Sermon for Septuagesima, AD 2022

Jesus Christ has given you good work to do, and all by grace. While you did not deserve to do anything but idle without any meaning, He has brought you into his vineyard to work, to do something that really eternally matters.

The master of the house in the parable has a vineyard which needs workers. He has work to do. So going into the marketplace he finds men early in the morning, agrees on the wage of one denarius, and sends them off. Later he finds more men idling and sends them off, not agreeing to a wage, but to whatever is right. At the very end of the day, he finds more idle men who haven’t been hired by anyone and sends them into the vineyard, not even mentioning pay.

All the workmen are brought in under slightly different circumstances, and at different times, but one thing is the same – they were once idle and now they have work. Now some may look at work as a bad thing, as something to get past. This is a culture of “working for the weekend” – work is just something done so one can eat and have a home and do the things that one really likes to do. This is not the way that scripture speaks about work. Clearly in this parable the master is doing something good by hiring these men out of idleness into work. Proverbs says that “Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep, and an idle person will suffer hunger” (Proverbs 19:15) and “whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, be he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense” (Proverbs 12:11) and “Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys” (Proverbs 18:19). It is clear that idleness is not a positive, it brings no gain or help to a person, and therefore for someone to bring people out of idleness is to do a good thing.

Therefore, at the end of the day, when those who were hired first see they are being paid equally to those who were hired last, the reply of the master makes sense. He has done them no wrong. He has given them a job and pay besides for their work. If he had not come, they would merely be sitting idly in the marketplace, one denarius poorer, but also poorer for the lack of work. The work is harder than standing idly in the market, but it’s also more fulfilling. If you’ve ever had a day where you’ve done nothing at all, maybe a day you even looked forward to, and at the end felt kind of empty, you know what I mean.

Maybe you could say the first-hired are not complaining as much about the work as that they are being treated equally to those who worked much less. Isn’t this the same thing, though? The first-hired either are complaining that they would have been better off being idle all day and working one hour for the same pay, or their full day of work is undervalued for what they could have been doing…which is standing idle in the marketplace. See the first hired don’t value the work, they like idleness and they like the pay, and the less work for the more pay the better for them.

Now here you need to remember that the parables are not one-to-one representations of things which really happen in the world. In the real world, the men would not have to work for the particular vineyard owner, but could still work. Maybe they could find another job that was more fulfilling, maybe another job with better pay. So Jesus isn’t saying here that workers should not have fair wages. The Bible speaks many times as well about not oppressing the hired worker. The point in this parable does not concern different jobs, but work versus idleness. These are the only alternatives we have for the story. When you look at it from a spiritual perspective, seeing the kingdom of heaven, having only those two choices makes much more sense.

Spiritually, there are only two options – to be idle, or to be working in Christ’s vineyard. Spiritual idleness is where you are by nature. Due to the sin you inherit at birth, you cannot do anything spiritually that is lasting or pleases God. This does not mean that you are physically idle. In fact, someone can be spiritually idle and doing many great things before the eyes of men. A spiritually idle person can build bridges and fund hospitals, feed the homeless, donate everything he has to the poor, be seen as the most upstanding citizen there is. Yet outside of Christ there is no spiritual work done.

Without Christ life is spiritual idleness, there is nothing to be gained at all. The secular philosophers came to this conclusion in the last century. If we are all just atoms bouncing around, then what value is there to anything? If every accomplishment on earth will be swallowed by an expanding sun and be pulled into a black hole, how can anything have meaning? Some would answer, “just make your own meaning, define your own life.” This is possible as a way to cope, but it’s still dependent on you. When you die, in 100 years when everyone who knew you is dead, it will make no difference how you defined you life.

Only in Christ is anything you do valuable, because in Christ you have been brought into His life and His works. Only He is the one who has defeated sin on the cross and risen from the dead. This He has done so as the master of the vineyard, he can come down and rescue you out of your spiritual idleness. In your baptism into Him you receive both the denarius of eternal life and the promise of good work in the vineyard now. Everything and everyone in this world only deserves death and destruction, but for the work of Christ. Christ took all that we deserved on Himself, the punishment of the Father, and instead brings life, an eternal life of purpose and meaning. You are not random atoms, but you are a new Adam, the first man who was sent to work and tend the garden of Eden.

Our Lord Jesus Christ has restored all work so all good works are eternally important. You to not gain this by the efforts or importance of your own works, but by His free gift to you. Trusting in him, we are the idling workers in the market who he comes to and says “work for me.” All because he chose to do with His things as He saw fit. Not by any merit of your own, but out of his compassion he brought you into this resurrection life. Now whatever you do to serve God and neighbor is eternally important. When you serve your spouse, kids, parents, co-workers, boss, pastor, political leaders, friends – you are doing work which Christ has set you apart and called you out of idleness to do.

This is why the complaint of the first workers is so terrible. Yes, some are called earlier and have more expected of them. Some only hear Christ’s gospel very late in life. Yet all who are called and trust in Christ did nothing to receive it. For it is all by grace, a free gift. Therefore, in the kingdom, there can be no comparison of one’s gift to another. Some will suffer much for Christ. Some will seem to have it easy. Some seem to have gotten away scot-free by only believing at the last minute. But what is that to you? Christ will do with His things what He will.

You have not been called by Christ out of idleness so that you can be better than others or have it easier than others. If that’s what you want, go back to idleness. If you want a life of meaning and purpose, one that eternally matters, trust in Christ and His work. Do not turn to jealousy, but keep your eyes on Christ. Hear his word and receive His gifts. Exercise self-control that you have been given by the Holy Spirit. Remember that the work and even the difficulty is for good, it has eternal importance and an imperishable prize. Amen.