Septuagesima
Dear friends in Christ. Today’s Gospel reading, our Lord’s parable of the workers in the vineyard is a parable that proclaims to us the grace of God. In our daily lives we experience and we are taught from little on that one who works hard will prosper and succeed; but the one who doesn’t work hard will never amount to much. What do we see in our Lord’s parable, however? We see that the ones who worked hard all day—the ones who were up bright and early to make sure they earned wages for the day to support themselves and their families, who worked and bore the brunt of the sun and heat of the day, who put in an honest day’s work got the proper wages for a day’s labor. But so did those who worked only an hour: they probably were the sort to sleep in and weren’t in the marketplace looking for work at the crack of dawn; they were the sort who were not at all ambitious; they probably weren’t the best looking workers; and they only worked one hour! But they got the same day’s wage as those who worked the entire day!
What’s the point of Jesus’ parable? It’s simply this: when it comes to God and His kingdom, the Church, there’s a different rule in play than in the world. The very fact that a person is a Christian, righteous and holy before God, an heir of heaven and enjoying every heavenly and spiritual blessing from God is not because the Christian is somehow better and more worthy of heaven and eternal life than someone else; there’s nothing special about us or in us or that we do that makes us “worthy” of God and heaven or that made God choose and reward us. Long story short, God does not deal with us according to what is “right” and “fair”; He’s not persuaded by our “worthiness” or “unworthiness”. Instead, God deals with all of us in grace. That’s why God’s grace is so offensive and people try to find a “reason” why God brought them, but not others, into His kingdom, the Church. They try to see in themselves a reason—I am just a better person that others; I deserve it; I made a decision for Jesus; I prepared my heart rightly; etc. But notice in all these the emphasis is on “me,” “I”; the emphasis is on works. They began murmuring against the landowner, saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.' That’s why God’s grace is so offensive: it flies flat in the face of the self-righteous spirit that infects every human heart and it flies flat in the face of that sin corrupted heart that does not see/ not want to see the sin that it commits and by which it earns the eternal wrath and damnation of God.
God’s kingdom, His Church, is a Kingdom of Grace. He is not moved by what we think is our worthiness; but He is also not moved by our unworthiness. Grace: God does not give us the wrath and punishment we earn/ deserve—just as we prayed in today’s collect: we are justly punished for our offenses—but in Christ gives us every gift and blessing, also as we prayed there: we are mercifully delivered by [the Lord’s] goodness, for the glory of [His] name. With great joy we say: 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.' Why? Because all of us are the equivalent of those who only worked an hour and yet we still enjoy the fullness of God’s blessing to us in Christ! How we rejoice in the landowner’s words in Jesus’ parable: I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? The gifts we enjoy of forgiveness of sin, heaven, peace, joy, the Holy Spirit, eternal life, every heavenly blessing are ours not because we earned or deserved them but because the Lord does what He wishes with His own things.
But isn’t there some sort of disconnect between today’s Gospel—all about God’s grace—and what St. Paul writes about? Run that you may obtain [the prize]. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things… So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. Here it sounds like we earn/ deserve eternal life—after all we are to run to obtain it, exercise self-control so we don’t lose God’s gifts/ disqualify ourselves. So what gives? Is God’s grace freely given—like we hear in today’s Gospel? Or is it something we strive for? The answer: yes! God’s gift of grace is freely given; but because we are sinners living in a sinful world and under attack from the devil to give up that faith and because we still have within us our old sinful nature we, the new man, the Christian in us, strives, struggles, and fights to remain in that grace of God lest we reject/ spurn it.
Although it sounds odd, and opposite one to the other, we strive to maintain/ keep what God freely gives us—His grace. Notice what Paul writes here—how many times he writes the word all: our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. In other words all the Israelites enjoyed God’s grace and blessing. In grace, He brought them out of slavery in Egypt; in grace He separated and cleansed them as His people; in grace He bound/ connected them to Moses whom the Lord sent to lead them into safety and ultimately into the promised land; in grace, during the journey the Lord not only sustained their physical lives, but also their spiritual lives. In other words, the Lord showed His grace, freely gave His grace to the Israelites. All the Israelites who left Egypt enjoyed the same grace of the Lord; all of them received the same blessings and benefits. But what happened? Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Although all enjoyed the same grace of God, fully and abundantly poured out on them; although the Lord showed them His kindness and mercy, most of them later rejected that grace. In other words, a person may partake of the full abundance of divine grace and still be lost; a person is not saved merely because they were the recipients of God’s free grace. And why? Because God’s grace can now be rejected. May, we then, dear Christian strive to maintain and preserve what God is now fully and freely showering upon us in His Church—His grace.
These are indeed chilling words/ a chilling example from the OT—because of our sinful nature and from the temptations of the devil and world just because we were shown and enjoyed for a while the free and full grace of God, does not guarantee salvation; a person as St. Paul [1 Cor. 15.2] later says can believe in vain if they do not continue in our Lord’s grace and word.
Just like the OT Israelites leaving Egypt were so richly enjoying the grace of God, so too are we. They were under the cloud; that is, they had that pillar of cloud/ fire of God’s presence and power that guided them. We have Christ in our midst, ruling and guiding His Church; we have His holy word that not only proclaims His will and is a light to our path [Ps 119.105] but it also gives us the blessings of the forgiveness of sin and eternal life; the holy word strengthens our faith because His Holy Spirit is mightily at work in it. They all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. Like the Red Sea’s water separated the Israelites from the Egyptian military that drowned, we too have, in the Lord’s grace, been separated from the mass of lost, condemned humanity. The Israelites were closely bound by this to Moses through whom the Lord would lead them into the Promised land; we, dear Christian, in the Lord’s grace to us in baptism have been connected to Jesus’ death and resurrection and because we are connected to Him via baptism—we are in Him and He is in us—He will bring us with Him soul and body into heaven. All ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Not only did the Lord, in grace, preserve the Israelites those 40 years in the desert bodily but also spiritually—their bodily preservation pointing to the Lord preserving them spiritually. We, too, enjoy the grace of the Lord in an even greater measure as with the bread and wine of the Blessed Sacrament, we receive—eat and drink—Jesus’ very body and blood for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith; that very body offered up cursed for our sin and that very blood shed and offered God for our forgiveness.
2. But what happened to the Israelites in the desert can happen to us: Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. God’s free grace can be wasted on us; we can reject it. We can grow tired of it; take it for granted. We can never take our old sinful nature seriously enough as it works with the devil and the world to kill our faith in Christ so that God’s grace, fully and freely given to us, is rejected/ wasted on us. That’s why the upcoming Lenten season is so vital for us. It gives us the opportunity to examine our hearts and lives to root out sin, to examine ourselves whether we are still striving to remain in God’s grace which He freely gives us. It gives us the opportunity to repent for the times we take God’s grace for granted and to receive it and its forgiveness anew and afresh.
The fact that a person can partake of God’s free grace in its full abundance and still be lost is a call to us today not merely to be content that we are in the race but to win the race, that is, that we are in the faith and enjoying God’s grace and that we fight to keep enjoying it; God’s grace, given freely and fully, is worth striving for. That’s why Paul writes in our text: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Diligence is required to win the race. Again, although we are certain of God’s grace to us in Christ, since we still have our old sinful nature with us, we have to fight against, be diligent in the race; so we need this warning against our old sinful self. Just like in a race, you run straight toward the goal in order to win; here in our Christian lives we run straight toward the goal of heaven: So I do not run aimlessly; and it takes great discipline! Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. Just like any athlete would avoid any/ everything that would weaken/ disqualify him/her, so the Christian watches over their desires that arise from the old sinful nature and fights against them and strives never to yield to their will. It is this self-denial—fighting against sinful desires that mark the Christian’s life. If we give in to the desires of our old sinful nature, if we indulge our flesh and its desires then we, who have received God’s full and free grace, become unconcerned and secure. Our life as Christians, led and empowered by the Holy Spirit, will be one of direction and purpose as by daily repentance, I do not box as one beating the air but I discipline my body and keep it under control, that is, like a boxer, we make every punch count as we deal with the devil, the world and our own sinful nature—delivering blows knowing winning the battle means salvation. It is precisely here in this battle against sin, devil and our old sinful nature that we daily and anew grab ahold and make use of God’s full and free grace to us. Confessing our sins, we receive His grace that surrounds us more than the air. We run to His holy sacraments: to our baptism in which we reclaim the blessings of forgiveness of sin and eternal life; to the Sacrament of the Altar where we receive in our mouths Christ and His gifts and blessings. Here the Lord strengthens us in this race to remain in His grace.
How glorious this is—the very grace that we strive to remain in, that grace God fully and freely gives us, it strengthens us and leads us in the race to remain in that grace. God’s grace is worth striving for! INJ Amen.