Unpredictable

Proper 20 A 2014
http://www.lectionarypage.net/YearA_RCL/Pentecost/AProp20_RCL.html


“Grant us, Lord, not to be anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things that are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure…”

A lovely Collect, and a lovely thought. But simply not being anxious about earthly things is not an easy thought. Nor is it easy to release the things that are passing away and hold fast to those that shall endure.

I don’t know about you, but I am very good about being anxious about earthly things: How can I help my church survive and even grow? How can I keep on making a living until I can retire? I spend a great deal of my time being anxious about those things.

When those things do not work out according to plan, that’s when resentment begins. Didn’t I do everything right?

Today’s readings make today “Resentment Sunday.” Resentment is shot all through the texts. Jonah does what God asks him to and preaches to those nasty Ninevites, the ISIL of the ancient Middle East. He hopes to see some fireworks and divine wrath as a result, hopes to see the Ninevites get what they deserve. Jonah probably hopes to get what he himself deserves—a decent retirement and a good reputation as a successful prophet, good solid mention in the Bible with lots of quotes from his preaching.

But Jonah does not get the outcome he planned. Instead he gets near heat stroke as even the scraggly shade bush over his head withers away. And all God does is ask, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

For God’s plan changes and God’s wisdom is deep and unpredictable. The one thing that we can know is that God is compassionate.

In the Gospel, good workers are called to the fields and promised an honest day’s wage for an honest day’s pay. But the owner hires more people all throughout the day. Each receives a denarius, the fair wage for a day of labor. Those who worked all day are angry, because they think they earned more. But that’s not how the owner thinks. “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

When our lives do not work out according to the plan, the result is often resentment and envy, even anger. What we hear in response from God is this: Do you do right to be angry? I am merciful. Are you envious? I am generous.

This is a good and challenging word for each of us in our personal lives. But this is also a good and challenging word for us here at this church we love so much. We are doing hard, challenging work, attempting to allow God to re-birth our congregation. Birth and re-birth are both small and vulnerable and unpredictable. There are no guarantees. We have already had both encouraging surprises and significant setbacks, and already some of us have been disappointed in our expectations. None of us know the end result of this journey that we have begun. Like Jonah’s mission, it is unpredictable. Like the workers in the Gospel, the only thing we know for sure is that it is a gift and honor to be called to do this work, and at the end of the day the master of the vineyard will prove to be both unpredictable and generous.

I do not envy preachers who are tasked with interpreting these texts for a comfortable community that think of themselves as self-sufficient. These texts are pretty abstract in such a setting. For us, they come alive. The New Testament was written for just such communities and just such times.

For me, part of the work has been naming my personal agenda: to be something like a “successful rector” according to the worldly standards of the 20th century, big budget and full pews on Sunday, maybe a building named "Neilson Hall" God help me; to have a decent retirement with no worries. But these are all “earthly things.” As we proceed this Fall, I think we do well to name those earthly things that we ourselves love. They’re not bad things. They’re just…earthly. At the end of our mission, we may find ourselves sitting under a withered bush confronted by the strange compassion of God. At the end of the day, we shall be paid a decent wage, only to see the same pay given to new workers who have not worked all day as we have.

But that’s the Gospel. And that’s the strangeness of a God who is compassionate and generous.

Our co-patron Paul tells us the only thing we need to worry about: “Only, live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ… For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well…”

That may sound like a strange thing to hope for. But at the end of the day, at the end of all our days, this is our one hope. We began this re-birthing journey not because we believed it was a sure thing, but because we felt it is the right thing. Today we’re invited to hold fast to things that will endure—not memories and expectations, not buildings and plans, but God’s generosity, God’s mercy, and life in Christ. If we hold to Christ, we’ll see the face of the generous God at the end of the day. That’s the only pay that matters.