth for tooth”. It was a brilliant move to limit the extent of damages and control rage. The violence of terrorists, and our response to them gives evidence that we have not even taken that code of conduct seriously. Then, Jesus of Nazareth, who completely abandoned an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth and turned the relationship around. The Jesus of Matthew’s Gospel consistently cast in the image of a new Moses promulgates a new way by turning the relationship around. He introduced a different standard: as you relate yourselves to others, so God relates to you. Forgiveness is to forgive.

Therefore it follows that those who are forgiven by God are to forgive one another.

The church that gave rise to this Gospel, the church which focused on the issues raised chapter after chapter in Matthew’s Gospel is painfully revealed here.

It was not all sweet charity and kindness. It was a community facing conflict, change, disgrace, unfaithfulness, and the burden of free-riders. There was friction outside with the Roman and Jewish authorities. There was friction inside as the growing church sought it’s identity as belonging to Jesus distinct from but rooted in Judaism.

They fought it out. They argued. It is likely that they shouted and pointed, accused and excused. In an effort to aid and lead the church’s self awareness and realization,

Matthew puts forth an ethic and a vision to motivate behavior based not solely on the Law, but upon the person and the message of Jesus Christ.

Jesus was a seeker. The verses of today’s Gospel ought to be heard with the echo of the verses just before – in which he speaks of seeking and finding what is lost.

That seeking and passionate desire to be one, to be whole, to be united drives the human spirit touched by the Holy Spirit. We must be seekers if we will be part of Jesus Christ. The opposite of a seeker is a settler, and churches are full of them everywhere.

We have our share here at Saint Mark. They are pew warmers who settle in, who come to church with no passionate reason of their own. Sometimes because they inherited a certain church from their ancestors. Sometimes because it is the socially acceptable place to be seen. Sometimes people belong because they are afraid, and they settle down in church because they fear the great punishment, or because they long for the great reward.

But for people created in God’s image, it would seem more appropriate to be in church because they are in love. That kind of real love is only sustained and maintained by forgiveness.

I wonder if you’ve ever thought about the furniture in this place, about where you see this kind of seating. First of all, except for a few trendy restaurants, the only other place you see this seating arrangement and furniture is in a court room. Yet again, and even more powerfully, this kind of seating in long rows is found in airports and office waiting rooms. On this September weekend, our broken church glues itself back together again. It is imperfect because we are so. It has sometimes failed us, and each of us have failed the church. Yet in the midst of this mutual failure, we claim this church as our own, our home, our mother. We do not run away when we see through the cracks and find littleness and greatness, poverty and wealth. We ought to feel more fed and failed. But not everyone can say this, and so we are called to great sensitivity. We are still full of controversy and troubles without and within,

but an end of controversy will not mean success. As long as love prevails, there is nothing to fear in controversy. We must accept both the burden and the grace of being Church. By our assembly week after week, we begin again and again with a rite of forgiveness because that is what we are about. More and more those who venture in here should be called in love to join the seeking and the waiting. The simple truth of the matter is that we can do nothing on our own to get to heaven, but if we wait long enough, God will come and lift us up. And so, we wait, and we seek, and we watch for the day when living forgiveness leads us to find it.