Septuagesima Sunday – Pr. Faugstad sermon
Text: St. Matthew 20:1-16

In Christ Jesus, who made Himself last, suffering the punishment for all our sins, so we would be justified before God, receiving the great riches of His grace, dear fellow redeemed:

In a prosperous country like ours which does not require that everyone has the same amount of money or possessions, it is natural for us to compare what we have with what others have. We might drive through town and admire some large and beautiful homes, or we might think of the high-paying jobs some of our neighbors have, and we might wonder: “Why don’t I have more than I do?” Or, “Why have they received so much?”

These questions have crossed each of our minds. We might feel like we have worked hard, been honest and reliable; we’ve put in our time. Then we look at others who have not worked as hard, who have been willing to compromise morally and ethically, who in our estimation have not deserved the promotions or raises they have gotten. And we wonder why this has happened to us. Should we have looked out for ourselves more and sacrificed less? Or did we just pick the wrong job and put in our time at the wrong place?

It is thoughts like these that lurk in the background of today’s Holy Gospel. A landowner hires laborers for his vineyard throughout the day. The ones hired early in the morning agreed to work for a denarius. They were not being manipulated or cheated. It was a fair wage for the work they were asked to do. The workers hired at various points after that were not told what they would receive. They were promised by the owner, “whatever is right I will give you.” And they went to work, happy to be employed.

The problem came at the end of the day when it was time for the workers to receive their wages. The ones hired last who only worked one hour were sent through the line first, and they received a denarius. They couldn’t believe it! What a gift! When the ones hired first came through the line, they received the same pay—one denarius. They couldn’t believe it! How unfair! They immediately grumbled against the landowner: “Those workers don’t deserve what you gave them! We deserve to have more!”

The sins behind these statements are jealousy and a judgmental attitude. Jealousy or envy are when you see what someone else has, and you want it for yourself. It could be someone else’s property. It could be someone else’s possessions. It could be someone else’s popularity. It could be someone else’s spouse or family. There is nothing wrong with admiration; we can be impressed by what others have. But jealousy is the step forward into sin. It is what the Ninth and Tenth Commandments are about: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house.” And, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, workers, animals, or anything that is his.”

This sinful desire happens when we are discontent with what we have. That discontentment makes just about everything else around us look better. So if you are discontent about your job, just about every other job looks better. If you are discontent with your spouse or your family, just about every other spouse and family looks better. Giving way to these jealous thoughts opens the door to more sin. Sinful thoughts turn into sinful actions.

Closely related to jealousy is a judgmental attitude. When we sinfully desire what others have, we also think of reasons why they don’t deserve to have it. We say, “They haven’t worked as hard as I have.” Or, “He is so stupid and doesn’t have any real talent. What does the boss see in him?” Or, “She only got this job because of who she knows.” Or, “They don’t appreciate what they have like I would.” The more we can lower or cut down the people that we see as our opponents or enemies, the more we raise ourselves up.

The men who worked all day made this sort of judgment: “These last worked only one hour—hardly at all!—, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. They don’t deserve what they received; we deserve way more!” The landowner replied with these points: 1) He gave the workers exactly what they agreed to work for, and 2) he has the right to pay the other workers the wages he chose to give. Then he called out the sin of the grumblers with the question: “Or do you begrudge my generosity?”—literally, “Is your eye evil (or envious) because I am good?”

The same question is set before us: Do we begrudge the Lord’s generosity to our neighbors? Do we think we haven’t gotten our “fair shake”? But how do we come to these conclusions? Who’s to say what we really do deserve? Who’s to say that we should receive something more or something different than what God has given us? In his First Letter to Timothy, St. Paul wrote, “But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (6:6-8).

Contentment is elusive. It always seems just out of reach. Others seem to have it, but not us. Except that contentment can’t be found in earthly things, in earthly success, or in earthly happiness. This is one of the devil’s tricks. The all-day workers in the vineyard wouldn’t have been any better off if they received twice as much money as the one-hour workers. The point of the parable is that contentment is not found in what we do—the energy we expend, the hours we put in, the amount we earn. Contentment is found in what God has done for us.

What we have done is so small, so insignificant, in the grand scheme of God’s kingdom. We think of ourselves as the ones who have worked so hard, “who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But we should think of ourselves as those who often stood idle in the marketplace, who did not do the work we were called to do until the opportunity had almost passed us by.

By viewing our work in this way, we can only conclude that the wages we have received from God are not so much earned wages as they are gift. The laborers who worked one hour knew they did not deserve a full day’s wage. The knew this was a gift of the landowner’s generosity and grace. Far from his being indebted to them (like the other workers were trying to argue), they knew they were indebted to him.

This is how it is with our salvation. To earn our own salvation, we would have to be perfect children of God, perfect workers in His vineyard, perfect neighbors to those around us. This is what His Law requires. Since we have not met this standard, we have failed, and God owes us nothing. Romans 3:23 states the matter plainly: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

The very next verse tells us that since we cannot save ourselves from these sins, God does the saving. It says that just as “all have sinned,” so all “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” We have often been jealous and judgmental toward others. This verse tells us that we are “justified” by God. To be justified means that God declares us righteous, “not guilty,” because Jesus kept the Law of God for us and suffered the punishment for all of our sin.

The justification of God requires nothing of you and gives everything to you. Romans 4:5 says, “And to the one who does not work—who does not trust in his own works for salvation—but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Whom does God justify, pronounce righteous? The inspired Word of God tells us that He “justifies the ungodly.” He justifies the ungodly, so that they become godly. He justifies the unrighteous, so that they are declared righteous.

What you could not do for yourself, Jesus has done for you. You could not keep God’s holy Law, so Jesus kept His Law for you. You could not pay for your sins, so Jesus paid the debt for you. You could not earn your way to heaven, so Jesus earned heaven for you. It is He who bore “the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” He took the burden of God’s wrath for your sins and endured the scorching heat of hell, so that you would be saved.

You Are Justified by God’s Grace as a Gift. Not only has He declared you right with Him because of what Jesus has done, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, He has given you the faith to believe this. Ephesians 2:8-9 says: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

When you keep your eyes on Jesus, you see that you have everything you need. You might not have great riches or renown in this life. You might feel like many wonderful things have passed you by. But you have Jesus. You have the priceless Treasure that makes every worldly thing look so small and insignificant. You have the joy of knowing that He chose you to work in His vineyard. He chose you to receive His gracious gifts. He chose you who should be last to be first.

So we set aside our grumbling, we repent of our discontentment, and we receive His gifts with thankful hearts, faithful diligence, and a joyful hope in what He promises. The great hymnwriter put it so well:

The world may hold
Her wealth and gold;
But thou, my heart, keep Christ as thy true Treasure.
To Him hold fast
Until at last
A crown be thine and honor in full measure. (Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #161, v. 6)

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost; as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, forevermore. Amen.

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(picture from 11th century Byzantine manuscript of laborers working in the vineyard [lower portion] and receiving their denarius [upper portion])