Proper 20
Preaching
PREACHING MATTHEW'S GOSPEL
A Narrative Approach
We come this week to one of the most memorable stories in all of Matthew's Gospel: the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. In terms of Matthew's narrative we need to be aware that we come to this wonderful story by omitting Matthew 19 entirely from consideration. The remaining verses of Matthew 20, vv. 17-34, are also omitted from the Matthean lectionary. This means that from chapters 19 and 20 of Matthew only this single story is appointed by the lectionary. As we read through the omitted material we can fairly easily understand the omissions. This material is present in Mark or Luke and is appointed for preaching in the Markan or Lukan year. In a narrative approach, however, this is simply not reason enough to omit these passages from any consideration in the Matthean year. In a narrative interest we need to ask how these stories contribute to Matthew's story. We need to understand specifically how the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard fits into its narrative niche in Matthew's telling of the Jesus story.
Let us first of all, therefore, do a brief overview of Matthew 19. We noted in Chapter 25 that Matthew 19 begins with the formula for the end of one of Matthew's five sections of material. After that we are immediately informed that Jesus left Galilee. In his first passion-resurrection prediction Jesus told his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem to suffer many things: 16:21. In 19:1-2 Jesus actually leaves Galilee where he has spent his entire ministry (4:12-16) and begins the dark journey to Jerusalem. In chapters 19 and 20 Jesus begins to address his disciples about the nature of following him and how differently the children of the kingdom live from the normal cultural expectations of the day. These chapters cover such topics as marriage, divorce, celibacy, children, rank, privilege and money! One could certainly consider preaching a sermon on Matthew 19 and 20, setting forth the nature of the life of Christian discipleship.
The first topic of discussion between Jesus and his disciples is a discussion of marriage, divorce, and celibacy: 19:3-12. Jesus' words on the lasting character of marriage is certainly a word that protects the rights of women. Jesus' words show a concern for these "little ones," these women, who were simply dispensable commodities in the marital practices of his day.
Next comes a word about the children: 19:13-15. Jesus has just said that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself to become like a child (18:1-4). The "little ones" are not to be despised: 18:10-14. It is the Father's will that not one of the "little ones" should perish. Now again in chapter 19 Jesus holds up the child, a "little one," as the model of a member of the kingdom. Chapters 19-20 are filled with people interested in power and position. Jesus has quite a different "take" on such matters. To such as children belongs the kingdom! This is Jesus at his "turn-the-world-upside-down" best!
Matthew 19:16-30 is the well-known story of the one (Matthew calls him neither rich nor young at the outset of the story) who wants to know what good deed he must do to complete his holy life of fidelity to the commandments. (Protestant ears pick up quickly at this brazen attempt to do something to earn salvation. There is a problem here!) The man is truly righteous by the standards of his religion. Jesus makes that discovery. Such a man could rank high in the kingdom. Maybe he would be the first in line for heaven. The disciples surely think so. They can't figure out who can be saved if this man can't be saved (19:25). Jesus' question cuts to the heart of human vulnerability. He can't give up everything in order to be a servant. That's what Jesus did (Philippians 2:5-8). And so the man goes away sorrowful. The first becomes last! (19:30).
The disciples are astonished and wonder who can be saved. That's the matter before us here. Who can be saved? If you can't be saved by being good, then what? Jesus tells the disciples who and how one can be saved. "For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible" (19:26). This pericope closes with a second word of Jesus about who can be saved. He says, "Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first" (19:30). It's the upside-down kingdom all over again! Surely Matthew intends that the story of the man who was first in commandment-keeping and the story of the Laborers in the Vineyard help to interpret each other. The "do-good" man was a first one who became last. The last laborers hired by the householder became first. "So the last will be first, and the first will be last" (20:16). This is the climaxing word of Jesus in relationship to his parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Jesus has told a story that shocks us with its news of how one is to be saved. The last will be saved. The least will be saved. The last (laborers in the vineyard) will be first; and the first (the one who kept the commandments) will be last! Amazing grace!
You might note how often the language of first and last is used in the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard: vv. 8, 10, 12, 16. This theme appears to continue throughout chapter 20. The mother of the sons of Zebedee comes to Jesus asking that her sons might be first in the kingdom. "Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom" (20:21). Jesus told the woman: "You're thinking like a Gentile." "...the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (20:25-28). The "do-good" man was invited by Jesus to be least of all and servant of all. The sons of Zebedee receive the same invitation. Such is life in the kingdom.
In 20:20-28 two disciples, through their mother no less, want to solidify their "first of all" status. In 20:29-33 two men who are blind, two of the "least of all," have their eyes opened by Jesus. Jesus came to open our blind eyes that we might see that the kingdom of heaven is offered to the "least of all." Jesus came to open our blind eyes that we might be servants of all. How can we be saved? How can we be fit members of the kingdom of heaven? Only Jesus has the power to make it so.
In commenting on Matthew 19 Robert Smith also underscores the theme of hardness.
This chapter seems to feature hard or difficult things: hard for a man to marry and not divorce (vv. 3-9), hard not to marry and to become a eunuch for the kingdom (vv. 10-12), hard to welcome and value children (vv. 13-15), hard to be generous like God who is unstintingly good (vv. 16-23), hard to be saved (v. 25).1
We will close our comments with one further word from Smith that summarizes the material we have been looking at.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard (20:1-16) concludes the long section that began with the second passion prediction (17:22-23). All the material in this section comments continuously on the hard and narrow road Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem and death, nudging readers to see the path to the cross as the way of life. So this whole section summons disciples to pay the tax even though they are free and under no obligation (17:24-27), to become like children (18:1-4) and, far from offending any of the little ones, to do everything possible to seek and embrace and joyously include the little ones and the straying (18:5-20), to forgive 70 times 7 (18:23-35), to live with wives as a gift of God or to renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom, whichever is their gift (19:1-12), to embrace and bless children (19:13-15), to share all they have with the poor (19:16-22), to give up everything and follow Jesus (19:23-29), to abandon calculation and practice wild generosity (20:1-16).2
Homiletical Directions
As we hinted at above there is much good didactic material on the nature of life in the kingdom of heaven in chapters 19 and 20 of Matthew. The just quoted summary given by Robert Smith could be a kind of outline for such a sermon.
A narrative sermon on Matthew 19 and 20 could cover almost all the stories told under the theme of the last and the first. You will have to determine how many of these stories you wish to tell as you seek to bring alive the reality of God's love for the least of all. Such storytelling will weave the themes of the least of all, the last and the first, throughout its telling.
At a minimum a narrative sermon would tell two stories. These would be the stories of the first becoming last (the "do good" man, 19:16-30) and the story of the last becoming first (the laborers in the vineyard, 20:1-16). These stories should be told to heighten the impact of the last and first language of the text. At the close of the telling of these stories we need to help our parishioners (and ourselves!) understand that sinners such as we certainly qualify for the title: last of all. Confession of sin, which is a standard part of Christian liturgy, is the admission that we are, indeed, last of all. You may wish to include a form of confession at this point in your sermon. Confession is the exercise of the last of all.
An incidental note. The story of Jonah in the Old Testament is also an incredible story of the last (citizens of Nineveh) being first ("should I not pity Nineveh?" Jonah 4:11). Jonah's angry complaint that he did not want to set out on this journey in the first place because he knew (and didn't approve) of God's grace and mercy (Jonah 4:1-5) sounds very much like the complaints of those vineyard laborers who griped about God's grace! The Jonah story could also be told this week in juxtaposition to the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. (In what ways do we begrudge God's generosity?)
Our stories for this week have much good news for "last-of-all" kinds of people. The master of the vineyard speaks that good news forth in the clearest manner. In this parable Jesus clearly intends that we understand that the master in this story speaks as God would speak to the little ones, the giant sinners. What God speaks to those who were hired at the last is what God speaks to us today.
"I have heard your humble cry of confession. I have heard the prayers of my little children, the last of all. I should stand in judgment over you. But I choose to give to the last as I give to the first. Do not begrudge my generosity. I can make the last, first. I can make sinners, saints. With mortals such things are not possible. For me, all things are possible. I call you 'first.' "
The ecclesial material in Matthew 18:23-35 and the story that follows close upon the Laborers in the Vineyard parable (20:20-28) both emphasize that people who encounter God's amazing grace are to become servants who share that grace with others. That's the point of the parable of the servant who was forgiven by the king and would not forgive one who owed him. That's the point of the story of the sons of Zebedee--"whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (20:27-28). You may wish to include this reality at the close of your proclamation. "Go now, you whom God has called first. I send you out as a servant of the children. I send you out as a servant of the little ones. I send you out as a servant of the last--wherever you may find them."
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 233.
2. Ibid., p. 238.
Let us first of all, therefore, do a brief overview of Matthew 19. We noted in Chapter 25 that Matthew 19 begins with the formula for the end of one of Matthew's five sections of material. After that we are immediately informed that Jesus left Galilee. In his first passion-resurrection prediction Jesus told his disciples that he must go up to Jerusalem to suffer many things: 16:21. In 19:1-2 Jesus actually leaves Galilee where he has spent his entire ministry (4:12-16) and begins the dark journey to Jerusalem. In chapters 19 and 20 Jesus begins to address his disciples about the nature of following him and how differently the children of the kingdom live from the normal cultural expectations of the day. These chapters cover such topics as marriage, divorce, celibacy, children, rank, privilege and money! One could certainly consider preaching a sermon on Matthew 19 and 20, setting forth the nature of the life of Christian discipleship.
The first topic of discussion between Jesus and his disciples is a discussion of marriage, divorce, and celibacy: 19:3-12. Jesus' words on the lasting character of marriage is certainly a word that protects the rights of women. Jesus' words show a concern for these "little ones," these women, who were simply dispensable commodities in the marital practices of his day.
Next comes a word about the children: 19:13-15. Jesus has just said that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself to become like a child (18:1-4). The "little ones" are not to be despised: 18:10-14. It is the Father's will that not one of the "little ones" should perish. Now again in chapter 19 Jesus holds up the child, a "little one," as the model of a member of the kingdom. Chapters 19-20 are filled with people interested in power and position. Jesus has quite a different "take" on such matters. To such as children belongs the kingdom! This is Jesus at his "turn-the-world-upside-down" best!
Matthew 19:16-30 is the well-known story of the one (Matthew calls him neither rich nor young at the outset of the story) who wants to know what good deed he must do to complete his holy life of fidelity to the commandments. (Protestant ears pick up quickly at this brazen attempt to do something to earn salvation. There is a problem here!) The man is truly righteous by the standards of his religion. Jesus makes that discovery. Such a man could rank high in the kingdom. Maybe he would be the first in line for heaven. The disciples surely think so. They can't figure out who can be saved if this man can't be saved (19:25). Jesus' question cuts to the heart of human vulnerability. He can't give up everything in order to be a servant. That's what Jesus did (Philippians 2:5-8). And so the man goes away sorrowful. The first becomes last! (19:30).
The disciples are astonished and wonder who can be saved. That's the matter before us here. Who can be saved? If you can't be saved by being good, then what? Jesus tells the disciples who and how one can be saved. "For mortals it is impossible, but for God all things are possible" (19:26). This pericope closes with a second word of Jesus about who can be saved. He says, "Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first" (19:30). It's the upside-down kingdom all over again! Surely Matthew intends that the story of the man who was first in commandment-keeping and the story of the Laborers in the Vineyard help to interpret each other. The "do-good" man was a first one who became last. The last laborers hired by the householder became first. "So the last will be first, and the first will be last" (20:16). This is the climaxing word of Jesus in relationship to his parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Jesus has told a story that shocks us with its news of how one is to be saved. The last will be saved. The least will be saved. The last (laborers in the vineyard) will be first; and the first (the one who kept the commandments) will be last! Amazing grace!
You might note how often the language of first and last is used in the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard: vv. 8, 10, 12, 16. This theme appears to continue throughout chapter 20. The mother of the sons of Zebedee comes to Jesus asking that her sons might be first in the kingdom. "Declare that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom" (20:21). Jesus told the woman: "You're thinking like a Gentile." "...the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (20:25-28). The "do-good" man was invited by Jesus to be least of all and servant of all. The sons of Zebedee receive the same invitation. Such is life in the kingdom.
In 20:20-28 two disciples, through their mother no less, want to solidify their "first of all" status. In 20:29-33 two men who are blind, two of the "least of all," have their eyes opened by Jesus. Jesus came to open our blind eyes that we might see that the kingdom of heaven is offered to the "least of all." Jesus came to open our blind eyes that we might be servants of all. How can we be saved? How can we be fit members of the kingdom of heaven? Only Jesus has the power to make it so.
In commenting on Matthew 19 Robert Smith also underscores the theme of hardness.
This chapter seems to feature hard or difficult things: hard for a man to marry and not divorce (vv. 3-9), hard not to marry and to become a eunuch for the kingdom (vv. 10-12), hard to welcome and value children (vv. 13-15), hard to be generous like God who is unstintingly good (vv. 16-23), hard to be saved (v. 25).1
We will close our comments with one further word from Smith that summarizes the material we have been looking at.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard (20:1-16) concludes the long section that began with the second passion prediction (17:22-23). All the material in this section comments continuously on the hard and narrow road Jesus is traveling to Jerusalem and death, nudging readers to see the path to the cross as the way of life. So this whole section summons disciples to pay the tax even though they are free and under no obligation (17:24-27), to become like children (18:1-4) and, far from offending any of the little ones, to do everything possible to seek and embrace and joyously include the little ones and the straying (18:5-20), to forgive 70 times 7 (18:23-35), to live with wives as a gift of God or to renounce marriage for the sake of the kingdom, whichever is their gift (19:1-12), to embrace and bless children (19:13-15), to share all they have with the poor (19:16-22), to give up everything and follow Jesus (19:23-29), to abandon calculation and practice wild generosity (20:1-16).2
Homiletical Directions
As we hinted at above there is much good didactic material on the nature of life in the kingdom of heaven in chapters 19 and 20 of Matthew. The just quoted summary given by Robert Smith could be a kind of outline for such a sermon.
A narrative sermon on Matthew 19 and 20 could cover almost all the stories told under the theme of the last and the first. You will have to determine how many of these stories you wish to tell as you seek to bring alive the reality of God's love for the least of all. Such storytelling will weave the themes of the least of all, the last and the first, throughout its telling.
At a minimum a narrative sermon would tell two stories. These would be the stories of the first becoming last (the "do good" man, 19:16-30) and the story of the last becoming first (the laborers in the vineyard, 20:1-16). These stories should be told to heighten the impact of the last and first language of the text. At the close of the telling of these stories we need to help our parishioners (and ourselves!) understand that sinners such as we certainly qualify for the title: last of all. Confession of sin, which is a standard part of Christian liturgy, is the admission that we are, indeed, last of all. You may wish to include a form of confession at this point in your sermon. Confession is the exercise of the last of all.
An incidental note. The story of Jonah in the Old Testament is also an incredible story of the last (citizens of Nineveh) being first ("should I not pity Nineveh?" Jonah 4:11). Jonah's angry complaint that he did not want to set out on this journey in the first place because he knew (and didn't approve) of God's grace and mercy (Jonah 4:1-5) sounds very much like the complaints of those vineyard laborers who griped about God's grace! The Jonah story could also be told this week in juxtaposition to the parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. (In what ways do we begrudge God's generosity?)
Our stories for this week have much good news for "last-of-all" kinds of people. The master of the vineyard speaks that good news forth in the clearest manner. In this parable Jesus clearly intends that we understand that the master in this story speaks as God would speak to the little ones, the giant sinners. What God speaks to those who were hired at the last is what God speaks to us today.
"I have heard your humble cry of confession. I have heard the prayers of my little children, the last of all. I should stand in judgment over you. But I choose to give to the last as I give to the first. Do not begrudge my generosity. I can make the last, first. I can make sinners, saints. With mortals such things are not possible. For me, all things are possible. I call you 'first.' "
The ecclesial material in Matthew 18:23-35 and the story that follows close upon the Laborers in the Vineyard parable (20:20-28) both emphasize that people who encounter God's amazing grace are to become servants who share that grace with others. That's the point of the parable of the servant who was forgiven by the king and would not forgive one who owed him. That's the point of the story of the sons of Zebedee--"whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many" (20:27-28). You may wish to include this reality at the close of your proclamation. "Go now, you whom God has called first. I send you out as a servant of the children. I send you out as a servant of the little ones. I send you out as a servant of the last--wherever you may find them."
____________
1. Robert H. Smith, Matthew: Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament (Minneapolis: Augsburg Press, 1989), p. 233.
2. Ibid., p. 238.
