What Then Will We Have?

Sermon-Proper 20A/ Pentecost +14
September 18, 2011
Do you remember the sitcom, Cheers? There was a very odd character always sitting at the bar, named Cliff. Every once in a while Cliff would say something really off the wall, and there would be dead silence. He would look up at everyone would be staring at him, and he would ask, “wait a second, did I say that out loud?” His internal monologue had gone public. We all have them, those things we say in our head that we wouldn’t dare say out loud. We’re now in chapter 20 of Matthew, Jesus has been teaching his friends, the disciples, how to make his kingdom work-if he should leave. And he tells this story about a rich landowner and people getting hired. But what we don’t hear is why Jesus tells this story. Four verses earlier Peter, the rock that the church will be built on, says to Jesus:
"Lord, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?" (19:27) As Alyce MacKenzie notes: “By now, Peter and the other disciples are pretty clear about what they've lost. They're missing their children and extended families, they're yearning for their wives, and they're missing their familiar surroundings, their beds, their boats, their nets.”
They don’t want to hear about the last and the first. They don’t want to hear about acceptance and everyone getting into heaven-they want to know what all of this sacrifice and following and has got them: “What then will we have?” What does being a Christian get us?
Think back over the last 24 hours-can you remember an event, an incident, something, where you weren’t treated fairly? A family member took advantage of you? A car cut you off? Someone got more than you? Stop when you can remember 3. I always know that I’m in a bad mood when I start making lists: this happened, and that happened, and this, and that. When I start keeping track, counting up, I know that I am looking for injustices in my life. What’s amazing to me is how many there are. We-do-not-get-treated-fairly!
We all know people like us-people who feel as though they don’t get what they deserve, people who are critical. Recently on the Episcopal communicators blog there was a conversation about “snarkiness”. All the Christian educators were complaining about people in their congregations who gripe, criticize and nitpick. They were complaining about people who complain. Wayne Brouwer tells the story about the famous poet Matthew Arnold. “British poet Matthew Arnold was neither kind nor gracious. He was known for his overly critical eye. One time he stayed at the home of an American family while on a speaking tour. His hostess offered him pancakes for breakfast. Arnold took one, tasted it, and then passed the plate to his wife. "Do try one, my dear," he said. "They're not as nasty as they look!" When he died, one of his neighbors said of him, "Poor Matthew; he won't like God."
But this gospel isn’t just that there are crabby people in the world-it’s about what Christians deserve-and what we will get. We want to be God’s beloved. We want God’s favor. We want God to love us. Most. First. We have been faithful, we earned it. Instead, Jesus tells the story that even those who come late to the party will be loved. Just as much. This will be difficult. “What then will we have?"Peter asks
This isn’t a Christian thing-this is a human thing. If we work hard, if we work all day, we deserve our reward. But it’s more than that. We deserve more. That is the challenge building in the gospel. Jesus is struggling with the Jewish elite who kept people out, down, or at the back-because most did not measure up to them. As Jesus builds his church, the new Christians, like Peter, want to establish the same kind of order. From Alyce Mackenzie again: “On two recent occasions in Matthew the disciples have tried to keep people from bothering Jesus. These people were the Canaanite woman and a group of children (15:23, 19:13). Following the parable of the workers in the vineyard is a passage that highlights the disciples' continuing struggle with spiritual elitism. The arrogance and ambition of the disciples is voiced by James and John's mother as she negotiates for the corner offices for them in the kingdom of heaven (Mt. 20:20-28).”
The new church that Peter is supposed to be the rock for, is doing the same thing Jesus is fighting. ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’
The problem with the story of the laborers in the vineyard isn’t unfairness. The problem isn’t the first will be last and the last first. The problem is that the last will be the same. That is not right. We should be at the front. We have worked hard, we have given our all. We deserve more.
David Lose puts it best: “Because this parable lays before each and all of us a choice as clear as can be. When we look at our lives, do we count our blessings or our misfortunes? Do we pay attention to the areas of plenty in our lives or what we perceive we lack? Do we live by gratitude or envy? Do we look to others in solidarity and compassion or see them only as competition? The killer thing about this choice is that it really is a choice as unavoidable as it is simple -- you just can't be grateful and envious at the same time. So which is it going to be?
So which is it going to be? I know which one it want it to be-I will be first, I deserve more- I am at the front. That’s what Peter thought. That’s what James and John’s mother wanted. That’s what Christians want. “What then will we have?" We will have what we choose-gratitude or envy. God has already given us the gift. It’s time for that inside voice to change. Amen.
27 Then Peter said in reply, ‘Look, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?’ 28Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man is seated on the throne of his glory, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 29And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold,* and will inherit eternal life. 30But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.