168 - The Generous Vintner

You pick up your Bible and wonder, is there more here than meets the eye?

Is there anything here for me? I mean, it's just words printed on paper, right? Well, it may look like just print on a page, but it's more than ink. Join us for the next half hour as we explore God's Word together, as we learn how to explore it on our own, as we ask God to meet us there in its pages.

Welcome to More Than Ink. Hey, what happens when a father takes his children out from ice cream and he buys the first one a double scoop, but the rest of them a single? Single scoops? All the rest of them are going to say with one voice, that's not fair. That's not fair. Yeah. Well, Jesus is going to tell a very similar story today.

Yes, and as we look at it, it's going to give us a keen and surprising insight into the kingdom of God. Let's look at it today on More Than Ink. Well, yes, indeed, this is More Than Ink. I'm Jim. And I'm Dorothy.

And we're glad you're with us again. We have turned the calendar into autumn, as they say. It is October. Yeah, so the weather is starting to change. It's kind of nice. Have you noticed that the seasons are just long enough that you get tired of them and say, yeah, I wish I'm looking for a change?

Yes. And then the change comes around. And by that time, we're always ready for the first signs of the next season. I know.

What I notice as a gardener is that the flowers, the color heightens of flowers when the weather cools down. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So every time of the year, it's great. I get tired of the previous one. I'm ready to go. Ready to go. I'm ready to go, yeah.

So anyway, well, yeah, forget the weather. We're in Matthew. And we're reading our way through Matthew. We're up to chapter 20 of Matthew. And Jesus has come down from the north in Galilee. He's on his way up to Jerusalem.

Not there yet. He's close. He's very close. But by the time he does get to Jerusalem, that'll be the beginning of the Passion Week at the end of which he'll be crucified. And then he'll raise from the dead three days later. So we're running the edge of getting into Jerusalem. And he's continuing to teach. And that's what he's doing today as we start into chapter 20.

Where did we come from last time? Because it's kind of important, I think. Well, it's really important because Jesus had talked to a rich young man, if you remember back in chapter 19, who had come to him and said, what must I do to get into the kingdom? Because as Jesus is walking, this tremendous kingdom expectation is building.

He's becoming known as potentially the son of David. And there's a great messianic expectation that he's going to march into Jerusalem and establish the kingdom. But he had talked to this young man and eventually, essentially told him, give away everything you have and come be with me. Come follow me because that's the only thing you lack is that love for the Lord your God. Because they had talked about the law.

So I don't want to review the whole thing. But he has been telling parables about the kingdom. And people have identified him all along and with increasing opportunity as the son of David. So we're going to see that next week actually is when that's going to happen again. So since Jesus and all the people that came down from Galilee, they're coming into Jerusalem for Passover. So I think they're putting two and two together and saying, the momentum's up there. Jesus is going to walk in and start the kingdom.

Here we go. And he had just said to them just at the end of the previous chapter, all things with God, it's impossible or with man is impossible. With God, all things are possible.

It's impossible for the camel to go through the eye of a needle. Harder for a rich man to get into the kingdom than that. And he had just said, and many who are first will be last and the last will be first. So he's setting in their minds that the kingdom is not what they think it is.

It's not like the world at all. It'll be something upside down is what he's saying. And that was what you just read is the last verse of the previous chapter. That's the last verse. So here we are. We turn the page into chapter 20.

And we're starting into this big old parable. And I'll add to that too what you just said. In those last breaths of the previous chapter, also Peter piped up and said, we've left everything behind. Right.

And followed you. And then he says, so what then will we have? And so that's not a bad link into what we're going to look at here. What do we get? What do we get? We've left everything behind. Right, because we've been with you from the beginning. We've left everything and followed you. And so that is an interesting element in this parable. So what a segue that is into chapter 20 verse one. So here we go.

Let's do it. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. And to them, he said, you go into the vineyard too.

And whatever is right, I will give you. So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the 11th hour, he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, why do you stand here idle all day? And they said to him, because no one has hired us.

So he said to them, you go into the vineyard too. And when the evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, call the laborers and pay them their wages beginning with the last up to the first. And when those hired about the 11th hour came, each of them received a denarius. Then when those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius.

And on receiving it, they grumbled at the master of the house saying, well, these last worked only one hour and you've made them equal to us who've borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he replied to one of them, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?

Or do you begrudge my generosity? So the last will be first and the first last. Hey, there's that phrase again. We just read it at the end of the last chapter. So he's saying something very specific about this reversal in the kingdom. So we look at this whole situation. Let's recap it a little bit. So they would always go out into the open square to look for day workers and especially when harvest came because when harvest came, time was a big deal.

We had to get stuff off the plants before they got rained on and stuff like that. So this is a situation that they can all identify. They all get this. Yeah, yeah.

So there's like this urgent need. So he goes out there early in the day, presumably around dawn is what that means. So that's like 6 a.m. sort of. And he hires someone and he tells them explicitly what he's going to pay him. He says, I'm going to pay you a denarius.

Now that's a very fair wage. And they agree. Because yeah, a denarius is a day's wage.

So they're thinking, yep, great, let's go. So they go out to the vineyard and they start working. Then about three hours later, okay, he hires some more. So he needs some more people.

They're standing out on the marketplace. And he says, go in the vineyard and the pay, well, whatever's right. I'll give it to you. But that's interesting. So they go out and then he does it again several times. Then it goes out around noon. Does it again. Does it around three o'clock in the afternoon. Does it again.

Each time, not telling him what he's going to pay him. And then finally, the 11th hour, which is at the last minute. Yeah, that's five o'clock. That's the end of the day. So they might work an hour.

We'll see how that goes. So you have all these people working out there. All these people doing the work for this guy. And he's going to pay them. And so when his paymaster gets ready to pay in verse eight, he says, you know, so call the laborers, pay them their wages beginning with the last to the first. Now that order is very important because paying the last guys first is going to make everyone who's been working longer expect something different.

That's right. It's going to expose their expectations. If we'd done it the other way from the first guy to the last, they wouldn't have seen that. So this is paying them from the last to the first. Well they probably wouldn't have hung around. They would have taken their pay and gone.

That's exactly right. They're hanging around because, and now we're kind of off the page here, but this is, this is what people would do, right? If the last guys are getting paid, what you had agreed to work for, then you are, your expectations are fully exposed. So the guys that were hired at five o'clock who probably worked, I don't know, maybe an hour.

It says, it says he give them a denarius. Well that's a day's wage for an hour's work. And so as he works his way backward, of course their expectation is, wow, we're going to really make out like bandits here. Okay, so their noses are out of joint because they expected to get paid more, right? Which we would say is fair, right? They should be paid more. However, he didn't, he didn't tell them their hourly wage. He first guy just says, you know, this is what I'm going to give you.

Do what I tell you and here's what you'll get. That's right. But everything inside of us, if we're like the listeners to this, everything inside of us is saying, wait, wait, wait, that's not fair. That's not fair. That's just not fair. And that's not a bad grumble. And that's exactly what we're going to address here because in the kingdom of God, fairness is not the issue.

Okay. And did you notice the prominence in this parable of the laborers and their wage, the laborers and their work. A wage is what you get for work you have done. So, you know, perhaps he, because he had spoken to the rich young ruler in the previous chapter about, you know, it's not about what you do. It's about your relationship with me.

This is amplifying on that riff a little bit. And deliberately ruffling our feathers because it's just seems, it's just not, it's just not fair. It's just not fair. Well, and it's very interesting to me that we can really identify with those guys who expect more because their assumption is what they get paid is based on their work. But Jesus is telling this parable to tell us something about the kingdom, right? He's already made it pretty clear that in the kingdom, no matter what you do, what you receive is based on his goodness and his grace, not how hard you work or how long you were there. But that's really what I think is in view here that it doesn't matter when you came in because it's not dependent on you at all. It's not dependent on how much work you do or how long you've been doing it.

It's dependent on your relationship and your trust in the master. Yeah. Yeah. And also you notice the pay is all the same. The benefit is all the same. So you could go as far as to say everyone who benefits to enter the kingdom of heaven gets exactly the same benefit. No more, no less.

Exactly the same. Well, God is a fair pay master, right? If you work, you will get what the wage is for that work. But getting into the kingdom is not dependent on your work. No, it's not. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house.

Here we go. So we're talking about the kingdom of heaven, getting into the kingdom. And so it really has no pay scale to it in terms of how much do I have to work? Will I get more?

Will I get less? So you could say this, this story is about the master. Yeah. More, almost more than it is about the ones he brings in to the kingdom. Yeah.

And especially, you know, when we get to verse 13 after they've complained while we've mourned the burden of the day, we've done the scorching heat, he replies to one of them, friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Right. Right. Okay. I want to camp on that word for a minute, because it's a very interesting word.

Did you look into that? No, I did. Okay, so verse 13. This is verse 13. Friend, I'm doing you no wrong.

So I and I knew this before, but I tracked it down a little bit more. This is not the most common word for friend. Most common word in the New Testament for friend is philosophy, friendly, somebody who wishes you well, who's your dear friend and companion, right? This is the word hetairos. It also means a friend, a companion, a compatriot, so someone with whom you share something, but it only shows up three times in the New Testament. Now you can track this down. If you have a Strong's Concordance, you can look this up, look in the back for the actual Greek word and then track that down and it'll show you where else it's used.

So here's a little shortcut for you. It shows up here with the master talking to those who are complaining that they're not getting paid enough. It shows up in a few chapters in Matthew 22 when Jesus tells the parable of the wedding feast and he addresses the wedding crashers with this word.

Friend, how did you come in here without clothes, without the right clothes? And then in Matthew 26, he uses it to address Judas in the garden. When Judas comes and says, Hello, friend, I identify you by a kiss and Jesus says, friend, do what you came to do. So I'm offering you to consider that those only three times that that shows up here, this is not a friend who necessarily wishes you well or is concerned about you.

Yeah, there's a little contention in each of those three. This is a friend who's more interested in his own interests and what he can get from you than he is a real heart companion. And that's kind of subtle and you wouldn't find it unless you kind of drilled down into that original Greek word. But the fact that it only shows up those three times here with the wedding crashers in chapter 22 and with Judas in chapter 26. Matthew is telling us something about this term, friend.

Yeah, this isn't the buddy-buddy barrel hug kind of friend. This is somebody who's out for their own good. And actually, Jesus includes that in the parable a little later on when he puts these words in the master's mouth, do you begrudge my generosity? You don't understand me at all. It's literally, is your eye bad because I'm good? This looks bad to you because I'm being generous.

Yeah, yeah. Well, so you said this in passing, but we need to put this stake in the ground because Jesus even said this, he's not doing anything unjust here. He told the guy I'd give you a denarius for a day and he did. And he told the other guys I'll pay what's right. And so paying more than a denarius is what it feels like for this guy, is something that he just chooses to do. He chooses to go above and beyond. There's nothing unjust in this.

So what we're really haggling about and what he's got his feathers ruffled about is the fact that the master decided to pay a very generous wage. And so does he really have a case to stand on to say, I'm sorry, you can't be more generous? Well, of course not.

That's just goofy. And that's what Jesus is saying. He says, if I choose to give the last workers I gave to you, am I not allowed to choose what belongs to me to give generously?

I mean, doesn't that, so you're challenging my generosity? So here's what they didn't understand about the kingdom, right? That if this looks bad to you, you don't understand the heart of the king, right? And if you expect a wage for your work, God pays in full what he told you he would pay you, right? But the economy of the kingdom depends on the goodness of God, not on how hard or how long you work. That's the point of the story.

Yeah. Everything that they receive is based on the master's generosity, who he is and not what they've done. And in a big picture when we talk about grace, that's what grace turns the tables on our understanding of what we get from God, because grace has nothing to do with what we deserve.

It has nothing to do with what we earn or what we struggle to earn. It has everything to do just with the generosity and the loving kindness of God himself. And so when we talk about grace, that is what the kingdom of God, that's what turns the kingdom on its head from our understanding.

That's what ruffles our feathers so much. Because you can say, I get to come into heaven and I'm a relatively, yeah, I'm a good guy. I do nice things for people from time to time. So that makes sense that I would be into heaven. But what about this murderer that I just read about in the news? And he's going to get to heaven because he makes the same statement of faith and repentance with God.

He gets into, I mean, that doesn't sound fair. And when you say that, you got to be careful because it's not fair, no, it's grace. It's all grace. Nobody gets into heaven.

Nobody is saved by the goodness of their works. That is a repeated refrain in the book of Romans and through other parts of the New Testament. But some part of it still feels like that we're more worthy than other people. And that's what this is. That's here in the story, isn't it?

Because the reason that their noses were bent out of shape is because they were looking at each other and not at the master. Right, right. Boy, is that ring true.

That's when we get fed out of shape, isn't it? We're comparing ourselves with each other. Paul says in Second Corinthians, and I didn't look this up.

I think it's in, I forget what chapter. He says, you know, when you compare yourself with yourselves, you are without understanding. Yep, yep. And it's this first, last, last, first. That's a very comparative kind of thing. You know, the first now are the people who are accomplished and have more. And in a comparative way, we look at each other and say, well, that person's ahead of me, probably getting into the kingdom.

I'm way behind. And what Jesus is saying here is that, you know, all of those comparative measures between you and all the other people who are getting in the kingdom, those don't mean anything anymore. Those don't mean anything. If you feel less qualified, that's irrelevant. If they look like they're more qualified, that's irrelevant. Those things are irrelevant. They are all getting the same thing, which is entry into the kingdom and has nothing to do with what they've accomplished now. The first, you know, the accomplished ones.

It has everything to do with how they respond to the master. Yeah, everything. It doesn't matter when. Yeah. Right. If you lock eyes with the master and he says, you come. Right.

You come no matter what hour. And you know, and we get much later in the story of the crucifixion. And I forget if it's Matthew that tells that story that Jesus was crucified with a man on his right and on his left.

And one of those men came to faith in his kingdom, in the king, with his dying breath. Yep. Yep. And Jesus says, today, you're going to be with me in paradise.

And that's the actual outworking of this parable. Yeah. He's literally one of the 11th hour guys. Right. He could not do anything. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was dying. He'd been crucified.

And if you told people, you know, because of what just transacted on the cross between he and Jesus, he's getting in the kingdom and the very righteous first people like the Pharisees would say, I don't think so. That's not right. That's not right. Well, they don't understand the kingdom.

They don't understand the kingdom. So, you know, it's no mistake then that it's as Matthew's telling this story, he kind of circles back to what Jesus has said before now when he, are we ready to go on to verse 17? Yes.

Yeah. Because he says, and as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, remember, he's, Matthew's very deliberate telling us that Jesus is bent on moving toward Jerusalem. He took the 12 disciples aside and on the way he said to them, see, we are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified and he will be raised on the third day.

Wow. This is not the first time he had told them that. This is the third time in Matthew's Gospel. And most recently back in chapter 16, right, he had said it right as Peter was identifying him and then said, oh Lord, that's never going to happen to you, right? So back in chapter 16 and 21, right after that, Jesus says, from that time Jesus Christ began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and raised up on the third day. There it is.

But here he gives much more detail. Yeah, yeah. The Gentiles, yeah. Well, here he says, I'm going to be delivered over to be mocked and flogged and crucified, right? I want you, he's rubbing their noses in it.

This is going to be ugly. What a very accurate account. It's very accurate. It's like they just did not even hear him.

Well, and you would think third time would be a charm, wouldn't you? But when you flip over to Luke's parallel account in Luke 18, he says, it's almost verbatim what you read right here, except at the very end of it, he says, but they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them and they did not grasp what was said. So Jesus continues to say this, knowing that maybe later on they'll recall in their mind, you know, we were warned about this. The other thing that Luke adds, which I think is really, really great is Jesus says, we're going up to Jerusalem and everything that is written about the son of man by the prophets will be accomplished. Matthew doesn't mention that, but, but what he does say in Luke is that, you know, what's going to happen next is in the prophets. You can read about it. And it dawned on me that this was exactly the same thing that the risen Jesus had the discussion with the guys going back to Emmaus.

They reviewed these things. So, so Jesus is just making this up. He's saying this is in the plans and hundreds of years ago, this was spoken and written down by the prophets and everything, he says in Luke 18, everything that's written about the son of man by the prophets will be accomplished. And so here is the purpose of God actually unfolding in front of their eyes.

So that we're hoping that when they actually get to the crucifixion, instead of them thinking, boy, what a train wreck, what an accident this was, it's not an accident. It was actually predicted hundreds of years before by the prophets. It's true. And actually, you know, that, that peg didn't drop in the hole for Peter until after the Holy Spirit came really. That's right. And when he I'm looking for it now, when he makes one of his famous sermons and acts when he says, you know, everything that happened to Jesus, oh, here it is, it's an act for Acts 427.

Truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you did anoint both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the peoples to do whatever your hand and your purpose predestined to occur. Right. So no, they recognize that, you know, they didn't see it. But after the Spirit came, and Jesus said, the Spirit's going to give you remembrance of everything I've said. Yep, yep.

And it'll come back to mind. So here Jesus has given them one last preview of what's going to go on. Now it said in Mark's Gospel, it says, even as they're walking other way toward Jerusalem, they're amazed Jesus is leading the pack, it looks like he's eager to get in Jerusalem, but they're also really afraid. So the storm clouds are coming, they've seen the interactions with the Pharisees, they see the conflicts that are coming. But I don't think they even have the slightest clue how big these conflicts are going to end up rising to. Or what kind of conflicts they're going to be.

Yeah. So here, they're not, I'm wondering if as they're listening to Jesus, are they thinking this is all just kind of symbolic or not literal? Because as we read this passage right here, we realize this is literal. This is like, this is history being written a week before it happens. And so were they just thinking, I don't know, is this symbolic in some kind of way?

I don't know, I don't know. But it will come back to mind and they will realize that Jesus had warned them about this. But they do know, they have this sense, this intuition that they're walking into danger because they were afraid as they're going this last 20 miles from Jericho up to Jerusalem, something's up. However, in the same voice, they're expecting something great happening because here we are coming into Jerusalem. Everyone's coming into Jerusalem for the Passover. I mean, this is a big deal.

A big deal is going to happen. But they're kind of on edge and Jesus says, well, it's going to be bad. And Luke says, you know, they didn't grasp what was said. They just didn't grasp it.

Yeah, took them by surprise, even still. Well, and they still, as we're going to see in the next chapter, they still didn't grasp the upside downness of the kingdom because they're still vying with each other for a position. They're bent out of shape when somebody stakes a claim to a position that's not theirs. We're going to see that next week. They're still comparing themselves with one another. And so Jesus is going to continue to lean into this.

The first will be last and the last will be first. So they know the kingdom is coming. You want to be great?

You got to be a servant. They know the kingdom is coming. They're all angling for position. And that's where we go next week. In fact, as we come back here in the middle of chapter 20 of Matthew, that's exactly what's going to be going on.

They know the king is going to be on the throne and they wonder, you know, who will sit on his right and his left. And so with a little help from Mama Zebedee, she will engage on behalf of her two sons and that's just going to wrinkle the nose of all the apostles. So join us as we come back. We're going to pick it up at verse 20 and we're going to see exactly what's on their mind, even though Jesus says you won't believe the conflict that's coming that he just told them about. So anyway, so I'm Jim.

And I'm Dorothy. And we're so glad you're with us. Yeah, again, read ahead because these are the interactions that happen as Jesus is marching his way to the Passion Week. So come back and join us next time on More Than Ink. There are many more episodes of this broadcast to be found at our website, morethanink.org. And while you are there, take a moment to drop us a note. Remember, the Bible is God's love letter to you. Pick it up and read it for yourself and you will discover that the words printed there are indeed more than ink. Here we go. Okay, here we go. This has been a production of Main Street Church of rhythm city.