Text used – Matthew 25:31-46

• To begin the sermon this morning, all, I want to share a little bit of a video clip with you.
  • Clip that comes from the Presbyterian Mission Agency website → portion of the “Introduction” video to the PC(USA)’s Matthew 25 program

https://player.vimeo.com/video/667386176?h=e00f893f4f

• • You see, back in 2020 just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit Minnesota, our Session voted to become a Matthew 25 congregation.
    • Our presbytery – Presbytery of the Twin Cities Area – is also a Matthew 25 presbytery
    • Our synod – Synod of Lakes and Prairies – is also a Matthew 25 synod
    • And as Rev. Dr. Diane Moffett said in the video, the General Assembly – the national body of the Presbyterian Church (USA) – has made a commitment to be a Matthew 25 Church.
    • All the denominational structures that surround us – from our local congregation here all the way up to the national level – have made the commitment to those 3 focus points[2]:
      • Building congregational vitality by challenging people and congregations to deepen their faith and get actively and joyfully engaged with their community and the world.
      • Dismantling structural racism by advocating and acting to break down the systems, practices and thinking that underlie discrimination, bias, prejudice and oppression of people of color.
      • Eradicating systemic poverty by working to change laws, policies, plans and structures in our society that perpetuate economic exploitation of people who are poor.
  • Now, throughout the season of Lent this year, we’ve been working through this idea of places where willingness and faith intersect, and with this parable from Matthew 25 this morning, we’re going to think about being willing to welcome. As we do that, I want to remind you what I said about willingness at the beginning of this series.
    • Element of willingness that requires sacrifice, especially in terms of making space for the experiences, wisdom, concerns, and needs of another
    • Can be an element of obligation to willingness
    • Willingness requires dedication
    • Willingness can also bear beautiful, unexpected fruit
    • I wanted to remind you of these things because they go hand-in-hand with one of the really important things that Dr. Moffett said in that clip: “When we engage in the work of proclaiming good news to the poor, sight to the blind, and liberty to the oppressed, we may end up hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison, and in need of welcome. As we work to change systems that cause human suffering, we too are part of the least of these.”
• You see, I know I can’t be the only one who loves this parable.
  • Maybe it’s the familiarity
  • Maybe it’s the orderliness
  • Maybe it’s the utter compassion and extravagant welcome it calls for
  • But at least for me, I think I love this parable because it’s one of the many times Jesus turns everything upside-down and forces those listening into a new perspective. → hear this perspective flip in the story itself
    • Begins with a description steeped in language of decadence and luxury, grandeur and power: Now when the Human One comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne. All the nations will be gathered in front of him.[3] → tracks with the expectations that swirled around the idea of the Human One/Son of God/Messiah figure in Jewish tradition
      • Messiah figure was supposed to be a returning of the might and majesty and military muscle of King David → supposed to be a fierce and powerful warrior-king who would drive off the oppressors at the point of his sword and restore the people of Israel to their former independence and glory → And Jesus starts his story playing into that sort of imagery, speaking of majesty and angels and thrones and gathering “the nations” before him.
    • BUT that reference to “the nations” should have been Jesus’ listeners’ first hint that this wasn’t going where they thought it would. → Gr. “the nations” = intentionally expansive word that truly meant all the nations
      • Jews and Gentiles
      • From near and far
      • Those who have already heard and those who have yet to hear
      • Those who are “us” and those who are “other”
      • Jesus makes it clear from the very outset of this parable that it’s a parable for the masses. For all. For every. For each.
        • Not a message that the Pharisees and Sadducees would have appreciated – those who were tasked with keeping the people of Israel (the wider community) religiously upright and pure which, according to the Law, meant keeping them separate and apart
        • Not a message that jived with the traditional understanding of the Messiah → Human One was supposed to be one who came specifically for the people of Israel … not for everyone
        • Yet Jesus very purposefully says, “All the nations.”
    • Goes on to talk about the ultimate, final judgment of these nations → Human One sitting on his throne and separating the righteous sheep from the unrighteous goats
    • Continues with a wonderfully helpful, teachable description of what made the sheep sheep and the goats goats: “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.” Then those who are righteous will reply to him, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?” Then the king will reply to them, “I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.”[4]
    • And when the goats ask the same thing – “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t do anything to help you?” – Jesus answers likewise: “I assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.”[5] And in that description, we hear Jesus flip the world upside-down because in that description, Jesus – the Human One, the Son of God, the Messiah, the king of kings, God Incarnate – equates himself not with the powerful … not with the wealthy … not with the religious leaders … not with those whose lives were pretty and perfect and all wrapped up. No, Jesus equates himself with the least of these.
      • Scholar echoes what Dr. Moffett expressed in that video clip: Matthew’s vision is an important reminder that what we do matters. God’s grace and love are given freely, and there is nothing that we do to earn them, but that does not mean that we can forget to care for the least. After all, the least too are members of Christ’s family. In fact, the story presses even further than that and insists that our care for the least is care for Christ himself. If we do not care for Christ, then how can we expect him to judge in our favor?[6]
        • Share stories from Matthew 25 entities
• I want to turn something else a little bit on its head with this parable this morning, and that’s our You see, I think when we hear Jesus’ parables, we have a tendency to try to identify ourselves as someone in the story.
  • Not something particular to just Jesus’ stories → something that we do with all stories → That’s why we’re able to get so invested in the stories that we hear or read or see. When we identify with someone in the story, we experience it in a new way. We’re more engaged. We’re more affected. We get caught up in the ups and downs of the plotline as if they were our own ups and downs. That’s why we laugh and cry, cheer and fear along with the characters … because we can see ourselves in and amongst them.
  • With this particular parable, I would guess that many of us – most of us, even – first saw ourselves as either the sheep or the goats. Maybe we remembered moments when we played both parts – moments when we had offered some sort of help to relieve another’s suffering and moments when we failed to do so. But let me ask you this this morning: What if we put ourselves in the place of those Jesus designates as “the least of these”? What if we put ourselves in the place of those who needed someone else to reach out … to welcome and sustain us … to be by our side in a time of deep need?
    • Remember Dr. Moffett’s words: “When we engage in the work of proclaiming good news to the poor, sight to the blind, and liberty to the oppressed, we may end up hungry, thirsty, naked, sick, in prison, and in need of welcome. As we work to change systems that cause human suffering, we too are part of the least of these.” → This gospel-work … this work of compassion and hope and radical welcome and unconditional love … this Matthew 25 work is work that challenges and changes us in all the ways, and some of those ways (a lot of those ways!) have a maddening tendency to be uncomfortable. Ways that push us outside our comfort zones. Ways that challenge our long-held beliefs. Ways that make us look at the world and the people around us not through our own imperfect human eyes but through God’s eyes. Ways that teach us lessons we never knew we needed to learn. But no matter what part in this story we find ourselves playing, it is work that God calls us to do. Each of us. All of us.
      • Scholar: With discernment comes clarity about the simplicity of the tasks before us and the God-given ability faithfully to fulfill them. Food, water, clothing, hospitality, companionship: these are not only the most necessary elements for communal life; they are the most readily available gifts to give. The lesson of the sheep and goats is good news, because it asks each to share precisely what each has. That is the true center of this passage. Whether it is food or water, a compassionate ear or an open heart, everyone has something to share.[7] → And that, friends, is indeed good news. Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] https://vimeo.com/667386176 (up to 1:51).

[2] https://www.presbyterianmission.org/ministries/matthew-25/become-a-matthew-25-church/.

[3] Mt 25:31-32a.

[4] Mt 25:35-40.

[5] Mt 25:44-45 (emphasis added).

[6] Daniel J. Ott. “Matthew 25:31-46 – Theological Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospels – Matthew, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 270.

[7] Robert M. McClellan. “Matthew 25:31-46 – Pastoral Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospel – Matthew, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 268.

Text used – Matthew 25:1-13

• Peanut butter and jelly. Marshmallows and hot chocolate. Bread and butter. A pen and paper. A hand and a glove. Coffee and mornings … or really, coffee and life. Things that just go together! There are lots of things in the world that go together so well that hearing one basically implies the other at this point. As we continue with our Lenten series on willingness and faith this year, you can add last week’s Scripture reading and this week’s Scripture reading to that “go together” list, too.
  • Last week: talked about the importance of responding wholeheartedly to God’s call
  • This week: explore the importance of preparing for God’s call
  • Both two sides of the same coin → both essential parts of living our lives as followers of Jesus … living our lives as those who try to remain attuned to God’s call in our lives and all that that call brings
  • So since we talked about responding to God’s call last week with one of Mo Willems’ “Elephant and Piggie” books, and since last week and this week go hand-in-hand, let me share another Mo Willems “Elephant and Piggie” book with you this morning: Let’s Go for a Drive![1]

• • • The whole focus of this story is preparing – what we need to do to prepare, how we prepare, what we’re preparing for, and how we prepare together.
      • Like I said, goes hand-in-hand with what we talked about last week[2]: what we need to respond to God’s call, how we respond, what we’re responding to, and how we respond together
• So let’s look more closely at Jesus’ parable this morning – the “Parable of the ten young bridesmaids,” as my Bible subtitles it.
  • Jumped over quite a bit in Mt’s gospel btwn last week’s parable and this week’s parable → much of that “in between” involves that Pharisees conspiring to “trap Jesus in his words”[3] and scheming to get rid of this radical rabblerouser who keeps upsetting their religious status quo (thank God for radical religious rabblerousers, right?)
    • Includes some harsh words from Jesus for the Pharisees and Sadducees and some strong accusations from the Pharisees and Sadducees leveled at Jesus
  • Also jumped over “Greatest commandment” – Jesus: “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”[4]
  • Bypassed Jesus’ veiled conversations with disciples about what is to come
  • Today’s passage = comes on the heels of two pointed teachings from Jesus on being prepared
    • Conversation with the disciples in which Jesus tells them to be prepared because they won’t know when the Human One comes[5]
    • Another parable about the faithful and unfaithful servants[6]
      • Faithful servant worked diligently while the master was away → found working when the master returned home
      • Unfaithful servant spent the master’s time away eating too much, drinking too much, and abusing their fellow servants
      • Another parable that ends in “weeping and gnashing of teeth”
• Leads us into today’s parable about being prepared – text: At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Now five of them were wise, and the other five were foolish.
  • Gr. here is interesting[7]
    • Gr. “foolish” = word that indicates something lacking edges, something that is loosely defined or someone that has a loose grasp on things → today’s equivalent = someone who is flighty, impulsive, scatterbrained
    • Flipside: Gr. “wise” = someone who is rooted and thoughtful → based on word for heart/intellect/understanding
    • So right away, Jesus is making it clear that we have two diametrically opposed groups here. One group thinks about all the things, one group thinks about none (or at least very few) of the things. One group is definitive while the other is imprecise. One group prepares, the other reacts.
  • Abundantly clear which group Jesus is lifting up – text: When the groom was late in coming, they all became drowsy and went to sleep. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Look, the groom! Come out to meet him.’ “Then all those bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. But the foolish bridesmaids said to the wise ones, ‘Give us some of your oil, because our lamps have gone out.’ But the wise bridesmaids replied, ‘No, because if we share with you, there won’t be enough for our lamps and yours. We have a better idea. You go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’ But while they were gone to buy oil, the groom came. Those who were ready went with him into the wedding. Then the door was shut. Later the other bridesmaids came and said, ‘Lord, lord, open the door for us.’ “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ Therefore, keep alert, because you don’t know the day or the hour.[8] → This feels a lot like Gerald and Piggie. Gerald had the end goal in mind – going for a drive – and while he prepared for a wide variety of eventualities (sun, rain, route planning, and packing), what he missed was the most glaringly obvious and essential piece of their plan to go for a drive: the car!
    • Even the foolish bridesmaids came prepared with lamps … but they didn’t think far enough ahead or cast their planning nets wide enough to encompass any possibility but the most immediate one – the prompt arrival of the groom
    • Also like Gerald, this shortsightedness doesn’t exactly work out for the foolish bridesmaids → find themselves distracted, even absent – having to go off to secure their last-minute necessities (more oil) when the groom finally arrives and takes the prepared bridesmaids into the wedding celebration, shutting out those who were missing in the moment
      • “Um … Do you have a car, Piggie?” “No. I am a pig. A pig with a car would be silly.”[9]
• So it’s clear that we should be preparing for God in our lives, but what does that even mean?
  • Context for Mt’s initial audience: Jesus-followers who thought Jesus was coming back soon … like, within their lifetimes! → That’s why there was so much concern about the “when” of all their preparations.
  • Different for us who, roughly 2000 yrs. later, are still waiting
    • Scholar: “What are you waiting for?!” That is usually a critique posing as a question, because we live in a society uncomfortable with waiting. We are encouraged to act, to get moving, much like the bridesmaids who could spare no time to fill their lamps. Jesus too seems to live in a manner that wastes no time, privileging the present moment. … However, according to this parable Jesus also understands there is waiting to be done. Amid his many end-time predictions and declarations comes this timely parable about waiting. … To refuse to wait would be foolish, for it denies the possibility of a future outside one’s own design. To bring enough oil is to be wise, because the night might be longer or darker than expected. Still, the belief is that the morning will come. Waiting is an act of faith.[10]
  • But what are we waiting for? And how should we wait?
    • “What” is both simple and complex: Scripture tells us that we are waiting for God’s kingdom to be realized here on earth. “Thy kingdom come,” we pray. But what that might look like is something Christians have pondered and studied and debated and guessed at for centuries.
      • Mountains of theories on “the end times”
      • Mountains of theories about a 2^nd coming of Christ
      • But here’s the thing: Anytime anyone asks Jesus about the particulars of all of that – the coming of the kingdom, the return of the Messiah, even just the future in general – Jesus’ response is deliberately vague. He tells us it is for God to know. In the parable of the faithful and unfaithful servants just before today’s text, Jesus says, “Nobody knows when that day or hour will come, not the heavenly angels and not the Son. Only the Father knows.”[11] So I’m not the pastor who’s going to stand up here telling you Jesus is coming back some day in some recognizable way so y’all better be ready! Because the thing is, when Jesus does answer those ancient questions about when and what and how, he always answers them with a mandate that involves living out our faith.
        • Mandate to devote ourselves to God
        • Mandate to care for one another
        • “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”[12]
  • Friends, this is how we prepare ourselves for God’s calling in our lives: by putting hands and feet, a heart and a prayer to our faith. By living our faith out loud. Jesus makes it clear that preparedness isn’t about guessing at the end times based on wild Scriptural calculations or the “wisdom” of false prophets. It’s about action. It’s about keeping our hearts and faith focused on the inevitable arrival of the One for whom we wait, but, in the meantime, acting on our faith in ways that are meaningful – ways that bring about God’s kingdom here on earth one compassionate act at a time.
    • Scholar: If truth be told, we are living in what feels like an in-between time. The world is hurting, violence is a daily reality, illness and pandemic continue to haunt and hurt us, and it seems like the promise of peace, wholeness, or even hope seems far away. … We live in this in-between space where many are wondering where God might be amid all of this, even as we are waiting (perhaps more eagerly than we would like to admit) for God’s grace, peace, and love to infuse our lives, country, and world. … Perhaps the bridesmaids of this story might offer us some guidance. The ones who brought oil are labeled as “wise,” not because they had some kind of predictive powers to know how much oil to pack. Instead, their wisdom was in being ready for a timetable that might be different than the one they would have preferred. They are ready for the fact that things don’t always happen when and how they would like. But they sit (or sleep!) ready; they have what they need for the journey, even if it is long. … [W]e don’t know how long the journey to justice or peace or wholeness will be. But Matthew reminds us to “keep our lamps trimmed and burning” in order that we might not grow weary in the waiting. For, there is work to be done, even as we wait for the coming of the bridegroom who makes all things new.[13] → Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] Mo Willems. Let’s Go for a Drive! (New York: Hyperion Books for Children), 2012.

[2] Mt 22:1-14.

[3] Mt 22:15.

[4] Mt 22:37-39.

[5] Mt 24:36-44.

[6] Mt 24:45-51.

[7] Exegesis by Rev. Elana Keppel Levy, https://somuchbible.com/word-studies/annotated-scripture/matthew-25-1-13/.

[8] Mt 25:5-13.

[9] Willems.

[10] Robert M. McClellan. “Matthew 25:1-13 – Pastoral Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospels – Matthew, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 254.

[11] Mt 24:36.

[12] Mt 22:37-39.

[13] Kimberly Wagner. “Commentary on Matthew 25:1-13” from Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/bridesmaids-or-talents/commentary-on-matthew-251-13-8.

Text used – Matthew 22:1-14

• This morning, we’re continuing our Lenten series on exploring the ways our faith both calls and requires us to be willing.
  • First week: willing to forgive
  • Last week: willing to accept fairness (especially when it doesn’t look like what we think fairness should look like)
  • Today’s topic: willing to respond, specifically responding to God’s call – to that invitation that God extends to us to play our part in God’s work of compassion and mercy, love and justice
  • This morning’s Scripture reading = parable about invitation
    • Invitation received
    • Invitation ignored
    • Invitation extended
    • Invitation disparaged
• BUT … before we start digging into the parable itself this morning, it’s really important to set this particular parable in context – both within the rest of Matthew’s gospel and within the cultural community for whom it was first written – because the context is critical for the way we read this today.
  • Context within the culture – scholar: Humming in the background is the situation in Matthew’s community [– a collection of largely Jewish Jesus-followers who had recently left, been kicked out of, or were alienated from their synagogue communities[1]]. This group of largely Jewish Jesus-followers, receiving these words of Jesus, were likely feeling the sting of separation and rejection by the Jewish authorities and their synagogue communities. They found themselves dislocated from all they knew and were trying to navigate who they were amid Jewish community pressures and Roman occupation.[2] → So the particular audience for whom Matthew wrote his gospel would have felt a lot like those on the outskirts of the city – those invited last who got to enjoy all the splendor and lavishness and joy of the feast, those initially rejected but ultimately the guests of honor.
  • Context within the gospel → Last week we read from Matthew 20. Today’s passage is from Matthew 22, and while you wouldn’t think that jumping over just a single chapter would miss that much, in this case, the contents of that chapter go a long way in informing our reading this morning. → Mt 21 = broken down into 6 subsections (“pericopes”)
    • First 2 – “Entry into Jerusalem” and “Cleansing the temple”[3] – we’ll read in a few weeks on Palm Sunday
    • Next = “Cursing the fig tree”[4]
    • Followed by most crucial pericope for helping us understand today’s text = “Jesus’ authority questioned”: When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and elders of the people came to him as he was teaching. They asked, “What kind of authority do you have for doing these things? Who gave you this authority?” Jesus replied, “I have a question for you. If you tell me the answer, I’ll tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things. Where did John get his authority to baptize? Did he get it from heaven or from humans?” They argued amongst themselves, “If we say ‘from heaven,’ he’ll say to us, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But we can’t say ‘from humans’ because we’re afraid of the crowd, since everyone thinks John was a prophet.” Then they replied, “We don’t know.” Jesus also said to them, “Neither will I tell you what kind of authority I have to do these things.”[5] → This interaction isn’t the first run-in that Jesus has had with the Jewish religious authorities, but it’s definitely a ramping up of the tensions between the two.
      • From this interaction, Jesus tells 3 parables, all ultimately about the kingdom of God and Jesus’ authority → in this morning’s parable, for example:
        • God = king preparing the wedding banquet for Jesus (the Son) → And if the whole point of the celebration is to give honor to the son (as a wedding celebration at the time would be), then the guest of honor himself – Jesus, the Son – holds the authority.
        • Servants = prophets (like John) sent to invite people to the banquet
          • Invitation is ignored by some (text: But they paid no attention and went away – some to their field, others to their businesses.[6]
          • Others (implication = religious authorities) take it a step further – text: The rest of them grabbed [the king’s] servants, abused them, and killed them.[7]
        • For the sake of the Son’s joy and the celebration and the prepared feast, the king sends more servants out to “invite everyone you find to the wedding party”[8] → servants (disciples) went out and gathered everyone they could find along the roads and in the city, and a grand party ensues
• Now, interestingly enough, this is where Luke’s version of this parable ends.
  • Luke tells a similar version of this parable in ch 14 → But at the end of Luke’s version simply ends with an admonishment for those who rejected the initial invitation. – text: I tell you, not one of those who were invited with taste my dinner.[9]
  • Scholar: Matthew’s version seems to turn up the volume on the violence and tacks on the troubling addendum of the last-minute guest kicked out of the party for wearing the wrong outfit.[10]
    • Text: Now when the king came in and saw the guests, he spotted a man who wasn’t wearing wedding clothes. He said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ But he was speechless. Then the king said to his servants, ‘Tie his hands and feet and throw him out into the farthest darkness. People there will be weeping and grinding their teeth.’ Many people are invited, but few are chosen.[11] → And this ending – Matthew’s ending that is much starker and more dramatic, this ending that feels much harsher, much more intense and final – leaves us feeling uncomfortable.
      • Don’t like the idea of someone being tossed out
      • Certainly don’t like the “weeping and gnashing of teeth”
      • Don’t like Jesus’ last cautionary words: “Many are invited, but few are chosen.”
• But this morning, I’m going to invite us to hear those words in a different way. As we hear Jesus’ end to this parable (according to Matthew, anyway), I’m going to encourage you to remember the final words of our Scripture reading from a month or so ago – from Matthew 6: Where your treasure is, there your heart will also be.[12] → You see, I think we can hear the end of Jesus’ parable as a reminder that, if we’re going to respond to God’s invitation, we need to be ready to respond in a way that is wholehearted and genuine.
  • Let me frame it this way → introduce I Am Invited to a Party! by Mo Willems[13]

• • • By the end of the story, Piggie and Gerald are decked out way beyond anything that Piggie could have imagined would have been necessary for the party … but when they get there, they have put in exactly the right amount of effort and preparation for this particular fancy pool costume party. → one person’s “over-the-top” is another person’s “just right”
  • So when we read this parable through the lens of Jesus’ teaching from the Sermon on the Mount about where we locate our treasures and our hearts, we hear a particular call in this parable: a call to be willing to respond to God’s invitation with our whole selves – our whole hearts, our whole spirits, our whole lives.
    • Respond with the way we prepare
    • Respond with the way we live
    • Scholar: What we do as people of faith It is so easy these days to compartmentalize all the pieces of our life, particularly our faith life. We check “going to church” off the to-do list and may view our faith as one small aspect among many of our lives. The intensity of this parable and harsh consequences of refused invitations reminds us that living out our faith is a matter of urgency and importance. … There is an expectation that being a Christian, a Jesus-follower, will make a difference and be obvious in the way we live our lives. This parable, through metaphors and life-and-death consequences, insists that we, like Matthew’s community, need to live lives that do not just prioritize our faith, but reflect our faith to those around us.[14]
  • Truly, friends, this is not a parable about what we do or don’t wear to church on a Sunday morning. What got the wedding guest at the end of Jesus’ story in trouble had less to do with his attire itself than it had to do with the effort he put into responding to the king’s generous invitation. He responded, to be sure, but only to the point that it didn’t inconvenience him.
    • Didn’t put any extra effort or energy into his response
    • Didn’t prepare himself to honor the one extending the invitation
    • Didn’t attempt to change
    • I mean, by attending the wedding without any kind of preparation, the man is effectively thumbing his nose at the king’s abundant generosity. The king has put in the effort to invite people from the whole surrounding area, but this man didn’t put in the effort to respond in a way that honored the spirit of the invitation.
    • Scholar: The message of Matthew is that God’s intervention in Jesus is at once broadly inclusive and utterly decisive. The wedding invitation has gone out. The question is not whether you can manage to fit this party into your schedule. This is the invitation that changes your schedule – and your life. This is an invitation to give oneself up to God’s future in Jesus Christ, which rushes toward us with unstoppable power, overtaking our present with a costly summons.[15] → So will we give ourselves over to the purpose and intention of God’s invitation? Will we come to feast with our most over-the-top dedication and willingness? Will we let God’s invitation change us through and through – change our schedules, change our hearts, change our very lives? Amen.

[1] Kimberly Wagner. “Commentary on Matthew 18:15-35” for Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/forgiveness/commentary-on-matthew-1815-35-3.

[2] Kimberly Wagner. “Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14” from Working Preacher, https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/wedding-banquet-2/commentary-on-matthew-221-14-8.

[3] Mt 21:1-17.

[4] Mt 21:18-22.

[5] Mt 21:23-27.

[6] Mt 22:5.

[7] Mt 22:6.

[8] Mt 22:9.

[9] Lk 14:24.

[10] Wagner, “Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14.”

[11] Mt 22:11-14.

[12] Mt 6:21.

[13] Mo Willems. I Am Invited to a Party! (New York: Hyperion Books for Children), 2007.

[14] Wagner, “Commentary on Matthew 22:1-14.”

[15] Sally A. Brown. “Matthew 22:1-14 – Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospels – Matthew, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 187.

Text used – Matthew 20:1-16

• So last week we introduced this year’s Lenten theme of willingness. Throughout the next few weeks we’re going to be walking through some of Jesus’ parables and teachings from the gospel of Matthew, each of which has something particular to say to us about the interplay between willingness in our faith.
  • Last week: being willing to forgive
  • Up next week: willing to respond to God’s call
  • Today: being willing to accept, particularly when it comes to fairness → And as with so many other topics, we’re going to come at this one through the lens of … a children’s book. (Once a children’s librarian’s daughter, always a children’s librarian’s daughter!) → book called Strictly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev[1]
    • Story of a little boy who has a pet elephant
    • Boy and his elephant are very excited to be going to pet club → But when they get there, they find a sign on the door: “Strictly no elephants.”
    • Sadly, little boy and elephant turn away and start to slowly walk away (in the rain, of course, because in books, it always rains when the characters are sad … it adds gravitas)
    • Sitting on a bench watching people go by when a little girl comes up to them with her pet … skunk → boy and girl have a conversation about how, even though their pets are unique, there’s nothing wrong with them
    • Boy and girl decide to start their own pet club at the local park → as they’re walking there, they’re joined by kids with all sorts of different pets
      • Bat
      • Hedgehog
      • Giraffe
      • Armadillo
      • Penguin
      • Even a narwhal (in a fishbowl in the bed of a little red wagon)
    • Create their own pet club open to everyone … including, on the very last page, the kids who turned them away from the original pet club in the first place → “So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.” You know, the tenderhearted side of us want to go, “Awww. Of course they invited the other kids to their club.” But maybe there’s another part of us that says, “But was that fair of them?”
      • Just like forgiveness last week, fairness is a sticky subject
• So … let’s just dive right in.
  • Definition of fairness: impartial and just treatment or behavior without favoritism or discrimination → Ideally, there’s a certain level of neutrality expected in fairness.
    • Impartial
    • Without favoritism or discrimination
    • And while we want and hope for and even expect other people to treat us without any impartialities or favoritism or discrimination, we know how hard it can be to actually turn around and grant that kind of neutral, fair treatment to others in turn, don’t we? We cannot deny that as human beings, we are made up of all our experiences – things we have learned, people we have known, ways that we have been treated, and so on. Even in those moments when we say we want to act fairly, it’s really hard to intentionally set aside all that baggage that we bring with us to actually act impartially without favoritism or discrimination.
      • Certainly not the version of “fairness” that kids complain about whenever their parents require something of them that they don’t like → For kids, “That’s not fair!” generally means, “I don’t like that” or “I don’t want to do that.” But is it just kids that use the term “fair” in this way? I kinda don’t think so.
• This is what makes Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard such a challenging parable this morning
  • Story of a landowner who is in need of workers to harvest his crop in his vineyard → text tells us he hires workers at 5 separate times throughout the day
    • “early in the morning”
    • 9:00 a.m.
    • Noon
    • 3:00 p.m.
    • Finally 5:00 p.m.
    • What’s interesting is that, as far as we can tell, the only time this particular landowner was actually looking for workers was the first time he went out. – text: The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.[2]
      • Other times, text just says “he went out” and found all the other workers “standing around in the marketplace” → Now, we know that this guy was a farmer because he’s got a vineyard. And I have to think he must have hailed from the Midwest because his response to seeing all these people standing around in the marketplace throughout the day is, “Let’s go to work!”
  • Also interesting that the only time he actually discusses pay are with the first two groups
    • Group that he found “early in the morning” – text: After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion, he sent them into his vineyard.[3] → denarion = roughly equivalent to a full days wage
    • Group that he found at 9:00 a.m. – text: He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’[4] → “I’ll pay you whatever is right.” I mean … that could be really nebulous, couldn’t it? Well, maybe in English, but in the Greek, it’s a little more precise.
      • Gr. “whatever is right” = incl. word that means honest, good, just, righteous, upright, even innocent → When applied to a person, this word means someone who is a model citizen. There’s even an element of duty and honor in this word. In fact, it’s the same word from which we get our modern-day term “deacon.” So in using this particular word to describe the wages that these workers will be receiving, Jesus is leaving no room for doubt. It will be utterly and completely fair.
  • Or will it? – text: When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’[5] → “Now wait just a darn minute!” we think. “That’s not fair.” We can feel the burning indignation of that “early morning” worker, can’t we? Even though we weren’t in on any of the negotiations with the other groups of worker (if there even were any), we don’t like the way this sits. In our society, it’s work more = paid more.
    • Don’t normally do this, but I’m going to read a fairly large chunk of one of my commentaries[6] for you this morning because I just feel like it addresses this whole messy business of fairness so well → commentary written by Patrick J. Willson, HR PC(USA) minister currently living in New Mexico *FOR COPYRIGHT PURPOSES, I UNFORTUNATELY CANNOT INCLUDE THIS IN MY BLOG POST*
      • This brings in an interesting element of the idea of fairness: I … me … mine. Very often, when we’re concerned about fairness, we’re concerned about what’s fair for us. It’s a very self-focused issue. When we perceive something as “not fair for me,” it’s insulting. It’s embarrassing. And if in that perception we decide that it’s not fair for us because someone else got it first … got it better … got it more … then we’re even more incensed.
  • But let me ask you this:
    • Is it fair that in our society – in our wider community of Rochester, even! – that a single-parent household can work three jobs and still not make enough money to afford decent housing?
    • Is it fair that in our society, a new mother is too often forced to choose between going back to work before her body is even healed or getting paid so she can feed her family?
    • Is it fair that so many of our older adults on fixed incomes have to choose which one thing they’re going to be able to afford this month: their housing, their food, or their necessary medication?
    • Is it fair that until very recently, something as essential as insulin was marked up more than 600% from manufacturer’s costs to consumer’s costs?
    • Truly, friends, we have a problem with “what’s fair.” I’ve been working for Paid Family Medical Leave within the PC(USA) for a number of years now, both on the presbytery level and the wider denominational level. I was blessed by this congregation in that, when I needed that leave when my kids were born, no one batted an eye. Y’all said, “Yes. Of course you need time.” But I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve heard from colleagues who have been told other things.
      • “You haven’t earned that kind of leave yet.”
      • “Why would you need so much time?”
      • And from male colleagues, both currently serving AND honorably retired: “Well, my wife never needed leave like that.” 
  • And yet even though we can feel the burn of indignation that those “early morning” workers felt, listen again to the words of the landowner – text: [The landowner] replied …, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’ So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”[7]
    • Especially pointed when we realize that this parable comes on the heels of a very particular moment in Mt’s gospel
      • Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler who asks how to obtain eternal life à Jesus’ response: “Sell what you own, and give the money to the poor.”[8] → Rich young ruler “went away saddened, because he had many possessions”[9]
      • In the wake of that encounter, we hear Simon Peter speak up: “Look, we’ve left everything and followed you. What will we have?”[10] → Surely, Peter is thinking that it’s only fair for he and the disciples to receive the best that eternity has to offer them – the best place at the heavenly table, the best honors, and so on. And indeed, Jesus assures Peter that there will be good things waiting for those who follow Jesus in the Kingdom of Heaven … but there will be good things for others as well. And then he tells this parable.
  • Continue with Patrick Willson’s commentary[11] *AGAIN, I CAN’T INCLUDE THIS ENTIRE TEXT FOR COPYRIGHT PURPOSES, BUT I WILL INCLUDE  SMALL PORTION OF IT*: If we wait and watch long enough, we come to see that the only way we come to know the goodness of God, the only way we can see the goodness of God, is as it is given to others. We can see the goodness of God more clearly in the lives of others, quite simply because they are other than us. The back of the line offers perspective. … Thus when we see God’s goodness to others – to people we love, to friends, to colleagues, but most especially to those people we do not think deserve such generosity – then we can see the goodness of God for the wondrous miracle that it is. → Thanks be to God. Amen.

[1] Lisa Mantchev. Strictly No Elephants. (New York: Simon & Schuster), 2015.

[2] Mt 20:1.

[3] Mt 20:2.

[4] Mt 20:4 (emphasis added).

[5] Mt 20:8-12.

[6] Patrick J. Willson. “Matthew 20:1-16 – Homiletical Perspective” in Feasting on the Gospels – Matthew, vol. 2. (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), 123, 125.

[7] Mt 20:13-16.

[8] Mt 19:21.

[9] Mt 19:22.

[10] Mt 19:27.

[11] Willson, 125, 127.