Proper 20: Gospel, Matthew 20:1-16                         

Matthew 20:1-16

In this week’s gospel reading we run into a theme that is treated all the way through the Bible from this angle and then that one, from one and then another. Here’s the theme: God is the master and we are along on HIS ride. Not the other way around. God does the creating. God does the re-creating. God chooses. God makes the dead to live. This whole thing that we call life is God’s deal. He is first in everything. We are anything but.

The master in this parable is the HR director and he does all the hiring and sets all the pay parameters. Notice in verse 1 we are dealing with a Kingdom and a Master right out of the gate. And the laborers are hired, sent and paid all at the whim of the master. Now that doesn’t mean the master is uncaring or cold. Far from it. If he didn’t care, he wouldn’t make a move toward those standing idly by. This is so very evidently a picture of our salvation in Christ that to read the parable should be nearly enough. But perhaps a few comments as reminders.

The master promises the first hires a denarius. The next hires are promised “whatever is right.” Why? Because what God chooses to do with those he selects is always right. Huge lesson. HUGE! The very last subjects of the master’s choosing are queried as to why they’re not working. “Because no one has hired us,” comes the answer. You see, the workers of the Kingdom don’t naturally belong to the Kingdom. The master makes the invitation. 

Now notice that at day’s end, the laborer’s don’t choose quitting time. No, they are called in by the foreman. Are you getting the picture? From first to last, from “election” to payday, the master holds the reins. Now most of us know how the parable deals with the whining and complaints of those who think they’ve been treated unfairly. And the final point isn’t that God is fair (although he is). No, the lesson is this: the master is the master. And we’re involved only because we have been chosen to be about the master’s business. This parable of Jesus ought to cause us to stop right where we’re reading or listening and close our mouths except to praise and thank him. You and I are laborers of our gracious Master because he said so. God be praised.