Epiphany Season Psalm 99
The Lord is king: let the peoples tremble; he is enthroned above the cherubim: let the earth shake. The Lord is great in Zion and high above all peoples. Let them praise your name, which is great and awesome; the Lord our God is holy. Mighty king, who loves justice, you have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob. Exalt the Lord our God; bow down before his footstool, for he is holy. Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among those who call upon his name, they called upon the Lord and he answered them. He spoke to them out of the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies and the law that he gave them. You answered them, O Lord our God; you were a God who forgave them and pardoned them for their offences. Exalt the Lord our God and worship him upon his holy hill, for the Lord our God is holy.
Psalm 147.1-12
Alleluia. How good it is to make music for our God, how joyful to honour him with praise. The Lord builds up Jerusalem and gathers together the outcasts of Israel. He heals the brokenhearted and binds up all their wounds.
He counts the number of the stars and calls them all by their names. Great is our Lord and mighty in power; his wisdom is beyond all telling. The Lord lifts up the poor, but casts down the wicked to the ground.
Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; make music to our God upon the lyre; who covers the heavens with clouds and prepares rain for the earth; who makes grass to grow upon the mountains and green plants to serve our needs.
He gives the beasts their food and the young ravens when they cry. He takes no pleasure in the power of a horse, no delight in human strength; but the Lord delights in those who fear him, who put their trust in his steadfast love.
Jeremiah 23.1-8
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’
Therefore, the days are surely coming, says the Lord, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the Lord lives who brought the people of Israel up out of the land of Egypt’, but ‘As the Lord lives who brought out and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the land of the north and out of all the lands where he had driven them.’ Then they shall live in their own land.
Matthew 20.1-16
‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’
The Collect
Creator of the heavens, who led the Magi by a star to worship the Christ-child: guide and sustain us, that we may find our journey’s end in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Some days it feels like life is determined by the toss of a coin. We don’t know what we’re going to get until we’ve got it as everything we have planned, the expected outcomes and the like, all go a different way.
Take Jonah as an example or this: in his attempt to do exactly not what God wanted him to do he’s been lobbed off a ship heading for a place called Tarshish and instead travelled by number eleven whale to Nineveh, the place he was told to go to in the first place!
When Jonah arrived he was to tell the people to turn away from their wrongfully actions and make peace with God - and they did - and God relented! Jonah’s response was that he’d rather die than see God’s mercy, after all these were bloody thirsty and cruel people (Visit the British Museum in London and see the Images of their cruelty in Lacshish). But God had shown mercy where Jonah wanted revenge.
Here we have righteous anger - rarely right and never righteous - and whilst the bad people repented (but only for a while, God comes and gets them in the end) - Jonah is not in the mood to make peace, apologise, or do the right thing at all - So he goes off to sulk in the shade of a plant God had provided for him. As Jonah sits there, ticking and muttering, God send a worm to destroy the plant - just as Jonah wanted God to destroy the wretched Assyrians - and a wind kicks up to add to his discomfort: He is wretched and bitter and want to die. He cares more about a plant than the people around him.
But God, pointing out that Jonah the truth about compassionate living, how vengeance and wrong justice have no place in our hearts.
If we are to serve God there is obviously judgement to be considered, for where there are wrongs, it is right and fitting that this is so, BUT, it should be measured and balanced and delivered with compassion, mercy, justice and humility (Micah 6.6-8). This what God seeks from us and this (of course) is what He does Himself.
And it leaves us with a questions:
How do we want to be treated and who are we looking to be like - God or the bitter Prophet?
How are we going to choose to live?
What glasses do we seek to wear: justice and love - or cruel, self-righteous, vengeance?
How are we going to choose to live?
Thankfully the Philippians passage addresses our question nicely as Paul imprisoned and facing death at any turn offers the words, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.”
If we live, we live with Christ and our desire should be to work with, and for, Him. If we die, then the realised promise of eternal life removes the sting of death and eternity with God is ours - and that’s a win. To say he’d rather be dead and to be with Christ, these are bold words, but how do we truly bear this reality in our lives?
We are called to live as each moment might be our last - but we often live as if eternity is ours In this life too.
Do we, like Jonah, want it all our way?
Are we forgetting who hold the keys of life and death and seeing ourselves and our ambitions before God’s call on our lives?
It’s the person we serve that gives us authority (like the commission officers hold but never own).
Who and what are we truly living for?
And this thought turns us nicely to Matthew’s vineyard story and a parallel with the way many of us do Church as one by one, workers are added to the workforce in the vineyard. The workers are called at various times of the day (a nice analogy for the times of our lives perhaps?) and at the close of day, each receives their reward.
But each gets the same! Where’s the justice in this - if you do more, you get more - there’s no justice here at all. Where’s something I can sit under and sulk about it. Why doesn't God do the stuff I consider to be fair?
But it gets worse because the last person in gets paid first - and although it is the same money as the last person to be paid will get (which means they’ve been there even longer than the bloke with the same money who was paid first and is already on the bus home) - and it’s not fairm is it?
Or is is more than fair?
Jonah used his glasses to see how the wicked were treated and didn’t like it. They didn’t get what they, in his opinion, deserved.
Paul looked at life as saw whatever he received (life or death) was not important because the focus was Jesus and relationship with Him. But to live would benefit the kingdom and to die would be personal gain as he'd be with Jesus.
The workers in the vineyard couldn’t see that what was important was being inside the vineyard and working for, and with, the owner. Each got the same wage - just as those outside received nothing at all.
Isn’t this a parable about the kingdom?
Those In the kingdom receive the same benefit for being there: Not money but eternal life. It doesn’t matter when you come in to the kingdom of God - the benefits are the same for all. Church and the world it exists in are full of flawed people; people who can be found moaning when they see others getting what they don’t have, even when they don’t want it! “I was here before them, “ they Cry, “It’s not fair!”
Human nature sees us curse when we should be blessing. It sees us leaning against doors when we should be opening them, and that challenges me - how about you?
How many people are looking to become workers in that vineyard do you know?
How many people aren’t workers in that vineyard because they haven’t met the owner?
How often do we think about who people are and the places they occupy even though you’ve sat in church buildings for years doing the ‘Christian’ thing?
Which glasses are you putting on today?
How will you choose to see today?
The Collect
Lord God, defend your Church from all false teaching and give to your people knowledge of your truth, that we may enjoy eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Jonah 3:10-4:11
When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened. But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, ‘Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.
But the Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry?’
Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, ‘It would be better for me to die than to live.’
But God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?’
‘It is,’ he said. ‘And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.’
But the Lord said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals?’
Philippians 1:20-30
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labour for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body. Convinced of this, I know that I will remain, and I will continue with all of you for your progress and joy in the faith, so that through my being with you again your boasting in Christ Jesus will abound on account of me.
Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel without being frightened in any way by those who oppose you. This is a sign to them that they will be destroyed, but that you will be saved – and that by God. For it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for him, since you are going through the same struggle you saw I had, and now hear that I still have.
Matthew 20:1-16
‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
‘About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the market-place doing nothing. He told them, “You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went.
‘He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.
About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?”
‘“Because no one has hired us,” they answered.
‘He said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.”
‘When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.”
‘The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius.So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. “These who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.”
‘But he answered one of them,
“I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?
Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.
Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?
Or are you envious because I am generous?”
‘So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’
Post Communion Prayer
Keep, O Lord, your Church, with your perpetual mercy; and, because without you our human frailty cannot but fall, keep us ever by your help from all things hurtful, and lead us to all things profitable to our salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
