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Many years ago I was an assistant manager in a steakhouse. I have very fond memories of that job even though I have to admit that handling employee matters was often very trying. Having to manage the often blatant differences between employee performance and employee compensation was, needless to say, an ongoing trial. I used to hate it when somebody found out how much somebody else was getting paid and went on a tirade about it.
But, hey, I did my share of complaining about what others got paid too. I wasn’t the only assistant manager there. There were two others. I was there first and would have been the only one had I not started attending university. We all got paid the same hourly wage which was a wise move on the part of the manager to keep us from in-fighting. But there was some tension among us. I’ll just say they weren’t as diligent in the duties of the job as I was. Even the manager would sometimes complain to me about how lazy they were. I used to get so mad. I would drop in at dinnertime during the rush to check my schedule and find the other two assistants sitting at a table smoking while the floors were a mess, tables needed busing, and the waitresses were swamped. The assistant managers should always pitch in with the floor duties when things were behind otherwise the restaurant doesn’t look clean and the employees seem more stressed than they are friendly. It’s bad business. Those two just didn’t seem to care and yet the three of us all got paid the same.
Well, that’s the way it is in the working world. I think when somebody gets paid for something they aren’t doing, somebody needs to take notice and set things straight. That’s good business, right? You don’t throw money away on labour. Generosity kills bottom line profit and that will put you out of business. Well, according to Jesus that’s just not so in the Kingdom of Heaven and he’s meaning that’s the way it is among his followers and our common relationship to him. We all get the same pay no matter how long we’ve been on the job or how well we’ve done the job. We all get him – his presence with us and his ministry to us. Because Jesus lives, we are his Body filled and joined together by the Holy Spirit and therefore the kingdom of heaven is in our midst. To use the words of the parable here, his ministry particularly in the context of this fellowship is the vineyard to which Jesus calls us to come and serve. In fact, the wage that we all receive is the Holy Spirit who gives us new life, heals us, guides us, comforts us, and empowers us to do the work that is living testimony to God and his presence in our midst.
In the Gospels, wherever Jesus he manifested, made real, made present the kingdom of heaven by the things he said and did in front of everybody. Since he is in our midst, we should be able to say the same for when we are gathered. People should be able to walk in here and say something more than “what a pretty building” or “there’s a bunch of nice people there.” People should be able to walk in here and sense Jesus' presence and say, “He’s here.” The evidence of his presence is not in the way we do worship or the way we do the things we think churches are supposed to do. It is simply that he’s here in our midst and we all in one way or another have encountered him and have in some sort of way been healed, given a new life, or felt the peace, the assurance. If not, we wouldn’t be doing this church thing anymore. For some reason, we keep coming back. Jesus who lived, died, was raised from the dead, and ascended into heaven is alive and living in and among us ministering to all. He’s here.
I’ll be honest with you and speaking personally, if Christianity were simply about living good, reading the Bible, and participating in the life of a congregation because that’s what God expects of us, I would not be a Christian. For me, there had to be, has to be more. I needed and still do need God to be real. I was for the most part raised in and around the church, baptized as a baby and confirmed at age eleven. But life for me just had too many hurts for me to simply fall back on simple beliefs. I needed God to be real. As a teen I left the church but I came back on my own at age 19 needing God to be real. I needed God. I didn’t need a religion. I didn’t need a bearded old man enthroned upon ought’s and should’s. I needed God to be real. I, like many young people today, saw no real reason to look forward to life. I had no hope.
I remember well how God showed up and hope came to me nestled in faith. It was actually in a Nazarene church. I had a girlfriend had talked me into going to her church instead of the little Presbyterian church where my best friend’s mom went and I had recently started going looking for God. She said “We’re spiritually alive. Presbyterians are dead.” Well, I’ve since found and adamantly stand on the reality that Presbyterians are very alive and we’re smart too. We like an educated minister and allow questions. I went to her church. They were a charismatic fellowship that met in an elementary school cafeteria. As soon as I walked in there, I felt him. It was like a light that could be felt but not seen, a weightless weightiness that felt good like what Peter was talking about up on the mountain during the Transfiguration when Jesus was changed to dazzling white in front of them. He said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Good. Jesus was there in their midst. I can’t explain it. I just knew he was there. It was good. It was that way week after week. It didn’t matter what they sang or said or even how they loved me. What kept me going back to that fellowship was Jesus was there. The fact that he was real, living, present sparked faith in me and hope. I had something to cling to. God really was real. God could be trusted and I could look forward to life. I got into it and here I am 36 years later still at it because I know Jesus lives. God is real. Part of the wage we get as Jesus followers is faith, the living relationship with God, and hope.
When we come into the vineyard to work there is one thing that the landowner especially wants us to do and that is to love each other generously and that is because God is love and God is generous and indeed wasteful with it. If we approach church like it is some institution in the world for doing good rather than as the living and loving body of Christ built among the relationships that we have with one another, then we’re working in somebody else’s vineyard. The kingdom of heaven will manifest itself in us and through us concretely by the way God leads us to love one another, by the way we are patient, kind, generous, in control of ourselves, and compassionate.
The wage referred to in this parable is the gift of God’s presence with us, given to us through Christ Jesus and made real in us by the Holy Spirit living in us. It is the same no matter how much work we put in around and this is because our Lord chooses to be exceedingly generous with us because he simply loves us. He wants us to have what we need to live on in this life…Himself.
Finally, the church is built on the foundation of God’s loving presence and its healing, life-changing effect on us. The church grows with how God’s loving presence leads us to love each other and those around us. I think this parable really calls us as the church to remember that our unity in love far outweighs what little we actually do of what we think churches ought to do. The way we love each other is the manifestation of the faith and hope we’ve been graciously given because we have encountered the living, risen Jesus and now have to daily struggle with knowing that God is real. If God is real, well, then that changes everything. Amen.
