The Compassionate Father

Matthew 20:1-16

Did you ever play a pickup sport when you were a youth. Not a formal sport with adult coaches, but a simple game where two kids are picked to be the leaders of the teams. They stand and face the rest of the kids wanting to play and begin to pick their team. They take turns and pick the best players first. They continue to pick from who is left and as the picking continues, the ones still waiting to be picked stand there, shuffling their feet in the dirt, trying not to appear bothered by the selection process. But inside there is a war going on. There is hurt and shame at not being wanted. One by one these less desirable ones are picked and finally there are just two kids left to be picked and the leaders doing the picking say, “Ok, I’ll take Pete if you take Jim.”

There is a terrible vulnerability in this process. After the top tier of people are selected, those selected stand with their respective captains and look at the dwindling number of kids yet to be selected. The number becomes less and less and pretty soon, it seems as if everyone is looking at the ones not selected. It seems to those waiting to be picked that the fact that these remaining ones do not have enough talent to be selected earlier is being broadcast to the whole world. This is a moment of intense vulnerability and public humiliation.

For kids growing up who were not talented athletically, this is a painful memory. And it continues to be a painful experience when we are in a situation where we are not wanted.

Today’s parable is a parable about grace, but it also reveals God’s compassion for lost souls who at times feel that they are not valued or wanted. Like many of the parables, the character of God is the focus of the parable.

Let’s take a look.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.  2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

For we who live in Morocco, this scene is very familiar. When I walk up into Taqadam to the market, I pass a line of trucks waiting by the side of the row for someone to come along and request their service. As I continue on, I see a line of men sitting on the side of the road with their tools, plumbers, masons, whatever. They wait and wait and wait until someone comes by and says they need their help.

This is the scene Jesus paints in this parable. The owner of the vineyard goes to the market place and negotiates with the workers he needs for that day. He agrees to pay these men, hired early in the morning about 6AM, one denarius for their day’s work.

The owner of the vineyard has hired the men he needs for that day. He is done.

But then for some reason, he goes out at 9AM to the market. Perhaps he is on his way to meet someone. The parable does not say.

3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.  4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’  5 So they went.

Why does the owner hire these men three hours later in the day?

He went to the market and saw them standing there doing nothing. The owner had hired workers in the morning, but so had other owners looking for workers. He left with the workers he needed and did not know the other workers would not be hired by someone else looking for work for that day.

Now upon his return, he sees these men who were not hired. He sees them and it is his compassion that makes him hires them. It is not apparent that he needs more workers, but he cares about those who do not have work.

“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing.

The owner goes out again at 12 noon and at 3PM and sees men standing there doing nothing and hires them as well.

6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 ”‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

The eleventh hour, 5PM. These are the last of the lot, the ones nobody wants. The last two kids being picked for teams to play football. The ones who are hurting inside. They have waited all day, discouraged because no one wants them, wondering how they would bring home food to feed their families, feeling unwanted and rejected. Can you sense the inner pain these workers felt? They sat all day long, waiting for someone to tell them their help was needed, and nobody came.

Let me stop here to make some application.

Most of us, at one time or another, have faced a situation where we did not feel wanted. In growing up, it seems sometimes that the world’s goal is to tell you that you are not special, you are not wanted.

Perhaps it is in grade school when everyone seems to get a valentine but you. Or that everyone has a boyfriend or girlfriend but you.

In a job, you may not get the promotion you think you deserve. You work hard but your hard work is not appreciated or recognized.

You don’t get the contract you are working for, you don’t get the grant you need.

Sometimes, it is not anything you do, but just because of who you are, you are rejected.

Here in Morocco, those with black skin are rejected simply because their skin is black. Racism is alive in Morocco and because of your skin color, you are not trusted. You are viewed with suspicion. I was told of one woman who was spat upon as she walked along the street.

You come from a country where black-skinned people are the majority and now you find yourselves in the minority.

There are many here this morning who are attempting to make the trip into Spain. You have left Nigeria or some other country and made your way through the desert and Algeria into Morocco. Along the way you have discovered that you are not wanted. You are perceived to be a problem. Bandits have taken your possessions. People have taken advantage of you along the way. Landlords charge high rents for small rooms where seven or eight people sleep.

It is not just that you are not wanted, there are so many making this journey that you present problems wherever you go. Most are here without legal papers and that makes you more of a problem and less wanted.

So you sit here in Rabat, waiting for money to try to get into Spain. You have skills, but no one wants your skills. You have talent, but it is being wasted. You sit day by day with no work, nothing to do.

Let me say up front, I think you have made the wrong decision to try to make this trip to Spain. The pursuit of money is an empty pursuit and if and when you get to Spain and Europe, you may find the dream is not as pretty as you have imagined.

Now I may be right or I may be wrong in my assessment. But what I want to say this morning is independent of whether or not you are making the right decision to try to get to Spain.

Being rejected, unwanted, not valued hurts. When someone rejects you because of who you are, the color of your skin, your nationality, your height, your weight, your looks, your perceived talent level, this hurts. We cannot be unaffected by rejection. This rejection has to have an effect on who you perceive yourself to be.

So here is the message from this parable for you.

What this parable reveals about God’s character is that God loves you and searches after you. When nobody else wants you, when nobody else values you, God wants you. God values you. We saw this in the parable of the sower, how God generously pursues individuals to sow his seed in their lives. We saw this in the parable of the prodigal son, how God pursues his sons. And we see this here as well. God pursues the ones who are outcasts, unwanted by the world.

Note in the parable that there is a foreman who oversees the workers. The owner could easily have sat back in the city gates discussing with other important city leaders. But he walks from the country where his vineyard is to the village center where the workers congregate. And he makes the trip four times, himself, including a trip at noon in the heat of the day.

This parable reveals the character of God who has compassion on those who are vulnerable and publically humiliated. It is not enough for the owner to send his foreman, he must go himself. His compassion dictates that he go himself to those who are unwanted and rejected.

It was not enough for God to send his prophets and angels, God came himself in his son Jesus to bring the message that he is a God who takes on himself the pain and frustration of those left behind in society.

God demonstrated his love for sinners through Jesus, but if you study God’s work in history, over and over again, God comes to the side of those who are unwanted. In India, it is the lowest caste that is responding to the Gospel. These unwanted citizens of India are discovering that God thinks they are wonderful and worthy enough to die for them. They are discovering what it means to be loved, independent of their place in society.

God is at your side this morning. When you walk along the street and someone insults you, spits on you, know that God has picked you to be on his team, in his family. You may not be wanted where you are, but you are wanted by God.

For anyone here this morning who is in a situation where you do not feel welcome, where you do not feel wanted. God is on your side. God has chosen you to be in his family. Let that feeling of being wanted allow you to keep your head high.

You are wanted!
You are somebody!
You are a valued and special child of God!

9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

Now we come to the end of the parable.

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

When the workers were hired early in the morning, they were promised one denarius for the day’s labor.

The workers hired at 9 were told that they would be paid what is right. They expected to get some portion of a denarius.

The workers hired at noon, 3 and 5 were just happy to get anything, whatever part of a denarius they received would be better than nothing.

But now comes the twist, the surprise, that is found in each of Jesus’ parables.

9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.  10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.  11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.  12 ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

When the workers hired at 5PM receive one denarius for just one hour’s work, they are ecstatic. They expected very little and receive a day’s pay for just that one hour of work.

Now the others are thinking. If they received one denarius for one hour’s work, I worked twelve hours and that would be twelve denari of pay. But then the ones hired at 3 who worked three hours are given one denarius. The ones hired at noon worked for six hours but still get one denarius.

The ones hired early in the morning are getting upset. This is not fair. The ones hired at noon get paid the same as those who worked for just an hour and barely had time to draw a sweat?

Then the ones hired at 9AM also get one denarius and the anger of the early morning, 6AM hires, boils when they too receive just one denarius.

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?  14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.  15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

This is the main point of this parable; God’s grace is freely given.

Christianity is not, as some accusers say, an exclusive religion. God has opened the doors wide open. All are welcome. All are wanted. God comes to us at the beginning of our lives and asks us if we want to come to work in his vineyard. God comes back to the market in our adolescence and asks us if we will come to work in his vineyard,

God returns in our young adult years and our middle age years and asks us if we will come to work in his vineyard.

Even at the end of the day, in our last years, God comes to us and asks us to come work in his vineyard.

There is no extra award for coming early in our lives, except for the joy of living life with his presence to cheer and to guide us.

Whether we follow Christ for as long as we have had memory or whether we turn to Christ at the end of our life as did the thief on the cross next to Jesus, God’s grace welcomes us in to his family.

So take heart this morning. You are loved. You are wanted. You are a special, valued child of God.

The world may not treat you well,
but you are somebody.

The world may not value you,
but you have worth to God.

The world may not care about you,
but God loves you.

The world may say you are only one of several billion humans on earth,
but God chose you to be his child.

The world may say we don’t want you,
but God sent Jesus to die for you.

The world may say it doesn’t need you,
but God has a purpose for your life.

The world may be indifferent to you,
but God will throw a party to welcome you when you come to his heaven.