God's Relentless Pursuit for Workers in the Kingdom

The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who when out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. - Matthew 20.1

The Men’s Bible study resumed this week with a study of Matthew chapter 20. The chapter opens with this familiar parable of the laborers in the vineyard. We often remember it for its punch at the end when the workers are paid in reverse order of when they were hired and all are given the usual daily wage. It was the wage agreed upon by those early morning workers for a day’s work and the payment given for even the eleventh-hour workers so that they would have sufficiency to meet their needs. It’s a parable of justice and grace.

However, I don’t think we often pay close enough attention to the behavior of the landowner in this parable. This landowner goes out early seeking workers for his vineyard. This is to be expected. But then this landowner keeps going every few hours in search of more laborers for his vineyard. At nine and noon, three and five the landowner goes out again and again hiring workers.

If I put on my business hat for a moment, I have to wonder if this landowner is incredibly bad at knowing how many people to hire for the work that needs to be done. But human resource management is not the problem for this landowner.

The landowner is relentlessly in search of workers to go out into the vineyard. There is plenty of work to be done and the landowner will always have room for more workers who will each receive the wage they cannot earn.

Can you believe it? It is simply never too late in the day for this landowner to go out seeking more workers. Even at the eleventh-hour workers are being sent out into the vineyard.

Perhaps there have been times in our lives when God’s grace has found us at the eleventh-hour, surprising, unexpected, and abundant.

The good news for us is God’s continued pursuit for workers in God’s own vineyard. The surprise is in the payments which all turn out to be the same, sure. But also, in our God who spends the whole day getting laborers for the vineyard and giving us along with all the workers in the vineyard the joy of work in the kingdom of God.

Together we as the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America are known at the “God’s Work. Our Hands.” church. All our hands are needed in the vineyard of God’s kingdom. God has called you to this work and through you is calling others to join in tending this vineyard.

God is never done seeking out new workers. Our joy is in the labor for we have already received the grace we cannot earn.

Peace,

Pastor Robert Franek

Interim Associate Pastor