The last will be first, and the first will be last.

In Chapter 19 of his Gospel, St. Matthew tells a story. One day a certain rich young ruler — a member of the Jewish elite — came enthusiastically running up to Jesus and asked: "What must I do to be saved?" Jesus answered: "Keep the law." "This I have done from my youth up," came the reply. Furthermore, he told Jesus he tithed on all of his income. "Yet one thing do you lack", said Jesus. "Go and sell all that you have and give it to the poor. Then come follow me." We are told that the young man walked away sorrowfully, for he had great wealth. Concluded the Master: It will be hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God.

The disciples had been watching the dynamics of this happening and they were quite disturbed. Jewish tradition had always taught that God had especially blessed rich men. If the man was rich, he must be good. In their way of thinking, if a wealthy man could not receive salvation, then how could a poor man have any hope? They asked of Jesus: who then can be saved?

It reminds me of the movie, Fiddler on the Roof. The poor Jewish milkman who lives in late 19^th century Russia sings what he would do "if I were a rich man." His wife reminds him: money is a curse. He immediately shouts up to heaven as he asks God to "curse him with wealth".

Jesus has just turned away a wealthy man, and in the Jewish way of thinking it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make sense to us, either. It is in that setting that our lesson from Matthew takes place.

The disciples had forsaken all to follow Jesus, were now wandering from place to place. So now they wanted to see some dividends on their investment. They wanted to be sure their reward in heaven was guaranteed, that Jesus understood the severity of their sacrifice.

And surely the life of a disciple was no walk in the park. They wanted to make sure their future with Jesus wasn't like investing in Lehman Brothers, AIG or General Motors. They were seeking reassurance from Jesus.

Just before our parable for today, Peter asked, "Say Jesus, for those of us who have left everything and followed you. What will be our reward?" To Peter it seemed to be a fair question.

Jesus replied, "At the renewal of all things, I will sit on my glorious throne in heaven, and you who have followed me will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Don't you worry one bit Peter, everyone who left their loved ones for me will receive one hundred fold, and will inherit eternal life."

Peter was probably relieved until Jesus added: "But the first will be last, and the last will be first."

Then Jesus launches into the parable we just read on the kingdom of heaven, a parable about vineyard workers with a similarly unsatisfying conclusion: "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."

Setting aside the implications that eternally there would be a place of heavenly prominence for the twelve, the earthly reward for the disciples was no different than any other followers of Jesus. All would be saved. I'm sure that to them this hardly seemed fair.

Jesus expounds on the kingdom of heaven, saying it's like a landowner who hired laborers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay each the daily wage, a denarius, and they set off to work.

Not too far from where we live is a poor neighborhood filled with immigrants. Many of the men gather each morning on the parking lot of a small grocery store hoping they will get picked up for day labor that day. All through they day people come by a hire these workers for a negotiated wage.

In our story, its like that: the owner of a vineyard came by and hired some workers early in the morning.

But mid-morning he saw more of them hanging around, and hired them, agreeing to pay "whatever is right." He did the same at noon. And 3:00. And even 5:00.

When evening came and all the workers were called together, the vineyard owner told the manager to pay them all, beginning with the last and moving to the first.

The owner surprised the workers. He paid the ones hired last a whole days wage! How much more did they deserve?

But then the workers hired at 3:00 got paid the same. And those at noon. And, finally, the hard workers — the people like us — were paid the same wage.

These last workers complained to the landowner, "What's up with this! The last worked only one hour, but you have paid them the same wage as those of us who worked through the scorching heat of the day. That's preposterous! It's not fair — it just ain't right."

And the owner calmly replied, "But did I not pay you exactly as we had agreed? I have done no wrong; I just chose to give to the last the same as I give to you." And then here's the kicker, he adds "Are you envious because I am generous?"

And we know the ending. Jesus says, "The last will be first, and the first will be last."

This may not seem fair. Indeed it's not fair. It didn't sit well with the disciple and at a glance it doesn't sit well with us, does it? What in the world was Jesus thinking?

Well, the point is that in God's eyes. We are not who we think we are. What if we don't deserve to be paid at all? What if being called is itself a blessing? What if the good works we do are acts of gratitude from what we have already received? What if being called from working in the field to sin in God's vineyard is in itself a reward?

There is an old hymn¹ that goes:
 
Hark! 'tis the Shepherd's voice I hear
Out in the desert dark and drear,
Calling the sheep who've gone astray
Far from the Shepherd's fold away.
 
Refrain
 
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring them in from the fields of sin;
Bring them in, bring them in,
Bring the wand'ring ones to Jesus.

So part of our reward is being called first. We will serve as a means for the Lord to call others.

And what if we are saved, not by merit, but by grace.

This is the fundamental truth grasped anew by Luther and Calvin and the Anglican Divines during the Reformation. We are saved not by works, not by our merit, but by God's grace.

So if its not about us, and not about what we do, but about what God does then the story is about how God's generosity reigns supreme. The Kingdom of God is not a meritocracy, it is a grace-tocacy.

The disciples didn't get it, this grace-tocracy. So they jockeyed for position and tried to earn Jesus' favor. They hadn't quite grasped the non-logical love of grace.

Mature Christianity is knowing that we don't earn or deserve what God has given us. We don't worry about someone "getting away with something" or getting more than they deserve, for we ourselves are getting away with something and getting more than we deserve. How joyful life becomes when you understand that in this world salvation is a gift, not a reward for work well done.

In this world of grace, we strive not to out-pace others, but to serve others.

To assume that God owes us more is to assume that we are more worthy than others. But in fact, we may have just been blessed sooner than others. In that we have been relieved sooner of our fears, anxieties and guilt. Is this not a reward and a blessing?

Someone coming to Christ late in life has not "gotten away with something" they have lived a life without the peace and assurance that comes from a covenant relationship with God.

We can jockey for position and crawl over others as we wrestle to what (we think) is the top, or we can remember God's generosity, remember that all we have is a gift from God, remember that the Lord has personally called each of us into a life-giving relationship with Himself.

To summarize, although it appears that there may be degrees of reward in heaven (the twelve disciples will sit on twelve thrones, etc) the same earthly rewards awaits all who are called by Christ: namely salvation. Furthermore, the person who comes late to labor in the vineyard is just as important as he who comes early. Both only come because they have been called by God. Neither the early hire or the late hire is worthy of the job. Both depend on God's unmerited grace. If there is any special payoff for being selected early to labor in the Lord's field, it is simply the inner satisfaction that we receive from being in God's employ and all that this means for a happy, successful life. Part of this arises from service to others in imitation of Christ. It is a paradox that this kind of servant-hood is in and of itself a reward.

So if we observe that God isn't fair in how he rewards people, we should add "thank God." If he was "fair" we would not have been called into his vineyard, we would not be his children by adoption and we could not be saved. God is not fair. He is so gracious and generous in his love and mercy, that he called us — even while we were yet sinners and His only begotten Son for our sins. In this Christ Himself shows us how the last (being us) will be first and the first (Christ) will be last.

The last will be first, and the first will be last.
 

¹ "Hark 'Tis the Shepherd's voice I hear" (1885) by Alexcenah Thomas (1857-1910)