Rector's Sermon - Sunday, September 22, 2002

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Jonah 3:10-4:11	145:1-8	Phillippians 1:21-30	Matthew 20:1-16

    Many of us undoubtedly have had a similar experience. We anticipate a busy day ahead, but we know that when we come home in the evening we will be having one of our favorite dinners: Roast chicken with gravy, mashed potatoes and oyster stuffing. We look forward to a fresh pie, and the garden lettuce for the salad, both bought at the Farmers Market on Saturday, together with some wonderful tomatoes given to us at coffee hour after church. The day goes reasonably well, until four o'clock when we are called to an important emergency meeting that should only last an hour. The trouble is it doesn't last an hour, but we can't leave because a decision needs to be made and our input is crucial. An unexpected argument develops, and we know that we are going to miss dinner, but we also realize that if we are only a hour late that some of the chicken and potatoes will be saved and can be warmed up. Not exactly what we had hoped for, but it will still taste OK. Finally the meeting ends and we know we will at last get something good to eat, even if it won't be the perfect dinner we had expected. We sure are hungry and beat, especially after those grueling last hours. We get in the car, but two miles away from our house and with no one around, we hear a thump. thump, thump, and we find that we have a flat tire. After changing the tire, we are dirty as well as hungry and exhausted. We get home very late. The dinner has long been cleared, leftovers put away, and the dishes washed. There is no sign of the pie. At our place, wrapped in green Saran wrap, is a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a dill pickle.

    Today in the readings, the delightful story of Jonah is paired with the parable of the vineyard owner and laborers. Jonah and the whale was meant to contain an outrageous and sly sense of humor. It was a tale even young children could laugh about and visualize with their bright imagination: a whale, the largest of all creatures on earth, swallowing Jonah; Jonah tossing around in the whale's stomach; and finally being spit out on the beach near, Nineveh, a major city of the Assyrian empire that had caused real harm to Israel. This tale wasn't written as an historical event any more than Margaret William's The Velveteen Rabbit. Nonetheless, the vivid images punctuated a never-to-be-forgotten- story making the point that God's heart is much larger than our hearts. To be sure, Nineveh was in a feared and hated land and some of it inhabitants were guilty of some pretty despicable things, but many people lived there. God was not about to write the population off so easily. God is never disposed to wipe people out. (Incidentally the modern day city is now called Monsul and the country is named Iraq.)

    Jesus' parable of the vineyard owner and the laborers is more subtle, but it is really a corollary to the ancient story of Jonah. The vineyard owner provides all the laborers with a fair day's wage to feed their families. Even those who come to the vineyard late to work are still given enough to buy substance.

    People respond to the Holy Spirit's presence, some early, some late, and in many different times in between. When they respond and acknowledge the Holy Spirit's presence, God is going to welcome them, not spurn them. Jesus used the common experience and knowledge of the agricultural society of his day, but I suggest for us he might tell us that if we are a little late in perceiving God in our lives, God is still going to feed us a full meal.

    The chicken and dressing will still be hot. There will be plenty of mashed potatoes left, and the salad greens still will be crisp. If we are more than a little late, even really, really late, God is still going to fully nourish us. God isn't going to give us a crummy peanut butter and jelly sandwich. No, we too will get a full course meal of support, as those who came earlier. God won't hold back, God won't run out of food or give us second best. God will even give us dessert, and not just a dish of half-melted ice cream that has obviously been put out, melted, and put back to refreeze I know that's what they often serve at banquets in Syracuse, but God will serve fresh key lime pie, even if it is 11:30 at night.

    It is difficult for us to identify with a particular type of rural agricultural life of two thousands years ago, but we are likely to have the experience of being tired and hungry, and missing out. We are apt to be victims of circumstances way beyond our comprehension and control. Jesus is not speaking about labor relations, or guidance on wage policies. Jesus is talking about having a rough day working late.

    Most of us come to realize the presence of God in our lives in varying degrees of intensity over sundry seasons. The Good News is that with God it is never too late or hopeless. The window of the Holy Spirit does not have a closing hour. There are no time restrictions on God's grace. God never gives second best. That is why God, even at 11:30 at night, serves a full course dinner, and never a cold sandwich and a dill pickle, and never twice melted ice cream.

    And I offer this to you in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Amen.