God of Grace; God Of Time; March 17, 2019 sermon

Rev. George Miller
March 17, 2019
Matthew 20:1-16

In the beginning, when the earth was a dark and formless void, God’s breath moved over the waters and God said “Let there be light…”

…and WOW!

There was day and there was night, and there was sky and there was ocean.

There were red tomatoes, and green grass, and yellow lemons!

There were stars in the heavens and great lights in the sky; sharks, and turtles, and cats, and sandhill cranes.

And there was woman and there was man and there were family and friends and grandbabies and uncles and aunties.

And on the 7th day God say “Whew! I’m tired.”

So God pulled up her favorite rocking chair, and sat on the front porch overlooking the galaxy, sipping some lemonade, and resting his feet.

Sabbath.

Time danced on. There was the Rainbow Rumba. The Sarah Slide. The Joseph Jump. The Moses Mash.

Then it came time for the Ten Commandments 2-Step.

And amongst all the instructions given, God said “Remember the Sabbath. Keep it holy; keep it blessed.”

“Don’t stress yourself out with work, but join me on the front porch, and let’s chill out with a cool glass of lemonade, as we both enjoy Creation.”

…Time is a holy and sacred to God.

Time is the one thing that unites each and every person here on earth.

No matter how rich, no matter how poor, no matter how black, no matter how white, no matter how old, no matter how young, we all experience the same tick of the clock.

Every second, every moment, we all experience in equal measures: the same 60 minutes, the same 24 hours.

Time is a universal sanctuary that surrounds us all.

That’s one reason why the Sabbath is considered holy. It is a way in which we acknowledge that time belongs to God, and not to us.

Which brings us to today’s reading.

Jesus is on his final trip to Jerusalem, meaning he is just days away from his death.

His earthly time is coming to an end, so each moment is precious; each teaching is vital.

And here Jesus is, doing what he’s so good at- telling a parable meant to make us think about the nature of God.

Perhaps it is fitting, now that all the disciples know that Jesus is going to soon die, that Jesus shares a parable that has time as its basis.

Jesus talks about a vineyard and a landowner who seeks and finds.

Jesus talks about different periods of time. Jesus talks about pay.

He toys with our human concept of time, and our worldy way of adding monetary value to time; the notion that those in the vineyard longest should receive more.

Yet Jesus surprises us when he says that each person receives the same thing from the landowner.

Does time not seem to matter to the Master?

Why does he equally give to all no matter who they are and where they landed on the clock?

…Think about time, and what a wonderful wibbly wobbly thing it really is.

How time can appear to be so “fixed” and yet time can be so “fluid.”

How the exact same set of seconds are experienced by us all, but we all do so much different things with our seconds.

How one person can fit so much into their day, when another can barely do a load of laundry and trip to the gym.

Why is it that on vacation you can do more in 24 hours than you can during a week at home?

Or that15 minutes in the post office feels longer than an episode of CSI?

You can go 10 years without seeing your best friend but the moment you set eyes on them it’s as if time has never passed; yet five minutes sitting across the table from someone who can’t carry on a conversation feels like a decade?

…Like any of Jesus’ parables, there is no clear cut analogy that can be made, nor just one lesson to be learned.

This parable is meant to really make us think, to make us ponder, and to make us feel some kind of way about God.

One possible lesson is this-

Since all time belongs to God, God does not measure our time in the vineyard the ways others would.

Each and every one of us has had the most unique faith journey.

If each of you were to see your life with Christ as time working in a vineyard, where would you say you began?

Were you right out there working at 6 am? Were you more like the person who slept until 11 and didn’t get there until noon?

How many of us would say we started in the vineyard at 9 am but walked away for a few hours and didn’t come back until 3?

How many didn’t truly know about Jesus or believed God loved them until they reached that 5 pm mark in their lives?

…and how many here today feel like you are at the 5 pm 59 minute and 59 second mark of your life and you’re still not sure that what you’ve done in the vineyard even constitutes as worthy?

How many have felt the ravages of time and feel bogged down by the shoulda-coulda-wouldas and assume it is just too late?

How many regret that for whatever reason you weren’t able to be there at 6 or 9 am and that perhaps if you were, your whole life would’ve been easier?

…if any of these things resonate with you, I hope you know that right now the Master of the Vineyard is looking out at you and calling you “Friend.”

We say that because there is one part of this parable that is so cool.

In vs. 13, after the workers come to the landowner, grumbling and griping and saying “You did this,” and “you did that,”

the Master responds by simply saying “Friend, I have done you no wrong.”

“Friend.” What a great word to hear.

Here the owner of the vineyard is, being attacked, judged, and questioned, and instead of shouting back, or engaging in name calling, the Master calls them “Friend.”

If a parable is meant to teach us about the nature of God, what a wonderful lesson- that we can question and challenge God, and God will still call us “friend”…

…Are any of you feeling bogged down by a sense of lost time, or regrets, or guilt?

If so, please know that God’s gift for you is the same gift for even the most holy of holy persons: Grace.

Generous, unlimited, amazing grace.

You see, in Christ, it is never too late and it is never too early.

It is never too soon and it is never too far behind.

In Christ there is no expiration date and there are no deadlines.

In Christ there is always time to come to the Vineyard.

There is always time to worship the Lord, to bask in the Son, and to hear the Master call you “Friend.”

The Good News is this:

Not only is the Lord an On-Time God, the Lord is an All-The-Time God.

Meaning that God is ready to bestow upon you grace upon grace upon grace, no matter what the time, morning, noon, or night.

And that we all will get that chance to sit on the front porch with God, sipping our lemonade, looking out upon creation, and saying “Wow, oh wow. Oh wow!”

For that, we can say “Amen and amen”.