Lectionary Reflection—24 September 2017
“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2After he agreed with the workers to pay them a full day’s wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
3“Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. 4He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever’s right.’ 5And they went.
“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. 6Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’
7“‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.
“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
8“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.’ 9When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a full day’s wage. 10Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a full day’s wage. 11When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12‘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.’
13“But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I didn’t wrong you. Didn’t I agree to pay you a full day’s wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’
16“So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”
Today we’re presented with another story about God’s Realm. This is one of those stories that seems self-explanatory. The last verse states that “those who are last will be first.” And no, this isn’t a spin of what Ricky Bobby’s dad said in Talladega Nights.
Actually, it’s a story meant to explain what Jesus did and said in the previous chapter. The very last verse of chapter 19 says the same thing—“But many who are first will be last. And many who are last will be first” (Matthew 19.30). So, to figure out what Jesus is getting at with the story above, we’ll have to see what prompted it by looking at Matthew 19.
Jesus was traveling and arrived at a coastal community in Judea, on the east coast of the Jordan (verse 1). After debating some Pharisees about divorce and marriage (vv. 3-12), people brought their children to Jesus so he could pray for them (verse 13a).
And this is where things get interesting.
The verse tells us that the disciples “scolded” (or “rebuked”) the people for bringing their children to Jesus (verse 13b).
Why would the disciples do that?
While most of us would take exception to something like this today, we have to understand the place children had in the Greco-Roman world. I should say “lack of place.” As some of us know, children “possessed little if any intrinsic value as human beings” in the ancient world and often carried the same status as “household slaves”.1 The old adage of my childhood comes to mind, “Children should be seen and not heard.”
But how did Jesus respond?
“Allow the children to come to me,” Jesus said. “Don’t forbid them, because the kingdom of heaven belongs to people like these children” (verse 14).
In a single comment, Jesus spins the whole societal context on its head. He elevates children from the place of having little or no “intrinsic value” to those of the highest value. While others may have seen children as insignificant, Jesus classified them as the model for people entering into God’s Realm.
It’s right here that the “rich young ruler” enters the story.
After witnessing this display with the children, the young man comes to Jesus and asks him what “good thing” he must do to have “eternal life” (verse 16).2 I’m sure he thought he could just offer some money to Jesus’ ministry or some other charity and that would be enough for him to enter God’s Realm. However, Jesus tells the young man to sell all he has, give the money to the poor, and then follow Jesus (verse 21). When the young man leaves dejected because what’s required is too much for him (verse 22), Jesus tells the disciples that it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for the wealthy to enter God’s Realm (vv. 23-24).3
Astounded by what has just transpired and Jesus’ statements, Peter stated that Jesus’ followers left everything to follow him. Jesus assures Peter and the rest of his followers that they’ll receive “one hundred times more” than they left behind and “inherit eternal life” when “everything is made new.” “But,” Jesus warns, “many who are first will be last. And many who are last will be first” (vv.28-30).
So, after all of that, we finally come to our passage this morning. And all of this stems from Jesus welcoming children!
Jesus welcomed children without any requirements—those considered to have “little to no intrinsic value as human beings”—but rejected the wealthy young man—a person who would have been seen at the top of the socio-economic pyramid. “Those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last” (Matthew 20.16).
The story this morning, as I said above, illustrates what Jesus said and did in the previous chapter. It’s to show that God’s no respecter of persons—that all people are the same. Jesus’ story tells us that God bestows Grace unto all people, regardless of their status in society. All people receive the same from God. And God might just do that in spite of their social status.
All throughout his ministry, Jesus sided with the “least of these”—the marginalized, the outcasts, those who didn’t seem to add anything to society—and had his strongest statements and arguments with those in power. It seems that the people of Yahweh fell into the same value systems as those around them. The wealthy had all the power and comfort while those in need had very little and were seen, not as fellow sisters and brothers, but as “things” to be used and discarded for the personal gain of the wealthy. In other words, in the very place where people should be treated equally—with the same dignity and respect, where all of the needs were met, and no one was seen as “better than” while others were seen as “less than,”—they were treated just like the rest of society. In fact, sometimes they were treated worse.
And the sad reality is that this continues to happen even today! With just a cursory glance through the New Testament, we see that the people of The Way were changing the world slowly, gently, to become more like God intended. Women were being lifted to places of honor (Romans 16). Wealth was being distributed to those in need (Acts 2.42ff; 4.32-35). Racial boundaries were being broken down (Ephesians 2.14-16; 1 Corinthians 12.13; Galatians 3.26ff).
But what do we find today? It seems that a lot of those who claim the name of Christ are the last ones to stand up to the injustices of our day. In fact, it seems a lot of people who claim the name of Christ actually fight against the equality of others. They fight against healthcare for all people but want more and more violence and war in the name of the Prince of Peace. In some of their places of worship, people of color are not allowed and people of different sexual orientation are seen as abominations to the God who created them. I wish I was using hyperbole but, alas, I’m not. We’ve seen news footage of people who, in the same breath, claim the name of Christ and hold the Nazi flag. The words of St Morgan come to mind:
“It is from the sacrament of anointing, both of Christ and of all Christians…that the name and term [Christian] have come, which name those people have been wrongly given who imitate Christ hardly at all. How can you be called something which you are not, and falsely take another’s name? But if you wish to be a Christian, then do the things that are of Christ and worthily bear the name of Christian.”4
Those things that “are of Christ” are the things that place the other before ourselves, of loving one’s enemies, seeking the good of others above our own, putting the needs of the community above our own. And, more pointedly to the passage above, putting the “last” at the “first” of the line.
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In the Love of the Three in One,
Br. Jack+, LC
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1. Green, J. B. (1997). The Gospel of Luke. The New International Commentary on the New Testament (650–651). Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.
2. While this will have to be left for another post, I find it very interesting that Jesus responded to the young man’s inquiry by telling him to follow the Law instead of believing the Good News (cf. Mark 1.15).
3. I’ve heard a lot of different theories about a camel and the “eye of a needle” and all of them miss the point. Jesus is using hyperbole. He’s not talking about some supposed small door called the “eye of a needle.” All such theories are silly and fail to recognize the different types of speech recorded in Scripture. This is what happens when one tries to keep to a “literal” interpretation of the Bible.
4. McIntosh, Kenneth (2017). Celtic Bible Commentary Volume One: The Winged Man—The Good News According to Matthew (123). Anamchara Books, a division of Harding House Publishing Service, Inc. All rights reserved.
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