Preached at Holy Cross, Seend
Philippians 1.21-30; Matthew 20.1-16
“…live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ…”
Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow.
It’s never too late to turn to God. That’s the simple reading of the story that Jesus tells His followers in this morning’s Gospel, about the labourers who start work late in the afternoon getting the same wage as those who’ve toiled from the morning. That’s certainly not an incorrect reading of it. But there’s a lot more to it than that.
The really big question it raises is whether God is fair. You’re going to tell me that of course He is – what sort of vicar would say otherwise? – and I’m going to tell you that God is something far more than merely “fair”. In a fair system we get what we deserve. However, we don’t always want to get what we deserve. We know that sometimes we let ourselves down. Perfect justice is something few of us would want to confront.
God goes beyond fairness, to generosity and abundance and forgiveness, something symbolised by paying everyone a fair day’s wage even when some have done less than a day’s work. You know some people would take advantage of you if you tried to run a company like that. You can see why the labourers who worked all day had a bit of a grumble.
It helps us understand this story better if we know which part of Matthew’s Gospel this comes from. Jesus has left Galilee, and is on His final journey to Jerusalem. There is a sense of destiny approaching. Peter has just asked Jesus what reward he and his friends who left everything to follow Jesus will have, and Jesus replies that everyone who has left their home and family for His sake will receive a hundredfold, and will inherit eternal life. But He also tells them that many who are first will be last, and last will be first. That very phrase is repeated word for word at the end of the parable of the workers in the vineyard. So, the parable links directly to the conversation with Peter.
And immediately after Jesus tells that parable, He tells Peter and His other close followers that when they get to Jerusalem – and they’re already on their way there – He will be arrested, tortured, and executed.
So, this is clearly something very important to Jesus’ mission. In dying in Jerusalem, on the Cross, He will transcend human understandings of reward and fairness, and usher in a new Kingdom based on generosity and abundance – one where you get far better than merely what you deserve.
But does that mean you should live your life as a chancer? Live it up for decades, do what you need to do to get what you want even if it hurts other people and corrodes your soul, then have a sudden turn to Christ when you finally get the bad news from the doctor?
But if you do that, then you’ll have missed the chance of a life lived with Christ. You’ll have missed the chance to be a worker in His vineyard. And you’ll have missed the point of what Jesus Christ taught. So much of what we spend our lives chasing does not bring happiness or peace. A life lived for Christ brings true joy.
In our first reading, St Paul writes to the Philippians. There are three things we know about the Church they belonged to: that it was very mixed – between different ethnic groups and between rich and poor; that it faced a lot of opposition from other local people; and that Paul helped set the Church up before moving on.
Paul wants the Philippians to live their lives in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ even if they face intimidation or suffering, working together side by side across their differences. What is that gospel? Put very simply, that Christ has died, is risen, and that you are already His.
This letter was written some years after Paul had been with the Philippians, and Paul was in jail – again. We all know St Paul could be a grumpy and carnaptious cratur at times, but this letter is particularly known for the joy of Paul’s writing: full of joy and pride in the way the Church he set up in Philippi had progressed, full of love and trust in God. He trusts God so much that he says he’d be happy to die and go to heaven – he’d actually rather do that than live longer, although he thinks he’d better stick around because he still has work to do. And he says all that although by normal standards he’s a loser – in jail, dependent on the charity of others, regularly beaten up by angry mobs who hate the religion that he preaches.
How can he be so content in that miserable situation? Because a life lived serving Christ is what really satisfies – as Paul writes, “living is Christ and dying is gain”.
In a moment, Louis will promise to turn away from sin and evil and turn to Christ as his Saviour and his Lord – to turn to Christ as Lord of his earthly life and his Saviour to eternal life. And all of us who were baptised, whether a long time ago or a few months ago, should take this opportunity to turn again to Christ as Saviour and Lord, because that is a life’s work.
You have already won at life, because Christ made you a winner on the Cross – what seemed to be His defeat was actually our triumph.
Now live like a winner – not as the world thinks a winner should behave, but in the manner of Christ – full of joy, full of peace, always turning back towards God when you stray. Those are the marks of a real champion.
And now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and power, as is most justly His due, now and for evermore. Amen.