It is all grace…

For much of the summer, we have been sitting with the Apostle Paul and wrestling with his letter to the Romans. But as fall approaches – and boy does it feel like fall out there! – we are turning our eyes back to Jesus for a while.

In fact, for the remainder of this fall, we will walk along in the footsteps of Jesus.
We will hear the stories and parables he told to all who would gather round.

We will watch him confront the religious establishment.

And once again, we will hear the good news of salvation.

Over and over again as I read these gospel passages, I am struck by the simple fact that God’s ways are not our ways… and that God for that.

Will you pray with me?

God’s ways are NOT our ways… and that is apparent in our two stories from scripture for this morning.

In one, the people’s complaints lead not to a good scolding from God, but to a blessing – daily manna, daily bread for their journey through the wilderness.

In the other, a story about work and labor, all were paid the same for their work in the vineyard, even though some had been out in the sun all day long and others had been in the fields for only an hour.

Complainers being rewarded?

A tenth of the work and equal pay?

Don’t these stories just make you squirm around in your seats a little bit and want to shout out: But that’s not fair!!!

It’s not.

It’s not fair.

We like a well ordered society, one with liberty and justice for all.

We believe everyone has a shot at the American Dream.

We want the playing field to be level and we search out those who are cheating and throw them out of the game.

We want everyone to have an equal chance at greatness.

We want to be able to start at a place of fairness… and then the chips fall where they may.

Those who exceed expectations or break records or make billions have our attention. They have worked for it. They have earned it. They deserve it.

After all, we have worked hard for the things we have, just the same.

And when someone comes around who does little to no work whatsoever and gets paid the same as us…. Or when someone who has made millions does so by cheating the system… or when we lose our jobs because someone somewhere else is trying to save a little bit more money for themselves – then we start to feel that maybe situation isn’t fair again.

Jesus has been talking with his disciples about what it takes to get into the kingdom of heaven. And he sits them all down to tell a little story.

A wealthy man had a vineyard and needed workers. So he did what all landowners did: he went down to the town square to hire some laborers for the day.

Now, all of these day laborers started out with an even playing field. All of them were without work for the day. All of them were willing to work and so they headed into the town square at the break of dawn to seek employment.

But you see, the problem was, there were always more people looking for a fair day’s work than there were jobs to go around.

If you got lucky, you would expect to work for 12 back breaking hours out in a field for minimal wages. You got to go home with your hands dirty, your head held high, and with bread for supper tonight.

But if you weren’t so lucky… then you went home to your family empty handed. You would have spent the entire day standing in the hot sun in the town square, waiting for work, and you would have nothing to show for it.

This was a time without government help.

These were days without unemployment benefits.

No COBRA, or food stamps, or welfare.

No matter what you think about how our government today responds to the needs of the unemployed, the poor, the disabled, and yes, sometimes the lazy and the freeloader, that doesn’t change the fact that in the day and time of Jesus – if you did not get hired for the day, then you would not have money for that day’s food. It was as simple as that.

There was no safety net.

The laws of fairness would say – well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. No work, no pay. Little work, little pay.

But as we heard in the gospel reading… that is not how this story goes. God’s ways are NOT our ways.

Our landowner goes to town to hire and some are chosen first thing in the morning. They are eager to get to work and head out in the fields for their 12 hour shift.

But the work is great and so the landowner keeps going back in to town to hire more people. Some at 9, some at noon, some at 3, and the last group gets hired just an hour before quitting time at 6pm.

And then they all get lined up to come forward and receive their daily wages.

Those poor souls who were hired for just an hour went into the fields because they were desperate for work. A few bucks would help buy a loaf of bread for dinner, if nothing else. But as they were called up, they found themselves being paid the full wages for an entire days worth of work!

Well, the rest of the workers were simple peasants, but they could do basic math. And if they had worked for twice as long, they expected twice as much! Can you imagine how the mouths of those who had been working for 12 full hours watered?!

But as each group came forward to receive there wages… each one received a full days worth of pay.

Oh, boy… were they mad!

“It’s not fair!” those workers cried.

And they were right. It wasn’t fair.

But as the landowner spoke, do you remember what he said? “Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

Jesus tells us a story about an extravagantly generous and unfair landowner… but to what end?

Was he teaching us about work? Was he teaching us about our money and how we use it?

In part…

But we have to remember, this whole story is told in the context of people asking questions about the kingdom of God.

I truly believe that at its core, this is a story about daily bread.

About who has enough to eat for the day.

About who has enough to live on.

This is a story about life and death.

This is a story about salvation.

Our culture tells us that if we work hard enough and we are good boys and girls and if we are generous with our time and our money that we will be rewarded. If we keep our noses clean, there is a place waiting for us somewhere in heaven. A place we earned by our actions.

It’s all about us.

But remember… God’s ways are NOT our ways.

And God says, no… it has nothing to do with you. It is all about me.

Life depends on God.

Salvation depends God.

Freedom depends on God.

Daily bread depends on God.

Every breath that you take depends upon the God who created you.

That is the message we heard from Exodus this morning.

Those Israelites had be saved from the oppressive hand of Pharoah… they had been led to freedom through the sea… they had been guided day and night by the very presence of God… None of that they could have done on their own. It was all God. It was all grace.

But, like us, the Israelites are human. And they started thinking back to the days when they weren’t dependent upon God. When their honest days labor earned them some bread. When they were stuck in a system of injustice, but at least they knew what to expect. When they were dependent upon no one but the work of their own hands.

They found themselves in the middle of nowhere, utterly dependent upon God, and it kind of terrified them.

But that is precisely when God steps in and reminds them… I am enough. I will provide.

And just like the rain gently fell this morning, bread rained down from heaven.

Pulled away from their jobs and the rat race and the competition and the battle to get what was theirs, the Israelites were being taught that in the end, everything depends on God.

It is all grace.

From the rising of the sun to the rain that falls… it is all grace.

From the bread on the table to the money in our pockets… it is all grace.

We don’t deserve any of it.

We didn’t earn any of it.

None of it was ours to begin with.

We are nothing but cells stuck together and formed into amazing bodies – and even that is a gracious and generous act of God.

That is a very different mindset from a world that tells you to work hard to earn what is yours and then do everything in your power to hang onto it.

No… it is all grace. It is all a gift.
Jesus told that story about the laborers in the vineyard because each of us are like day laborers when it comes to our salvation.
We have no land, no rights, no security. The kingdom of heaven, like the vineyard doesn’t belong to us.

But then God reaches out to us and says, come my children. Come and walk with me. Come and work with me. Come and be a part of what I am doing.

God came into some of our lives a long time ago. As children we accepted the grace of God and found life eternal.

Some of us found God as teenagers, or adults, or older adults.

Some of us don’t find the gift of God until the very end of our lives.

But no matter when we find it – it is all a gift. It is all grace.

It’s not fair. But it is good.

Love… gotta have it!

The Sunday that I traveled up to Cherokee, my nine-year-old cousin Taylor was baptized.

One afternoon, she came home very upset from school.

You see, one of her best friends at school had asked her that day if she had been baptized.

Taylor wasn’t sure, and her little friend responded: If you aren’t baptized, you can’t be a child of God.

When I first heard the story, I remember feeling a flash of horror come over me. Did she really say that? What a terrible and awful thing to say to someone!

And then I started to wonder why exactly that statement was so off-putting to me: If you aren’t baptized, you can’t be a child of God.

Looking deeper, I realized that my understanding of baptism… the Methodist church’s understanding of baptism is very different from the view expressed by that little girl.

You see, in our United Methodist tradition, baptism isn’t a pre-requisite for receiving the love of God… it is a sign, it is a reminder, that we are already loved.

Baptism is acknowledgment of the fact that God’s grace is already active in our lives… it goes before us – before we even know it is there.

Pop quiz time: Who remembers what kind of grace that is? The grace that goes before us?

Prevenient grace – gold star!

As much as that statement about baptism made me quake a little bit – there is also a measure of truth to the statement. In baptism, we do put on Christ, we are clothed in his righteousness, we are adopted in the family so to speak. In our baptism, but also in our confirmation of that faith when we stand before the church and profess what we believe, we are say to God – I accept that you have called me and claimed me. I will live as a child of God with your help.

But what is important to remember is that it all starts with God. And God acts in our lives because we are loved.

Often times, it is hard to see God acting in the world. Sometimes the world is cloudy and dim and life seems bleak. In fact, in our Advent scriptures this morning, we hear words of promise spoken to people who were scared and broken. In the midst of troubled days, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and offered a sign – a young woman is with child and will bear a son… and his name will be Immanuel.

God with us. Emmanuel.

God acted when He spoke His Word and all creation came into being. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He led Abraham to the promised land. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He saved a baby from the Nile river and led His people out of Egypt. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He anointed a young boy named David as King over the people. God with us, Emmanuel.

God acted when He spoke through the prophets and gave them warnings and signs and promises. God with us, Emmanuel.

And then God acted in the life of a peasant girl from Nazareth. God with us, Emmanuel.
Paul saw these mighty acts of God as he looked back upon the faith he received and he proclaimed that it is through Christ – through the prophecies, through his ancestry, through his birth and life and resurrection – that God has come to be with us. Emmanuel.

He knew that it is only through Christ Jesus that hope, peace, joy and love are truly possible. In Christ we receive this generous gift of life, Paul writes, and we have the urgent task of passing it on to others who will receive it.

We have the obligation… the responsibility… right now… to take this hope, peace, joy and love that is taking root in our hearts… God with us… and to share it with everyone we meet.

And what is it that we proclaim?

God is with us… Emmanuel. And just as he did in the past, God goes before us making a new way.

I think a prime example of that during this Advent season is the vision given to Joseph.

Can you imagine what this man must have been feeling? He is engaged to Mary, looking forward to their marriage, and he comes to find out that she is pregnant.

God did it, she tells him.

Yeah…. Right… Of course he did… Our God goes around impregnating people.

But he loved this young woman.

According to the law, her punishment would have been stoning. But he didn’t even consider it. He didn’t want to make a scene, he didn’t want to humiliate her… and he certainly didn’t want to pretend that another man’s child was his.

He made up his mind to break off the engagement quietly. She wasn’t showing yet – people wouldn’t know that she had cheated on him.

 

And just when he had finally worked up the courage to do it and layed down to get some rest, an angel appeared to him in his dream.
St. Joseph with Christ Child. Michael D. O’Brien

 

Do not be afraid, the angel said.

Her child was conceived by God, the angel assured him.

God has done this to save his people… remember the prophets? Remember Isaiah? This is the one that you have been waiting for. This is Emmanuel. This is God, come to be with you.

Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.

God acted once again. God intervened and spoke words of comfort and peace.

And Joseph woke up, and took Mary as his wife.

I can actually imagine him running out the door in the middle of the night and heading over to her father’s house. I can see him pounding on the door, begging to see her. I can see them rushing over to the nearest rabbi’s house and waking up the whole household in the process…. Can you marry us tonight?

Because you see, when we realize that God is with us. When we realize that Emmanuel has come to dwell in our lives… we are filled with urgency. Urgency to share that good news with others. Urgency to tell the story. Urgency to obey God’s commands. Urgency to spread hope and peace and joy and love to everyone we meet.

When my cousin Taylor came home from school, believing that she wasn’t a child of God, my uncle sprang into action. He called up the pastor and asked what could be done. And there is no better way to remind us of the way that God loves us – the way that God has already acted in our lives – than to touch these cool waters of baptism.

And so, with our whole family there, that weekend, we surrounded Taylor with our love, reminded her of God’s love for her, and she knew that she was a child of God. She knew that God was with her… Emmanuel.

The only question left for us is who needs to hear those words today? Who needs to know that they too are loved? Where is God already moving and waiting for you to act?