CORINTH

-Sermon Notes-

September 20, 2026

 

“Gratuity of Grace”

     Today’s reading from Matthew is about “busting boundaries.”  Historically, even today, too often we place human-made boundaries around what God will and will not do.  The “Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” features the landowner (God) who initiates a contract/wage with workers (humankind) to work in his vineyard (God’s kingdom.)  After the morning worker are hired, the landowner continues to invite others into the work (as God is always extending relationship.)  At the end of the day, the early workers grumble because the later in the day workers are paid the same wage as those who have been working all day.  What gives?  The parable likely indicates that those who were hired early in the day represent the Israelites, the Jewish folks, God’s “chosen” people.  Those hired later in the day were Gentiles, a class of people thought to be excluded from God’s kingdom.  Our psalm reading this morning seems to reinforce the notion of exclusivity, ending with a reference to God’s “chosen ones.”  What gives?

     In Matthew 5:17 Jesus explained he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.  When offering the cup at the last supper, Jesus described it as the cup of the “new” covenant, a new way to be in relationship with God, through Jesus’ birth, teachings, death and resurrection.  Jesus, God incarnate, blows up the barriers around what God will, and will not, can and cannot do.  As the parable indicates, all are invited to God’s kingdom.  Jesus’ last words from the parable are appropriate: “The first shall be last, the last shall be first.”  This is the pattern Jesus exemplified-typically when entering a town or city he first went to those rejected by society, even the religious elites (tax collectors, the blind, prostitutes, tax collectors, for example.)  Jesus continually defies expectations, busts boundaries.  All are welcome.

     Here we are folks, in the 2026 version of the vineyard, working together in God’s kingdom.  What kind of boundaries have we placed around the workings of God with our own expectations?  Who are we keeping out of the vineyard?

God extends relationship to all, through the gift (a gratuity) of grace.  Let’s not place boundaries around what God will do, after all, as Jesus reminds us today: “The first shall be last and the last shall be first!”