Philippians 1:21-30
Matthew 20:1-16

A sermon preached with an interpreter at St. Aidan’s Anglican Church, Baker Lake, NU

Everyone serves something.

Either we serve the Lord, who is generous and merciful; who pays us far more than we deserve.

Or we work for the master of this world.  We live the way of this world. We do whatever we need to do to “get ahead” of others, to get richer, to get more powerful.

Everyone serves something.

Our Bible readings today are meant to give us hope!
They tell us about the great blessing we can find in serving Jesus Christ as Lord.

But, we need to read those lessons carefully, because Jesus is teaching us something important about serving God.

In Matthew chapter 20, we are told about workers in the field (ᐱᕈᕐᓰᕕᖁᑎᒥᓂ), picking grapes.

The field (the vineyard) is big.
Imagine the grape plants going all the way down the side of a hill. 

Thousands and thousands of grapes, all waiting to be picked!  (Big juicy ones! Not like the little cranberries I picked on the hill the other day).

The master says “come, work for me, it is time to pick these grapes.” 
And then, what does he say about payment? 

Verse 2 says: I will pay you the fair amount for a day of work.
A “denarius”, a silver coin that could cover all your expenses for the day
(ᓯᐅᓪᕕᕆᒥᒃ ᐊᑕᐅᓯᕐᒥᒃ  ᐅᓪᓗᒧᑦ ᐊᑕᐅᓯᕐᒧᑦ)

Then he finds others to work later, and what does he say about payment?

Verse 4 He says: “I will pay you what is proper”, “what is right”.  Some translations even say “I will pay you the usual amount” (ᐊᑭᓕᕐᓂᐊᕐᐸᑦᓯ   ᐊᑭᓕᐅᑕᐅᕙᒃᑐᑎᑐᑦ).

In other words, all that you need will be provided.

And he offers the same thing to those who come later. They started late, but the master still provides all that they need.

Now, our modern working mind might say “wait, hold on!  That’s not fair! 
What about minimum wage!  We should call the union to complain!”

But we need to remember: Jesus isn’t talking about an hourly wage.

He isn’t saying “you work this many hours, and you earn a big reward”

We are talking about a master, and a covenant.

The master says “come and do the work I will give you to do… and I will provide for your needs”.

Remember: everyone serves something.

Sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we think we are completely free.
Or sometimes we think “oh, here is an opportunity to get ahead, to earn something for myself”.

Maybe we work and work and work, maybe we hurt some people along the way.
Maybe we feel like we have “become our own master”.

But have we really?

Maybe we have food for today. Clothes for today. A house for today. But will it last?

Your food runs out, your clothes wears out, your house needs replacing over time.

Your body wears out.

And which of us can build our own home for eternity?
Which of us can truly provide all that we need?

Everyone serves something. 
But does the person or thing that you serve provide everything that you need?

The Good News that Jesus tells us today is that if we say yes to serving God, if we enter into a covenant with Him, then “yes!”, all that we need will be provided.

Sometimes we hold back from serving Jesus.  Maybe we are scared of how much Jesus, our Lord and Master, might ask us to do.  (Picking grapes is a hard day’s work!)

Or maybe, like St. Paul, we get tired. Our bodies are wearing out, and we start to think “Hallelujah, it sure would be nice to go and be with Jesus now!” 
“I can’t wait to see my Lord Jesus face to face”

But, either way, the message that we need to hear is the same:

“We serve a master who is so generous that he meets all our needs!”

If we served him our whole life – he meets all our needs.

If we ran from him, but come back later in life – he meets all our needs.

Even if we have wasted much of our life serving ourselves, and come to the master at the very last hour, if we say yes to him, he is so generous that he meets all our needs.

Remember: Everyone serves something.

So let us serve Jesus.
Because we serve a master who is so generous that he provides all that we need.

Now…

…and for ever and ever.

Amen.