Sept. 22, 2002

One of the greatest joys of serving as a Norwegian pastor at Mindekirken is to experience the enormous volunteer work that is done. As soon as rømmegrøt for 200 people is served, lutefisk for double that number is prepared, and then the Treasure Chest sale for even more than that. You have a president who is working at anytime night and day, numerous committees, Kirkering, Alle kvinner Mission, quilting group, Open House and a lot of coffee servers in the kitchen. When the church is so full, with 140 language students, (as it was this week) one may get the feeling of being in a busy anthill. Or to use the picture in today’s text, a vineyard filled with eager laborers who reap the grapes. One should not press this too far, but Jesus compares the kingdom of God with a huge production of wine. What about you? Have you found your place in the vineyard of the Lord? There are a lot of tasks. On a normal Sunday like today, we have several people in action, people who open the doors, greeters, ushers, Sunday School teacher, readers, singers, speakers and not to forget, people in charge of church coffee after the service. But a service is not a place where some are spectators and others performers. We are all participants. A service is something we celebrate with each other and our living, present Lord. We serve the Lord, and he serves us. Paul says that we are one body in Christ, each other’s limbs. We have different gifts and ministries , and the common aim is that the body of Christ should be built up. We read about those who had borne the burden of the day in the scorching heat. God bless you who have carried the heaviest burdens year after year. The parable says they got a salary. I wish every one of you could have come forward to receive an armful of roses as a sign of thanks for all you are doing. Some time ago, I asked one in the congregation why she did so much at the church. The answer was: "It enriches my life." There is a blessing in committing oneself to the work of the Lord. One receives so much back. For some of you, the Bible verse may fit: "Come away and rest a while." Mark 6:31. Jesus doesn’t primarily want to have our services, but ourselves. We are entitled to be in his care. When the burden of labor gets so heavy that the joy disappears, it may be due time to stop and rest for a while. Say no before you get burned out. Listen to your own and your nearests’ needs. You may get challenges that you should say no to, with great confidence. To others, the situation is just the opposite. One may be standing idle at the marketplace. It’s a sad thing when no one asks for one’s services. Don’t hesitate to say that you are standing idle. In the parable, new laborers showed up all the time. Maybe you are one of those who now are heading for a more active service.

The parable about the laborers in the vineyard is often used when the task is to preach about service in the kingdom of God. But the point in the parable is in fact something else. The focus is not on the laborers, but on their pay: who gets what and why. One may ask if Jesus here describes pure capitalism. The laborers who were hired first felt they were paid too little. They had worked a whole day and got the same wage as those who had worked only one hour. But it’s not about exploiting the laborers – just the opposite. At the time of Jesus, unemployment was a great problem. The laborers didn’t stand idle at the marketplace because they were lazy. It was a matter of need. One dinar was the usual daily wage, kind of a minimal existence.

In other words, we meet a farmer who can’t see his workers go home to need and famine. Therefore, everyone gets what he needs. To the ones who were hired at the third hour, it is said: "I will pay you whatever is right." In Greek, it says "what is righteous". And to the disappointed, grumbling laborers, the landowner said: "I am doing you no wrong." Righteousness has to take charity into consideration. It’s not enough to look at the performance, one has to look at the need, too. Righteousness includes solidarity, care and goodness for the weak and needy. One may ask if Jesus presents communism here? But that’s not the case because the parable also describes the fatal weakness of communism. Marx thought that the class-free society would produce the unselfish human. This was an illusion to Jesus. Even if everyone gets the same, it won’t be the end to envy and dissatisfaction. "Are you envious because I am generous?" the farmer asked. Jesus knew that evilness belongs to us, and goodness belongs to God. It’s obvious when the theme is work and wages; man is incurably selfish. Therefore the Old Testament prophets thunder against the employers who paid too little. In the New Testament it says: "The wages of the laborers who moved your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts". James 5:4. God wants righteousness and mercy. I remember the first job I had myself. It might be 35 years ago. My brother and I were to help our father in the greenhouse. And we were satisfied with the wages: 10 cents an hour. But one day, we got to hear that our friends got 25 cents for weeding the potato field. I experienced a sudden stop of the joy of work and a quick flourishing of common sickness #1, envy. I thought I had deserved as much pay as they got. What the result was, I have forgotten, and that doesn’t matter.

The laborers in the vineyard responded with envy for what they saw as unjust. What Jesus wants us to know today is that God has the right to treat all equally. When everything is taken into consideration no one gets what he deserves, luckily we may say. What we have deserved is like drops in the ocean compared to the enormous pay that God provides. God gives us the kingdom of heaven. He gives us everything. That means that whatever effort we have made, little or big, the wages are based on his grace alone, and not on what we have achieved. Do you remember the criminal on the cross? He died before he got to do anything for Jesus. Even so, he came to paradise, Jesus said. To exist is a gift, to be a child of God is a gift. Also to be in the service of the Lord is a gift. We even use the word gift about serving the Lord. When we use our talents and gifts we fulfill what we were created for. When we do what is good, that’s a gift of God.

I remember a TV interview with Sabinia Wurmbrandt that I saw many years ago. She was married to Richard Wurmbrandt who sat in Romanian prison for the sake of his faith for several years. When she answered the questions about her and her husband’s life, she began every sentence in the same way: "By the grace of God…" It’s strange to hear a human who has had to suffer so much talk about everything as a gift, even the suffering.

God pays by grace. To serve him is a privilege.

Glory be to God, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit, one true God now and forever. Amen

The Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church ·  924 E. 21st St, Minneapolis, MN 55404-2952 ·  (612)874-0716