We are the Lord’s

We are the Lord’s. That’s where we ended last Sunday. Paul’s words to the Romans: "We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord… whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s." We are the Lord’s. No matter what. We are the Lord’s. These words of Paul’s are words that Jonah would have done well to hang on to (even if the story of Jonah comes centuries before Paul). And Paul’s words—we are the Lord’s—are also words that the laborers in the vineyard in this morning’s gospel parable would have done well to hang on to.

We are the Lord’s. We are the Lord’s possession. This idea of possession runs throughout this morning’s readings. And the problem for both Johan and the laborers in the vineyard is that they are focused on their possessions… what they think of as their personal possessions. Rather than remembering that what really matters is that they are the Lord’s possession.

The parable of the "laborers in the vineyard" is about being a part of God’s kingdom, being a citizen of God’s kingdom, belonging to the Lord. Like many of Jesus’ parables, we have probably misnamed it. It’s really much more about the landowner than about the laborers. It does remind us of some of human kind’s less admirable qualities—qualities that the laborers and we share. But he parable is less about the qualities of human kind than it is about the qualities of God, portrayed in the landowner. It would probably be better named the parable of the "generous landowner."

This parable is fundamentally about God’s generous bestowal of the gifts of the kingdom. It is about God withholding nothing of the benefits and rewards and grace of the kingdom from anyone who is in need.

The parable doesn’t give us a concrete picture of what the gifts of God’s kingdom may be, but we do learn a good bit about what is offered. Notice something very interesting about the way the story is told. As the day progresses, wouldn’t you expect a typical vineyard owner to go out from time to time to the vineyard? To check up on how the work is being done, whether the workers are doing their job. To make sure that the harvest is being brought in. But Matthew tells us that the landowner went to the marketplace throughout the day. Seeing people standing there idle, he offered them work in the vineyard, he invited them into the kingdom. It was the people’s idleness, their isolation, not the needs of the harvest that motivated the landowner. His hope was not to bring in the grapes, but to bring in the people.

The landowner saw people idle, without purpose, vocation, or direction in their lives. "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." You’ve heard that phrase or sentiments like it. Idleness is very different from rest. The people who stood idle in the marketplace were not in the midst of Sabbath rest. They stood there because they had nothing else to do, nowhere else to be. They had no sense of purpose or vocation. They had no sense of connection to anything beyond themselves. They were idle and isolated. And the landowner said to them: Come into the vineyard; there is a place for you; there is work to do. I will give you what you deeply need… a place among others in my kingdom, a purpose, a vocation shared, and the fullness of God’s grace.

It is the worker’s idleness, lack of purpose, lack of vocation, lack of belonging that the landowner seeks to fulfill. So he goes to the marketplace even at the close of the day, when the workday is essentially over, looking for people who need the grace of the kingdom in their lives. And to everyone who answers the landowner’s invitation, he gives them the fullness of grace, full citizenship, full participation in the vineyard. No matter when they find God, no matter when God finds them… God gives them the fullness of grace. Not just a half-day’s worth or 10%.

Without God, without participation in God’s vineyard, without citizenship in God’s kingdom, we are all idle, isolated, without purpose. But by the gift of God’s grace, we are invited into God’s kingdom; we become the Lord’s possession.

We are the Lord’s. The Lord’s possession. This is not something we earn. Some of the laborer’s in the parable saw their wages, their benefits, as their right, something they had earned for themselves. And as soon as they saw the wages as their own possession, they resented the fact that others received the same wages for less work. It isn’t right that someone else should possess as much as I do without having earned it, without having done the same amount of work.

We do not have the right to possess the kingdom; we cannot earn the benefits of God’s grace. It isn’t about our possessions; it’s about being the Lord’s possession. And to live aware that we are the Lord’s, and all that we have is the Lord’s, is to see anxiety about our possessions slip away. To live in the awareness that all we have is God’s is to find it easy to share those abundant, limitless gifts with others. God’s gifts cannot be counted or hoarded. If we can but remember that everything that is of real value is God’s is to find resentment and envy slip away. Our personal gains, our worth, is not measured against other people’s. Being citizens of God’s kingdom, we need nothing more.

Jonah had a problem with possessions, too. He also forgot that all that really mattered was that he was the Lord’s possession. He wasn’t so worried about material possessions like the laborers were. His problem was that he saw the Lord as his possession. He forgot he was the Lord’s and thought of the Lord as his. The Lord is mine, for my people, not for the people of Nineveh. The Lord is mine and you can’t have him. That may sound like a parody, but it seems to be how Jonah felt. He didn’t want the people of Nineveh to have his God.

I hope that we do not share Jonah’s petty resentment, but we do often share the attitude that we possess God, rather than the other way around. Every time that we are sure what God’s opinion is on a given topic, we treat God as our possession… Every time we are sure what God’s will is for someone else… we treat God as our subordinate, our possession. Every time we put anything having to do with God or church on a full "to do" list in our lives, we treat God as our possession, no different from the car that has to be repaired or the mortgage that has to be paid. Every time we start trying to "balance" or "prioritize" our commitments to God or to the faith with all of the other commitments in our lives, we treat God as our possession, equivalent to our other possessions and interests.

By God’s grace, we are the Lord’s. No matter what. Whether we live or die, Paul says, we are the Lord’s. To live as the Lord’s is to live in joy, humility and gratitude. To live as workers in God’s vineyard, as citizens of God’s kingdom, is to have a vocation, to belong to a marvelous fellowship, to receive the infinite abundance of God’s grace. To cling to our own possessions is to live a life of poverty, idleness and isolation. To remember that we are the Lord’s, and all that we have is the Lord’s, is to be freed from anxiety, envy and resentment.

"We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord…. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s." We are the Lord’s!

Amen.