Exodus 17:1-7; 1 Corinthians 9:24-10:5; St Matthew 20:1-16
Confirmation of Lauren Elizabeth Goertzen
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
You made them equal to us! Complained the disgruntled worker as he spat in the face of the Lord of the vineyard. We hear a lot about equality. Gender equality. Marriage equality. Equal pay. Equal rights.
Equality, or rather, superiority, is something we desire; we crave. Always to be compared to others and be proven the better. The human heart is twisted by envy. Seeing others having it good fills our hearts with discontent, dissatisfaction. We love our celebrates, our politicians, our stars, our pro athletes. But even more, we love to tear them down. Envy fills our hearts not just over things, but often in the intangibles: a neighbor’s reputation and status, his seemingly happy life; a better family, a different wife, nicer kids.
And in your twisted reality, your utterly self-centered soul grumbles and complains: “I deserve better!” And in this complaint, you are not simply venting about your life, your choices and chances. You are complaining about God.
The food you have to eat is a blessing from God. The house that keeps you warm and safe is a blessing from God. The job that gives you money is a blessing from God. The family you have is a blessing from God. But you are not satisfied with them. And so your complaining, grumbling, and bitterness is that of a spoiled brat who has no comprehension of the incredible kindness his Father shows him.
As it is for you, so it was for Israel in the wilderness. For the people’s grumbling was not against Moses, but against the Lord. Against the mercy He had showed them. Against His redemptive Love. Agains the provision He has bestowed. In their envious and covetous hearts they presumed they deserved more from Him. This is the twisted lunacy of sin; of creatures grumbling against their Creator.
What is the source of this envy? Consider these words from an ancient text called The Wisdom of Solomon, found in the Greek version of the Old Testament: “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world and those who belong to his party experience death” (2:24). The devil envied God for His lordship. The devil envied man for the love God had for him. The devil taught our first parents envy and through his envy death entered the world. We are born belonging to his party; wrapped up in the devil’s envy.
But just because you were born this way does not make it right. God did not make you this way. God created man for life and not death. Envy got Adam and Eve expelled from the garden. Envy got this worker expelled from the Lord’s vineyard. Envy drives us to boasting or depression, to rage or sulking. Envy drives us away from confessing our sins and truly examining ourselves. And so by the power of envy we drag ourselves into hell. Willingly.
But the history of Israel is the history of a people upon whom the Lord shows mercy and kindness to the undeserving and the unworthy. God the Lord chases down His people. He seeks them out. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He goes out at the beginning of time; giving them the promised of the Seed right away. He goes out again the third hour and the sixth hour and the ninth hour. He still goes out now at the eleventh hour, the last hour, as the clock of this world ticks toward the end. He is not finished. He wants more for His kingdom. The Lord does not wish for anyone to be condemned.
This is what He did for Israel: He calls them out of darkness into His marvelous light. He bestows on them His Name and His Promise. He gives them His Torah. His Word. He leads and guides them through the wilderness by the visible presence of His cloud and fire. He will bring them to the Promised Land, defending them from all danger, guarding and protecting them from all evil.
And just like you, they don’t deserve it. Just like you, they put the Lord their God to the test and quarrel about His steadfast love. Just like you, though they hate Him in their hearts, still He feeds and nourishes. Just like you, though they do not fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, still He stands before them and gives them water to drink from the Rock at Horeb.
Now, that which was written in former days was written for our instruction, says St Paul. Do you presume on the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Rm 2:4).
Repent, therefore. Repent of your envy and covetousness, which is idolatry. Repent of your presumptuous heart. Repent of your misplaced longing for that which our Lord has not given you. Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Despair of your own self-righteousness and presumptions of fairness. The Lord owes you nothing. But out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy, bestows upon you by grace alone, all that is needed not only for this body and life, but all that is needed - the salvation won for you by the blood of Christ Jesus His Son - for the life of the world to come.
For the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a Man who hired laborers for His vineyard and paid the last first and the first last, each the same wage. The kingdom of heaven is like a Man who is extravagant with His wealth; lavishing His generosity on failures and losers, washouts and deadbeats, giving to men who do almost no work a full day’s pay. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like: like a Man who gives not according to what you justly deserve, but out of His boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
For the kingdom of heaven is like the Lord brining Israel up out of the land of Egypt and despite their grumbling and complaining, miraculously supplies water for them from the Rock at Horeb.
They were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses and the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, writes St Paul. And the Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4).
Does the Psalm not call Him the Rock of our Salvation? (Ps 95). Does He not say of Himself that upon the Rock of St Peter’s confession He shall build His Church, the gates of hell defenseless against Her? (Mt 16:18). And does He not say to the Canaanite woman at the well, Whoever drinks of the water that I will give Him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 4:14).
Indeed He is the Rock of our salvation who was struck with the staff of Moses, that is, the Staff of the law, in His death, pouring out His life-blood for you in mercy and love, for your life and deliverance. While you were enemies and haters of God you were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son (Rm 5:10). He sought you out, found you standing idle in the marketplace of your own ideologies and presumptions about justice and religion. Some were found early in their lives, while still infants. Others at the third hour or the sixth hour of their lives. Still others at the eleventh hour. Its never to late. Our Lord wants laborers in His vineyard. He wants men in His kingdom. He desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Little children, it is the last hour, St John says. The time is urgent - invite everyone to God’s kingdom. Invite everyone to repentance and Baptism for the remission of their sins.
You have all passed through the cloud and the sea of the font and are baptized into Christ. There He took what belonged to you - sin, death, the condemnation of the Law, the wrath of the Father, guilt and shame - and He bestowed upon you what belonged to Him - mercy, love, salvation, forgiveness of sins, life, and honor. Is He not allowed to do what He choses with what belongs to Him? He who was first made Himself last in order that you who were last, even outside the kingdom, might be made first and given the gift of heaven itself! “By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless. My soul believes and doubt it not. My heart is glad all grief has flown since I am saved by grace alone” (LSB 566:1, 6)
There is one last thing to note in the readings for today; namely, the Lord calls you to work. Not for your salvation, nor even to remain in it, for that could never be, but there it is in the Gospel: The kingdom of heaven is like a Master who went out to hire laborers for His vineyard. The grace of our Lord is sufficient for your salvation. Sola gratia. But there is remains: He calls you to work. And as the Church soon enters upon the season of Lent, preparing for the journey with these three Sundays of Pre-Lent - each nicely corresponding to the three solas of the Reformation, grace, faith, and Scripture alone - you are being prepared to observe a good Lent and reminded that being a Christian will mean work.
What kind of work you ask. Do works befitting repentance (Ac 26:20). Turning away from sin is a work you are called to do. Turn from your false gods and fear, love, and trust in the one, true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit alone. Call upon His name. Give attention to His Word. Honor your father and mother. Help your neighborhood with his physical needs. Turn from sexual immortality and sensuality. Show honor to your spouse. Stop taking from others or withholding what is due them. Stop grumbling and speak good things of your neighbor. Discipline your body and keep it under control. Do not allow your eye to be evil on account of His goodness. Repent. And bear the fruits of repentance.
These are the fruits borne in keeping with repentance (Mt 3:8). I remind you again - By grace you have been saved through faith. And this faith is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works. But you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10).
And so during this Lenten-tide you are presented with the fruitful works commanded by our Lord, the Master of the vineyard: the good works of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Practice these things, exercise yourself in them, not that you may earn your salvation - for that could never be, it is by grace alone - nor to remain in His favor, for He has loved you with a boundless mercy, but to exercise your faith in the working of love toward your neighbor.
And come, receive the wage promised, not for the work you have done, but for the work that Christ has accomplished for your benefit, received here by faith. The fruit of His vineyard, His Body and Blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins, for your life and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Confirmation of Lauren Elizabeth Goertzen
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
You made them equal to us! Complained the disgruntled worker as he spat in the face of the Lord of the vineyard. We hear a lot about equality. Gender equality. Marriage equality. Equal pay. Equal rights.
Equality, or rather, superiority, is something we desire; we crave. Always to be compared to others and be proven the better. The human heart is twisted by envy. Seeing others having it good fills our hearts with discontent, dissatisfaction. We love our celebrates, our politicians, our stars, our pro athletes. But even more, we love to tear them down. Envy fills our hearts not just over things, but often in the intangibles: a neighbor’s reputation and status, his seemingly happy life; a better family, a different wife, nicer kids.
And in your twisted reality, your utterly self-centered soul grumbles and complains: “I deserve better!” And in this complaint, you are not simply venting about your life, your choices and chances. You are complaining about God.
The food you have to eat is a blessing from God. The house that keeps you warm and safe is a blessing from God. The job that gives you money is a blessing from God. The family you have is a blessing from God. But you are not satisfied with them. And so your complaining, grumbling, and bitterness is that of a spoiled brat who has no comprehension of the incredible kindness his Father shows him.
As it is for you, so it was for Israel in the wilderness. For the people’s grumbling was not against Moses, but against the Lord. Against the mercy He had showed them. Against His redemptive Love. Agains the provision He has bestowed. In their envious and covetous hearts they presumed they deserved more from Him. This is the twisted lunacy of sin; of creatures grumbling against their Creator.
What is the source of this envy? Consider these words from an ancient text called The Wisdom of Solomon, found in the Greek version of the Old Testament: “Through the devil’s envy death entered the world and those who belong to his party experience death” (2:24). The devil envied God for His lordship. The devil envied man for the love God had for him. The devil taught our first parents envy and through his envy death entered the world. We are born belonging to his party; wrapped up in the devil’s envy.
But just because you were born this way does not make it right. God did not make you this way. God created man for life and not death. Envy got Adam and Eve expelled from the garden. Envy got this worker expelled from the Lord’s vineyard. Envy drives us to boasting or depression, to rage or sulking. Envy drives us away from confessing our sins and truly examining ourselves. And so by the power of envy we drag ourselves into hell. Willingly.
But the history of Israel is the history of a people upon whom the Lord shows mercy and kindness to the undeserving and the unworthy. God the Lord chases down His people. He seeks them out. For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. He goes out at the beginning of time; giving them the promised of the Seed right away. He goes out again the third hour and the sixth hour and the ninth hour. He still goes out now at the eleventh hour, the last hour, as the clock of this world ticks toward the end. He is not finished. He wants more for His kingdom. The Lord does not wish for anyone to be condemned.
This is what He did for Israel: He calls them out of darkness into His marvelous light. He bestows on them His Name and His Promise. He gives them His Torah. His Word. He leads and guides them through the wilderness by the visible presence of His cloud and fire. He will bring them to the Promised Land, defending them from all danger, guarding and protecting them from all evil.
And just like you, they don’t deserve it. Just like you, they put the Lord their God to the test and quarrel about His steadfast love. Just like you, though they hate Him in their hearts, still He feeds and nourishes. Just like you, though they do not fear, love, and trust in Him above all things, still He stands before them and gives them water to drink from the Rock at Horeb.
Now, that which was written in former days was written for our instruction, says St Paul. Do you presume on the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Rm 2:4).
Repent, therefore. Repent of your envy and covetousness, which is idolatry. Repent of your presumptuous heart. Repent of your misplaced longing for that which our Lord has not given you. Do not put the Lord your God to the test.
Despair of your own self-righteousness and presumptions of fairness. The Lord owes you nothing. But out of fatherly divine goodness and mercy, bestows upon you by grace alone, all that is needed not only for this body and life, but all that is needed - the salvation won for you by the blood of Christ Jesus His Son - for the life of the world to come.
For the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a Man who hired laborers for His vineyard and paid the last first and the first last, each the same wage. The kingdom of heaven is like a Man who is extravagant with His wealth; lavishing His generosity on failures and losers, washouts and deadbeats, giving to men who do almost no work a full day’s pay. This is what the kingdom of heaven is like: like a Man who gives not according to what you justly deserve, but out of His boundless mercy and for the sake of the holy, innocent, bitter sufferings and death of His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.
For the kingdom of heaven is like the Lord brining Israel up out of the land of Egypt and despite their grumbling and complaining, miraculously supplies water for them from the Rock at Horeb.
They were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses and the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, writes St Paul. And the Rock was Christ (1 Cor 10:1-4).
Does the Psalm not call Him the Rock of our Salvation? (Ps 95). Does He not say of Himself that upon the Rock of St Peter’s confession He shall build His Church, the gates of hell defenseless against Her? (Mt 16:18). And does He not say to the Canaanite woman at the well, Whoever drinks of the water that I will give Him will never be thirsty again. The water that I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life (Jn 4:14).
Indeed He is the Rock of our salvation who was struck with the staff of Moses, that is, the Staff of the law, in His death, pouring out His life-blood for you in mercy and love, for your life and deliverance. While you were enemies and haters of God you were reconciled to Him by the death of His Son (Rm 5:10). He sought you out, found you standing idle in the marketplace of your own ideologies and presumptions about justice and religion. Some were found early in their lives, while still infants. Others at the third hour or the sixth hour of their lives. Still others at the eleventh hour. Its never to late. Our Lord wants laborers in His vineyard. He wants men in His kingdom. He desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. Little children, it is the last hour, St John says. The time is urgent - invite everyone to God’s kingdom. Invite everyone to repentance and Baptism for the remission of their sins.
You have all passed through the cloud and the sea of the font and are baptized into Christ. There He took what belonged to you - sin, death, the condemnation of the Law, the wrath of the Father, guilt and shame - and He bestowed upon you what belonged to Him - mercy, love, salvation, forgiveness of sins, life, and honor. Is He not allowed to do what He choses with what belongs to Him? He who was first made Himself last in order that you who were last, even outside the kingdom, might be made first and given the gift of heaven itself! “By grace I’m saved, grace free and boundless. My soul believes and doubt it not. My heart is glad all grief has flown since I am saved by grace alone” (LSB 566:1, 6)
There is one last thing to note in the readings for today; namely, the Lord calls you to work. Not for your salvation, nor even to remain in it, for that could never be, but there it is in the Gospel: The kingdom of heaven is like a Master who went out to hire laborers for His vineyard. The grace of our Lord is sufficient for your salvation. Sola gratia. But there is remains: He calls you to work. And as the Church soon enters upon the season of Lent, preparing for the journey with these three Sundays of Pre-Lent - each nicely corresponding to the three solas of the Reformation, grace, faith, and Scripture alone - you are being prepared to observe a good Lent and reminded that being a Christian will mean work.
What kind of work you ask. Do works befitting repentance (Ac 26:20). Turning away from sin is a work you are called to do. Turn from your false gods and fear, love, and trust in the one, true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit alone. Call upon His name. Give attention to His Word. Honor your father and mother. Help your neighborhood with his physical needs. Turn from sexual immortality and sensuality. Show honor to your spouse. Stop taking from others or withholding what is due them. Stop grumbling and speak good things of your neighbor. Discipline your body and keep it under control. Do not allow your eye to be evil on account of His goodness. Repent. And bear the fruits of repentance.
These are the fruits borne in keeping with repentance (Mt 3:8). I remind you again - By grace you have been saved through faith. And this faith is not your own doing; it is a gift of God, not a result of works. But you are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that you should walk in them (Eph 2:8-10).
And so during this Lenten-tide you are presented with the fruitful works commanded by our Lord, the Master of the vineyard: the good works of prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Practice these things, exercise yourself in them, not that you may earn your salvation - for that could never be, it is by grace alone - nor to remain in His favor, for He has loved you with a boundless mercy, but to exercise your faith in the working of love toward your neighbor.
And come, receive the wage promised, not for the work you have done, but for the work that Christ has accomplished for your benefit, received here by faith. The fruit of His vineyard, His Body and Blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins, for your life and salvation.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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