Proper 20 A + What Kind of God do we Want? ACL+ (with MCL+) + 9.20.26

 

What Kind of God Do We Want?
Exodus 16, Philippians 1, Matthew 20

 

St Paul’s Emmanuel, Santa Paula & All Santos, Oxnard
The Rev. Alene Campbell-Langdell and MCL+

 

A few weeks ago, about 1000 Episcopalians and Lutherans went to the Dodger game.  As you can imagine as the game stretched into the 9^th inning with the Dodgers losing 2 to 1, there were a lot of comments about needing to pray harder.  Surely God must want the Dodgers to win with all these good Christians cheering them on!  And surely no one would be praying for the Cardinals to win! 

Of course I’m joking, but it points to the strangeness of what theologians call monotheism—the belief in one God rather than many.  Throughout much of the world and much of human history, belief in God meant believing in your tribal god or your family’s god.  In fact, the earliest Christians were called atheists by the Romans because they didn’t believe in a panoply of gods each controlling a particular facet of nature or providing help to their favored humans who happened to offer the best sacrifices.  To believe in one God meant believing in a God who cared about your neighbor or even your enemy as much God cared about you. 

Alene remembers sitting in a class studying the book of Revelation and the topic of Universalism came up.  They discussed the Scriptures that seem to indicate that God might ultimately bring everyone in, that Jesus’ death really was for everyone.  And they talked about why it is that those Scriptures and interpretations haven’t seemed to carry as much weight throughout history as the ones that relegate some people to destruction based on various criteria. Now I’m not here to settle that argument.  I don’t have that kind of power!  Only God knows what the end will be.  What I am doing is pointing out the very real discomfort when we come face to face with a God who is compassionate and merciful to everyone and not just to those we like. 

The scriptures today seem to speak to this truth. We begin with the Israelites in the desert, receiving manna. Everyone gets some manna. God knows of our human tendency to hoard, and tells them just to gather what is needed for each day. If they try to capture more than enough it will turn foul. This says a lot about how we might consider our own economies. Are we more focused on storing enough for tomorrow and not enough focused on whether everyone has their daily bread?

We all long to feel special, to feel chosen, to know that we are loved.  And there is nothing wrong with that.  The problem arises when we decide that we deserve just that little bit more than everyone else. We need extra manna (or aura as the kids might say).  And this is where Jesus’ parable to the disciples enters in.  Right before today’s reading, Peter asks Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.  What then will we have?” (Matthew 19:27).  Surely this kind of dedication will net us something special, right?  And at first Jesus seems to agree, “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” (Matthew 19:28).  Yes!  And then Jesus continues, “And 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 hundred-fold, and will inherit eternal life” (Matthew 19:29).  And then Jesus tells a story about God’s idea of fairness.

Most of us here can probably relate on some level to the first laborers in the vineyard.  We have been taught our whole lives to expect that more work equals more pay.  And while we know that doesn’t always hold true (women still don’t get paid as much as men in our society), we still have a sense that a fair and equal society would pay everyone equally for the same amount and kind of work. That’s what makes this parable hard for us to hear.  Because Jesus introduces a different idea of fairness.  This is the kind of fairness and equality that we pray for every Sunday when we ask to be given our daily bread.  The vineyard owner turns the idea of equality and fairness on its head and rather than asking what each one deserves, he gives what each one needs—a day’s wages, enough for their daily bread. 

 

Thinking about this passage, I (Pastor Melissa) noted what this passage might look like from a disability justice standpoint.  I noted that not everybody has a physical capacity to work in manual labor in the vineyard for a whole day.  But what if the Vineyard owner is able to hire them for even an hour? What if they did whatever they could do, and they still got enough wages to meet their daily needs?  There’s a sort of amazing justice to that because we all need the dignity of feeling like we’re productive members of society and community…but we all have different capacities for engagement.  That’s not too different from the way the Church works at its best.  We all bring different abilities and talents, some of us are able to pledge larger amounts and some smaller, yet we all come to the table and receive the same bread, the same wine, the same healing.  We set aside a small portion of the church resources and time each month so that other needs in the community can be met: help with a water bill, a bag of groceries along with a delicious loaf of bread. Our church mission statement is to share the Bread of Life, both physical and spiritual, with those around us, and by sharing both worship and actual food, responding to the needs of the body and spirit, we are doing just that.

Some of you may know that Pastor Alene used to spend a lot of time in prison.  One of the biggest joys of volunteering in that space was being able to proclaim to those society has deemed worthless that God loves them.  But here’s the funniest thing about that.  The more she told them that God loved them, the more sure she was that God loved her.  Because the politics of exclusion is always a two-edged sword.  As long as I believe that God is merciful, but only to a select few, I will always wonder if I truly belong to that select few.  However, the moment I trust that God will provide for my daily needs because of who God is and not because of what I am able to do or not do, then I am free. 

What kind of God do we want?  A tribal god that cares for me and mine but only as long as I don’t mess up or the God of the Vineyard Owner who will provide for all that we need whether or not we deserve it?  We believe in One God, who is gracious and merciful, and who delights in generously giving us our daily bread.  Thanks be to God!