St. Matthew 20:1-16 We human beings like to make plans. We like to organize our lives in a way that promotes certain goals that we have. Most of us have an idea of what we want to achieve in life. Maybe we want to have children and family. Perhaps we want to get to a certain point in business or employment and then relax in retirement. Maybe we have that goal of retiring and moving to Arizona or Texas.
Part of the American way is such that we individuals accomplish things. We work hard; we do what we need to do to get ahead; We seize opportunity and then the goal and endgame result is up to us to get there. If things are going well, then this is OK. But, if hidden variables come to the surface, then we begin to see how things are out of our control. We have plenty of evidence of this in our current economic climate. People go to work and find that they no longer have a job. Now what! Such unfortunate variables as economic downturns, death of loved ones, changes in health, all create situations for which we were not prepared. Now what! Such troubles have an effect on marriages, on home life, on our children and on churches. Life and faith are tough when we deal with difficulties. When stressful, strenuous, and potentially harmful things happen to us, we become vulnerable. We are also tempted to sin during times of trouble. C.S. Lewis once wrote concerning pain that “pain is a megaphone to awaken a deaf world.” We look to our Lord Jesus Christ during times of difficulty and we ask “why?” The prophet Isaiah records God’s words: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways...for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”(Isaiah 55:8-9). The scriptures reveal to us the nature and ways of God. Sinful man looks at life in such a way that life and success are in the hands of man, and failure is man’s responsibility, as well. God speaks differently. The heavenly Father created all things and he still rules over His creation. We have a word for this in theology: providence. We believe that God works in the world and in our lives. God waters the earth; God causes all things to grow; God is even in control of droughts, and even all the things that occur in your lives. The difficulty for us is that we do not understand how a gracious God would allow bad things to happen. This goes beyond our abilities to understand. The Scriptures just don’t answer every question that may surface. The hidden will of God is difficult. The Scriptures teach us about the life of salvation, the road and path to heaven. This is what we call the revealed will of God. We learn about who God is, what He does, and how one becomes a child of God and an inheritor of heaven. As a result, part of the Christian confession is that God wrote the Bible, using the prophets and apostles as vessels. The closest these prophets and apostles come in answering the question of “why bad things happen” surfaces in St. Paul’s writings, mostly. Afflictions and hardships magnify Christ. Christ crucified is the pattern set. St. Paul speaks difficult words to the church in Philippi: “For unto you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake; having the same conflict which you saw in me and now hear to be in me”(Philippians 1:29-30). St. Paul is making it clear to the church that suffering takes place. But why? Why would a good and gracious God allow His church to suffer? The answer is in the Scriptures. Hebrews 12 says: “My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, and do not lose heart when He rebukes you, for whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives”(Hebrews 12:5-6). When hardships and difficulties occur in people’s lives, where Christian instruction and the Holy Scriptures assist, people grow in the Lord. God uses these hardships and difficulties to teach us about the ways of salvation and the world. It is much akin to when St. Paul was blinded by Jesus on the road to Damascus. When God’s ordained servant, Ananias, came to Paul, he placed his hands on Paul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord--Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here--has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit”(Acts 9:17). Then we are told that something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. We, at times, find ourselves in situations where our eyes are darkened and we cannot see. In times like these, the Word of God and Christian preaching causes the scales to fall from our eyes so that we can see things as they really are. The world is passing away. The real goal of life is to confess the Lord’s name, worship him at the altar, love God and our neighbor. But we often fall into the trap that we see in the gospel, where we are more concerned about all that we are doing for God. “How many wages will we get from God for all that we do for Him?” is the way people often look at salvation. As the gospel demonstrates, the goal for us all is salvation in heaven and we are on the road with Christ as we journey. But, we are not to be concerned with what God has given others. Whether they have lived easy lives or difficult lives, it is not for us to become jealous or envious. Some people live their lives in much reckless living and then near the end of their earthly sojourn come to faith, while we have seemingly toiled all our lives to do the right things. Salvation is given equally to those who believe. What happens in between is not for us to judge. This is difficult when you are living out your Christian life in the trenches. But St. Paul reminds the Galatians of the trap of looking at the lives of others. He says, “Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man thinks himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For ever man shall bear his own load”(Galatians 6:2-5). Your sins are what you should be concerned with. We are non better than anyone else. Your manner of life and confession of faith is what the Lord considers. Your regard for God and neighbor shall be evident to God. But with the Lord there is mercy. Jesus is gracious and merciful. Jesus even says: “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved”(St. John 3:17). And “For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them”(St. Luke 9:56). Jesus is our eternal God and Lord. He is abundantly good and desires that all people shall be saved. Your salvation hinges on Christ’s faithfulness in His journey to the cross. The Holy Scriptures may be silent to some of our most pressing questions concerning daily life, but it is abundantly clear concerning the one thing needful: Jesus came to take up His cross which we could never bear. Jesus was faithful unto death. He did not waver. He came to heal, forgive, bring to life, and restore. This is the kind of God and Lord who rules the universe. We may wonder why things occur, but God’s loving hand is upon His baptized in order to protect and comfort. Christ abides with His church and with His beloved children. You rest in His care, each of you, and He shall give you the fruit of His wages from the cross: forgiveness of sins and life everlasting. But while we journey onward, bearing our own baptismal crosses, the Lord promises His unwavering love and protection in Isaiah 46:3-4: “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all you who remain of the house of Israel, you whom I have upheld since you were conceived, and carried since your birth. Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and rescue you.” The holy and precious blood of Jesus spilled at Golgotha is the answer, and now gives meaning to your lives. Your protection rests in His blood, and it covers you. It defines you, and by it the Heavenly Father knows you. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=243282012833
