A Sermon By John Brierly McCall, D. Min. –
Exodus 32:1-10
Matthew 20:1-16
Eat your vegetables and say your prayers. Always do your very best. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. God helps those who help themselves. Buy low and sell high. The more things change the more they remain the same.
There are many pearls of wisdom that have stood the test of time. When I prepare for a funeral I usually ask the children what their late mother or father taught them by word and example. And often it’s proverbs or aphorisms like these.
But conventional wisdom isn’t so conventional any more. Life isn’t a formula into which we plug the numbers and always get the outcome we expect. Sometimes life just doesn’t make sense. As the wise author of Ecclesiastes wrote: “In my vain life I have seen everything: there are righteous people who die young in their righteousness and wicked people who live to a ripe old age in their evil ways.”
No matter how carefully we plan and prepare, no matter how tightly we control the few things that really are in our control, we all live in the face of the unknown. The reality of tomorrow may bear some resemblance to what we imagine today. But just as likely it will be dramatically different.
For example a report in Newsweek recently says we’re poorly prepared for attacks by the new terrorist of the world – not Al Qaida but Mother Nature. Over the past six months we’ve faced the wrath of hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and floods of epic proportions. And rebuilding is costing many billions of dollars.
And the New York Times reports this week that market volatility may be the new normal and the old ways of predicting trends no longer apply.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/12/business/economy/stock-markets-sharp-swings-grow-more-frequent.html?_r=1
In many ways what was once abnormal is the new normal – extremes in the stock market and the weather will parallel extremes in political rhetoric and religious fanaticism. So how do we face the unknown that stares back at us?
One common response is to deceive ourselves. We are quick to claim that we can control much more of the chaos than we actually can. And we may do so by pushing God away.
The story from Exodus reminds us of the very human instinct to project our image onto God. God called Moses to the mountain. While he was there the Israelites grew restless, tired of waiting, doubtful whether this God of the Exodus was more powerful than the many gods of the Egyptians and the Canaanites.
They said to Moses’ brother, Aaron: “make us a god to our specifications.” So Aaron collected all the gold and jewels. It wouldn’t have done to make a statue of stone or wood. This god would be made of the things they already worshiped.
By making God in our image we keep the control. We call the shots and decide the outcome. In Exodus God called the people “stiff necked.” They broke the commandments and betrayed the covenant, so God intended to destroy them. Moses begged for forgiveness, and God repented.
In the face of the unknown we build up many idols and false gods. We pursue those things which thieves can steal and moths can destroy. We make gods of our possessions and a possession of our God. Even so, says scripture, God will forgive us and not destroy us – though we may destroy ourselves.
Another way we deal with the unknown and uncertain future is to climb into our life-boat and pull up the ladders. We imagine that we can fend for ourselves and push away those unfortunate souls who can’t. We slip into scarcity thinking, believing that anything you get deprives me of what I deserve.
Think of the current debates about taxes and entitlements. Who will carry the greater burden and who will receive the greater benefit? Contrary to what we’d like, this won’t be solved any time soon. Long after the 2012 elections we’ll still be in the midst of the push and pull as unknown forces reshape major parts of our society.
Let’s look at this through the window of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. Now it happens that here Jesus was telling this parable to his disciples – not to Pharisees or Sadducees or others hostile to the message. He was teaching those who counted themselves among his willing, loyal followers. He was talking to us.
It’s a rich and deep story with several streams. Simply, the landowner had a vineyard filled with ripe grapes and he needed laborers to pick them. He went to the market place where the day laborers gathered to wait for work and made a contract with some, offering a fair wage for a day’s work. Seeing that more were needed to get the work done he went back four more times to hire more.
At quitting time he paid them, and gave the last ones who were hired a full day’s pay. Those who worked longest and hardest imagined they’d get a handsome sum when they were paid. Instead they, too, got a fair day’s pay. They were angry and felt cheated. Said the owner: “I choose to give. Do you begrudge me my generosity?” Well, yes . . . you’re damn right we do!
In telling this parable Jesus knew that such things didn’t happen in real life. Clearly he was teaching this is how it works in the realm of God. God will do what God chooses to do. God chooses to be generous and judges all with grace and kindness.
Jesus offered a third way to life in the face of the unknown. He said we who follow him and who call ourselves Christians will be shaped into “community.” We live together as the body of Christ. There are particular ways we choose to live in this community.
In Jesus’ parable the laborers were all in the field because each of them had answered the owner’s call – and the owner needed each and every one of them to get the work done. So for us as the church.
While the laborers were keeping track of who worked how hard, and who arrived early or late, the owner was saying “there’s work to be done, and if you will come in answer to my call, I’ll give you what I’ve promised.” He kept his word, then gave even more to some who apparently didn’t deserve it.
That’s not how it worked in Jesus’ world or in ours. That much is obvious. Instead, Jesus spoke of how it will be in the realm – when God’s love permeates and shapes all of life.
We here within the church are laborers together in the vineyard living equally under God’s grace – whether we’re brand new or 50 year members; whether we sing different parts or mumble the words; those who preach and teach and advise and deliberate and labor late into the night; those who sit in pews and those who lie ill in hospital or home, those who drop a dollar in the plate and those who pledge thousands of dollars a year.
Jesus has told us that living in community with fellow believers will change us. When we come together God calls us to open our hearts and minds; to entertain always the possibility that we’ll be transformed; to consider the possibility that today, you’ll feel something shift, first subtly, then dramatically, and that you’ll grow deeper, stronger, more joyful because you’re part of the community of faith.
Living in the face of the unknown we know, too, that we’re called to look out for each other. Building false gods and golden calves can’t save us; abandoning the ship and floating in life boats can’t be our refuge.
So we gather here, not to hear the preacher but to encounter the living spirit; here where a hug or handshake or smile can begin to transform us – a little or a lot – into the kind of people God intends us to be. And then we go out into the world and share that spirit of hope and promise and joy.
There’s just no better way to live in the face of the unknown