Sunday Sermon, 20 September 2026
The Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity, St Andrew’s Church, Sedbergh
You can read the sermon below, or listen here:
A reading from the Gospel According to Matthew
Jesus said: ‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?”So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’
Matthew 20.1–16 NRSVA
The Parable of ‘The Labourers in the Vineyard’ is one of those puzzling stories of Jesus that can be read on many levels and understood in many different ways. It’s like a jigsaw piece that doesn’t quite fit any of the gaps, and resists a definitive interpretation. We will spend a few minutes considering some of the popular ways of understanding the parable, and why they don’t quite work, before finishing with an interpretation which I hope speaks to our purposes here this morning in Sedbergh.
The Labourers in the Vineyard is often understood as a parable of grace. The fact that the labourers each receive the same wages despite having worked a different number of hours is meant to be like God’s grace which is given freely apart from merit. Grace is subversive and upsets our expectations. The grumbling of the early labourers highlights the scandalous nature of grace.
But there’s a problem with this reading. Isn’t grace precisely a free gift? St Paul says the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. It would be strange for Jesus to here be picturing grace as a wage, as something that can be earned and that is given after the work has been completed.
Another way of understanding the parable is to see it as an example of generosity. Yes, strictly speaking those labourers who worked fewer hours ought to be paid less, but without a daily wage they would have gone hungry, and so the landowner makes sure that their needs are met. In the kingdom of God, we are encouraged to be generous and give more than is required of us. We ought not to try and hoard up wealth for ourselves. The mean spirited grumbling of the early workers is given in contrast with the kindness of the landowner.
But the issue here is that many people have difficulty reconciling this supposed ‘generosity’ with the principle of justice or fairness. Shouldn’t we all be treated equally? Shouldn’t an employer give equal wages to all? One person’s generosity can start to look a lot like another person’s favouritism.
Another possibility is to interpret the parable more radically and see it as a critique of the imbalance of power between the landowner and the labourers. Although the landowner is often understood to represent God in the story, Jesus does not explicitly say this, and some commentators have questioned his actions and motives. Perhaps the parable reveals the helplessness of the workers who must submit to the whims of a capricious capitalist. Perhaps it reveals the faults in a system that must be overturned and reimagined.
But the problem here is reconciling this view with the opening statement that the parable is like the Kingdom of Heaven. Is the Kingdom of Heaven really like an unjust capitalist system? One hopes not.
There is another approach that the early church took, which is to allegorise the parable, by reading the grumbling labourers as the Jewish people, from Adam to Abraham to Moses, and reading the later labourers as non-Jewish gentiles. Unfortunately, this interpretation has contributed to the church’s history of antisemitism, because it portrays the Jewish people as grumblers who come ‘last’ and non Jewish gentiles as the ‘good guys’ who come ‘first’. This was certainly not Jesus’ purpose in sharing this parable, and anti-Jewish readings must be firmly rejected by the church today.
You will have noticed that none of these readings are without their difficulties. Like a jigsaw piece that doesn’t quite fit, the parable remains something of an enigma. It’s difficult to ‘pin down’ as we seek a satisfying interpretation.
Of course, this is the point of Jesus’ parables. They are not meant to be easily understood or digested. They are meant to provoke thought, and make us think through our own perspective and beliefs. And this parable does cause us to reflect on a great number of issues. I hope that this morning you have your own questions and thoughts about what Jesus is teaching here.
However, although a definitive interpretation of the parable eludes us, we trust that by God’s grace, his Holy Spirit is still able to work with and through our flawed and partial understanding. So here is one interpretation of the parable, given in the light of our reading from Philippians, and in the context of a service in which we are sending Matt for ordination and training into the Methodist church. It is far from perfect, but I hope it contains some light for our churches here in the Western Dales.
In our passage from Philippians, St Paul writes: “For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labour for me; and I do not know which I prefer.” (Philippians 1:21-22 NRSV)
Whatever we are to make of Jesus’ parable, we know that it is a parable of the kingdom in which the labourers are central characters. And St Paul was one of the great early labourers of the kingdom. Like a burning coal that is red hot from the fire, so St Paul’s life and ministry was suffused with a desire for Christ to be proclaimed as Lord and Saviour in every corner of the world.
It may be instructive then, to read St Paul into this parable, and imagine that the work of the vineyard is the work of the Gospel, the work of making Christ known and seeking to transform society through his teaching and the radical message of God’s free gift of grace.
In this scenario, you can be sure that St Paul would not have been grumbling about his wages. Because for St Paul, the reward is in the labour itself. As he says, for him, to live is Christ. Every moment is an opportunity to serve Christ. The point is not to receive wages in return for this. The point is the privilege and the dignity that is given in being included in Christ’s mission to the world.
So with this perspective, perhaps the parable could be understood as being about the dignity we receive from being able to participate in the work of the Kingdom of God.
After all, St Paul’s message was that all of us, regardless of background, are invited to participate in Christ and in his saving work. It is not just for the few that arrive early, but for those who arrive at any point of the day. Whether as a child, or a teenager, or a young adult, or in midlife, or in retirement, you have a valuable to role to play in Christ’s kingdom.
There are many and varied roles in the Kingdom of God, but none are without honour. From the earliest days of the church, it has been recognised that some, like Matt, are called to the priestly role of being a pastor and teacher in God’s church. Many more are called to live out their discipleship in the midst of daily life, through shared worship and service. Perhaps this parable is a call to each of us to consider the ways in which we can work well together in the church, rather than by grumbling and complaining about the work that God has given others.
Above all, in all our labours, we must never forget that we are with Christ. He has yoked himself to us, and he will not leave us. In fact, he surpasses the landowner in the parable, because he comes alongside the workers, rolls up his sleeves, and gets his hands dirty in the muck of the world, fertilising the ground and ushering in new life.
In conclusion, I think the interpretation of this parable I am most drawn to is the one that emphasises the generosity of the landowner. The work of the Kingdom is a good work, which brings dignity, purpose, and meaning to all who are called to it. And the call is wide and open. God has a purpose for each one of us, regardless of our background, age, abilities, or life experience. Each of us are called today to renew our commitment to follow Christ, to work for his kingdom, and to take up our cross and follow him.
Matt, we pray for you as you depart for your theological training, asking that Christ will ever be at your side as you labour fruitfully for him.
And we pray for each another, asking that wherever God has placed us, we may be equipped to joyfully participate in the revealing of his kingdom, in the power of the Spirit.
Amen.