First Lutheran Church
September 24, 2023 + The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
Jonah 3:10 – 4:1-2 + When God saw what [the people of Ninevah] did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it …. But this was very displeasing to Jonah, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment.
Matthew 20:1-16 + [Jesus said to the disciples:] “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Sermon
“That’s Not Fair”
Pastor Greg Ronning
“That’s not fair!” They are not the first words we learn to say as a child, but they could be the first words we learn - to use. And continue to use the rest of our life! I’m not sure when I first used those words, but I imagine I was but a few years old, because that’s when we usually experience the truth that life is not fair.And that’s the problem, life is not fair, however there’s a bigger problem we need to address, - God is not fair!
Ask Jonah about it!
God had decided to punish the people of Ninevah for all their evil ways. So, God calledthe prophet Jonah, “Go at once to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it, for their wickedness has come up before me.” However, as we know, Jonah does not obey God, instead he chooses to flee in the other direction towards Tarshish. Soon after, a great storm and three days inside the belly of a great fish, persuade Jonah to change his mind and direction. Reluctantly Jonah travels to Ninevah to deliver this message from God, “Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”
And then something happens that really makes Jonah mad, all the people of Nineveh suddenly believe in God - and repent. And this “displeases” Jonah and makes him very “angry,”so he cries out to God, "O Lord! is not this what I said while I was still in my own country? That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing."
You see, Jonah knew the nature of God, Jonah knew deep down that God was love and that God would forgive them,- and he couldn't bear it. He didn't want the Ninevites to repent, he wanted them to be wiped out- because that's what they deserved!Ninevah was the capital of Assyria, the oppressive war Lords of the Near East. It was an infamous place, known for its sin, violence, lust, and blasphemy. It was a Gentile city, not a part of God's chosen people. Yet despite all their past sins, God graciously and lovingly accepts their repentance, and it’s all over, their sin is forgotten. They call upon the name of God and are saved. And Jonah just doesn't think that's fair. In fact, at this point he’d rather die than live, he cries to God, “O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
And Jonah is not the only person who thinks that God is not fair!
The people working in the vineyard in today's gospel parable don't think that things are being done fairly. The people who worked all day long end up getting the same wages as the people who worked for only one hour. What’s that all about? The owner says it’s not about being fair but simple sharing the daily wage with everyone, giving all what they need to live and feed their families. The owner exclaims, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” OK, yes, we get it, but it’s still not fair!
So it is, with God. God hands out mercy, forgiveness, and salvation without the distinction that we want, without the conditions that seem appropriate to us. I'm gonnahave to share it equally with my brother, and I was the one who went to seminary and became a pastor. Even Mother Theresa is going to have to share it with someone who doesn't deserve it. And you're gonnahave to share it with all those people who chose to sleep in today and “not” go to church. It just isn't fair! We should at least have first dibs on the front row seats in heaven. (Or the back rows, - they seem to be more popular) But no, “the last will be first and the first will be last.”
So it is that the “good news” of the Gospel, does not always sound like “good news” to us!So it is that this “good news” can challenge us and our principals of fairness. Perhaps the Eighteenth-Century Irish writer and the satirist Jonathan Swift, got I right when he wrote, “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another."
We seem to be hopelessly caught up in the established moral code of this world, “law and order,” fairness, a code of “works righteousness.”And we want to insert that code into our religion, our faith. A code which is reasonable and has clear priorities. First offenders deserve more mercy than chronic offenders. Three strikes and you’re out. We reach out and rehabilitate those with the greatest chance of being rehabilitated. Mercy is related to effort, time, and money. And most importantly, let the punishment fit the crime, “a tooth for a tooth,” “an eye for and eye.” You made your bed now you must lie in it! These moral codes allow us to create distinctions between peoples, distinctions that help us make “fair” decisions. Good people are singled out and rewarded and bad people are singled out and punished. Truth be told we like the notion of “Divine Karma.”
But it’s not that way with God. A repentant heart can be completely forgiven - even after four strikes, - even after “seventy times seven”strikes. The invitation to forgiveness is never taken away, no matter what sin has been committed. Even a lifetime of sin cannot separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
And I must admit it, sometimes I feel like Jonah, “That’s just not fair! Some people don't deserve it, and it makes me mad. Yet God calls me to step beyond my self-centered-ness, my fragile ego, my fear, my scarcity, and my tendency to judge others. God calls me to step beyond all that fallen-ness and “live in” and “witness to” the unconditional love of God in Christ Jesus.Our mission as people of faith, as people of God's emerging kingdom, has nothing to do with the world's moral code, with “law and order,” but rather with grace, amazing grace, even a radical grace, - God's shocking generosity and unconditional love. That is the guiding principle of God's kingdom, the very power of God's kingdom. And that is the kingdom to which we ultimately belong, and that is the kingdom we miss out on when we get caught up in “law and order.”
So it is, that the good news of Christ - challenges us. In a world of “law and order” and “self-imposed boundaries” we are called to be “grace-filled” and “grace-full” and to reach out beyond lines we have drawn. We are called not to look out at the people of the world and judge them and categorize them; but rather we are called to proclaim the good news to them, to care for them, to love them. We are called to be "in Christ" with them. We are to invite them into the family of God. And they are to be full members, - not stepchildren. Even if they are Ninevites!God is full of love, enough love for all of us. And in God's love there is a place for each of us.
It’s ironic that in today’s first lesson, Jonah uses the words of Psalm 145 to criticize God, he complains, “I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing." Jonah seems to think these qualities somehow make God weak. It’s ironic for us because those are the same promises we “remember” and “cling to” as we assemble on Ash Wednesday, as we humbly and honestly confess our sin, gathering around the appointed reading from that day from the Book of Joel, who also quotes Psalm 145, “Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.”God is not made strong in judgment, but in mercy and love. On Ash Wednesday I am thankful that God is notabsolutely fair, but rather that God is decidedly love, radically love, unconditionally love. For on that day, I dare not trust in fairness, but only in the love of God as revealed in Christ Jesus.
The Talmud, the collection of ancient Rabbinic writings which constitute the basis of religious authority in Orthodox Judaism, says of Psalm 145, "Those who pray [David’s Hymn of Praise] three times a day can be certain that they are a child of the future."
Let us not fight God's mercy, let us not run from it as Jonah, or complain about it with the vineyard workers, rather let us just “be” in it, sing it out three times a day, rest in its peace and in its love, and fully abide in the future kingdom that comes to us today - in, with, and through - Christ our Lord.
This is good news - God loves us, God loves us all,God loves the “Ninevites,” and in God's love there is a place for each and every one of us!Amen.