If you were to die
today and you stood before the gates of heaven and you were asked this one
simple question test to see whether you got in or not, could you answer that
one simple question? Here is that question. “Who does God love?”
Well, if you are
not sure, I am going to give you the correct answer - not my answer, but the answer found in
today’s gospel reading. It is so simple, yet unbelievably astounding! Who does
God love? He loves everybody – everybody - no ands, ifs or buts about it!
One of the
parables that most brings this point home to me is this parable of the vineyard
workers. The parable of the “Vineyard Workers” is enough to make wine growers
all over the world cringe! This parable is not an instruction on to operate a
profitable vineyard. If you followed this example, you would be broke in no
time! No, it’s a story about how God treats us, a story about God’s
unbelievable generosity! For Jesus, the whole purpose of this parable is to
shock in order to teach! This parable is insane, according to human thinking,
but that’s the whole point of the parable. That’s its genius! It tells of God’s
unexpected insane love for us, no matter what we have done or what we have
failed to do! That’s why it is called “the gospel,” “the good news!”
Those who had
“worked all day in the sun” were the religious authorities, those who felt
entitled because they had served God faithfully for years! Those “hour before
quitting time” workers were the “tax collectors and sinners,” those who felt
unworthy in God’s eyes, the simple people who failed at following Jesus! You can imagine how both groups reacted when they
heard the punch line, “Give them all a full day’s pay!” You can imagine those who had worked all day screaming in outrage! “Give them all a full day’s pay?” "Are you out of your ever-lovin' mind? That's just not fair!"
This message is very close to the message of another parable, the one we call the Parable of the Prodigal Son. In that story, the father loves both his sons, the one who stayed home and followed all the rules, as well as the one who strayed away and got down with the pigs! The message is simple: God loves all his children, not matter what they have done or failed to do! Yes, we certainly can reject God's love, but God never quits loving us- even if we reject his love and choose our own condemnation!
The tax
collectors, sinners and rejects were delirious with joy when they heard that
message! The Scribes and Pharisees, who taught that God’s love depended on
people’s behaviors, were outraged. In the words of Jesus, they were “envious
because I am generous.” They made the
mistake of believing that there is not enough God-love to go around!
One of the worst
things to happen to the church, in my estimation, was when it started to
“conditionalize” this “good news” and started teaching people that God loves
you when you are good, quits loving you when you are bad and starts loving you
again when you shape up! It is not uncommon
to hear some religious people tone down the “good news” because it is “too
dangerous.” I was often criticized at the Cathedral by them when I welcomed
home hundreds of fallen away Catholics by preaching this message. Their worst
nightmare is that if people really believed the message of the parables and the
church really taught it, all hell would break loose! People would start doing
any damned thing they wanted! That’s the same thing that worried the Scribes
and Pharisees. In reality, the opposite was true in Jesus’ day and the opposite
is true in ours! People’s lives are transformed by that message! They are
converted by this message! This message inspires them to love others the same
way they have been loved by God – friends and enemies alike!
What do you believe? Are you one of those people who still believes that God’s pays us with love depending how many hours we have loved him? Are you one of those people who still believes that God turns his love on and off depending what we do or fail to do? If you are, really listen to the message of the parables. If it sounds too good to be true, then you have gotten the message! God’s incredible unconditional love does sound too good to be true, but the fact of the matter is, it is true! “While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!” He didn’t die for us as a reward for our shaping up! While we were still sinners, Christ died for us!
