26th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Buttering Parsnips

 

What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the 1st and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard’. ‘I will not’, he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, Sir’, but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?

Matthew 21.28 – 31

What do you think? Which child are you most like? You might think that the one who obeyed his father in the end is preferable but, to be frank, neither wins ‘favourite child’ status in their father’s eye. We probably feel that we are a little of both at times but that is no recommendation either. There must be another way.

I imagine that we all know to whom Jesus was referring when he told this parable. The first are those who live self-indulgent, disobedient lifestyles ignoring God but then repenting and following Jesus; the prostitutes, gluttons, and tax-gatherers are representative sinners. The second are those who are self-righteous, smug and who profess piety but cynically fail in their obedience to God; the Jewish religious and secular leaders of Jesus’ time, still representative sinners.

The point of this parable is that neither is perfect, even if the first is obedient in the end. It teaches us that a promise is never a replacement for obedient service; we are not buttering parsnips here. On the other hand, service is marred by lack of grace and enthusiasm.

The ideal, the Christian way, is to serve our heavenly Father obediently with respect, good grace, and enthusiasm.

So, do we butter our faith with fine words or are we ‘push comes to shove’ Christians or are we ready to please our Father by saying ‘yes’ and meaning ‘yes’ in perfect obedience.

Come, sinners, to the gospel feast,
let every soul be Jesu’s guest;
you need not one be left behind,
or God has called all humankind.

Sent by my Lord, on you I call,
the invitation is to all;
come, all the world and witness how
all things in Christ are ready now.

His love is mighty to compel;
his conquering love consent to feel;
yield to his love's resistless power,
and fight against your God no more.

This is the time; no more delay!
This is the Lord's accepted day;
come in, this moment, at his call,
and live for him who died for all.

Charles Wesley (1707–1788)

The Methodist Church provides worship and devotional resources at www.methodist.org.uk

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Mustn’t Grumble

 

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning the went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay whatever is right.” So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long?” “Because no one here has hired us,” they answered. He said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.” When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going to the first.” The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last only worked one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work in the heat of the day.” But he answered one of them. “I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agreed to work for a denarius?” Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Our are you envious of because I am generous.”

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Matthew 20.1-16

Jesus does not tell this parable to encourage social justice or equality. Here, instead, is a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven and the generosity of God’s grace. It is a story of hope but also of warning.

It is unlikely that this story has an origin in a real situation. Surely a successful landowner would only pay his workers for their productivity. But here we have a landowner who is identified with God and his approach is different. A denarius was the sum needed for a worker to support his family for one day; any less and the family starved. The landowner is paying what the worker needs and that is how we receive God’s loving grace, all that we need.

Of course, all that we need, as we serve God and his kingdom, is neither wage nor reward. Our relationship with God is not contractual, one in which we are rewarded for the service that we render. Ours is God’s promise that we are saved from sin’s oppression to joyfully become part of his kingdom of life and love. We do not deserve it and there is nothing we can do to earn it. God’s grace is not quantifiable; there is not a time when we need much of it and another when we need less. God’s gift of grace is freely given out of his abundant generosity. We respond to God’s bounty in offering him all that we have.

It is of great comfort to know that we may come to know God in Christ early in our lives or at the eleventh hour and, whenever our faith journey starts, we are equally welcomed into his presence. We may not all have worked for long in his service or have contributed in the same way but all that we do is of equal value to our generous God. What really matters is not the service we give but the love and joy in which it is given.

This leads to the warning; it is easy for us to become envious because of God’s generosity, especially among established members of the church. There is no preferred status in the kingdom of heaven. Jesus warned his disciples that those who consider themselves favoured because they arrived first will be last if reward is their primary concern. God is out there seeking those that everyone else rejected and offering an equal place in his kingdom. It seems unfair, but that is the mystery of God’s grace; it is a gift made equally to all irrespective of service.

The disciples needed to learn that lesson and it is something of which we need to be regularly reminded. We mustn’t grumble when God is generous.

Take my life, and let it be
              consecrated, Lord, to thee;
              take my moments and my days,
              let them flow in ceaseless praise.

              Take my love; my Lord, I pour
              at thy feet its treasure-store;
              take myself, and I will be
              ever, only, all for thee.

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879)

The Methodist Church provides worship and devotional resources at www.methodist.org.uk

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Stop Counting

 

'Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times”.’

Matthew 18.21

Let us get our wrongdoings into perspective. The distance between what we perceive as our minor misdemeanours and the wickedness perpetrated by the vilest tyrant is the distance from your front door to the bottom of the road, when seen from a GPS Satellite; we might say a drop in the ocean. But this doesn’t mean that we should ignore the rifts caused by sinfulness and brush matters under the carpet. They need to be resolved and forgiveness is the key.

The point Jesus is making in this pronouncement, and the ‘Parable of the Unmerciful Servant’ that follows, is that we should never give up seeking forgiveness and reconciliation even in the most harrowing of circumstances. We must forgive and forgive and keep on forgiving.

Love and forgiveness are central to the Gospel message. At the centre of the Lord’s Prayer we ask a merciful God to forgive us just as we are forgiving those who have wronged us. The first is dependent upon the second. We will not be granted God’s forgiveness unless we are prepared to forgive and forgive and keep on forgiving. At first that seems at odds with the God who is love but that is to misunderstand the nature of that love. God does not stop loving us nor does he stop forgiving. Rather, it concerns our being receptive to very nature of forgiveness; if we cannot forgive others the tiniest of injustices, it will never be possible for us to accept God’s unmerited forgiveness for the immeasurable wrong we have done to him.

If you are keeping a tally of the times you have forgiven someone who has sinned against you, you are not really forgiving them, you are just postponing your retribution. If God’s absolution is granted for the greatest of humankind’s atrocities, we can offer nothing less. We must forgive and forgive and keep on forgiving.

The Lord’s Prayer (modern form)

Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your Name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Save us from the time of trial
and deliver us from evil.
For the kingdom,
the power and the glory are yours,
now and forever.
Amen.

The Methodist Church provides worship and devotional resources at www.methodist.org.uk

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - Reconciliation

‘If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that “every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses”. If thy still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; if they refuse to listen to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

For where two or three gather in my name, there I am with them.’ Matthew 18.15-17 & 20

If you believe that reconciliation is achieved by overlooking an offence or a papering-over-the-cracks approach to forgiveness, then you are sadly mistaken. You only need to look at unresolved disputes at a societal or personal level, to know that not confronting the real evil at the heart of the matter will only result in resentment, division, and further dispute. This is heart-breaking especially when it occurs in Christian communities.

The three-point plan that Jesus advocates is crucial to genuine reconciliation that needs courage, humility, and prayer.

1.      Face to face – words spoken generously and listened to sympathetically have the potential to repair a broken relationship whereas the written word may lead to misunderstanding. There is joy in a brother or sister rediscovered.

2.      Trusted companions provide an independent assessment and who give witness will ensure a balanced approach to the issues raised.

3.      It is in the atmosphere of a prayerful, loving Christian fellowship that personal relationships can be put right.

In the end, if reconciliation is not possible, the next step is not exclusion. Treating someone as a ‘pagan’ or ‘tax collector’ as Jesus would does not mean abandonment but a challenge to win them over with love that can touch the hardest heart. Jesus does not set limits on forgiveness and neither should we.

We are enjoined to pray together as we meet this challenge. However, praying in Jesus name not only comes with the promise that we will be heard and answered but a warning that he will be aware of the truth that lies at the centre of all our hearts.

Engaging in lasting reconciliation will involve great sacrifice but has the potential for real hope and boundless joy.

All praise to our redeeming Lord, who joins us by his grace, and bids us, each to each restored, together seek his face.	And if our fellowship below in Jesus be so sweet, what heights of rapture shall we know when round this throne we meet!
He bids us build each other up; and, gathered into one, to our high calling’s glorious hope we hand in hand go on.	Charles Wesley (1707 – 88)

The Methodist Church provides worship and devotional resources at www.methodist.org.uk