God Subverts Expectations: 20 September, 2020
Matthew 20:1-16
When read as a paradigm of how God grants salvation, [this parable] provokes howls of protest. In order to appreciate the parable’s subversive power, it must be read in the context.
The stories around it are dominated by concern for who is first and last. Matthew wishes to use the stories to break the attractive power of wealth and status for believers. A rich young man (first in society) approaches Jesus with questions about being first with God (19:16–22). Jesus instructs him to sell all (to become last in society), which is more than the man can contemplate. Jesus warns his disciples that being first in wealth does not make one first with God (19:23–26). Jesus assures his disciples that, as they have become last in the eyes of the world to follow him, they will be first with God (19:27–30). After the parable of the vineyard owner, the mother of James and John seeks to secure first-rate positions for her sons (20:20–23). Jesus then instructs not to be concerned for status and power, but to be great only in service (20:24–28).
In the middle of these stories of being first or last, the parable of the workers in the vineyard stands adjacent to Jesus’ third passion prediction. The whole sequence of stories seeks to undermine ordinary human aspirations of being first. Because God in Christ has given believers everything that matters, striving to be first in status or wealth profoundly misses the point of living. The only ‘‘first’’ that matters is to be first in serving, which finally means taking one’s eyes off of self so as to tend to the needs of another. –– Aaron J. Couch
Jonah 3:10––4:11
The book of Jonah tells a tale of divine generosity and human stinginess. That God would extend mercy to a nation renowned for its cruelty and brutality strikes the prophet as scandalous, causing him to feel betrayed and angry. . . much more like a cartoon character than a real person.
God prepares a living parable for Jonah: a bush that grows to provide shade, then withers and dies after being attacked by a worm. Absurdly, Jonah feels such great loss at the death of the plant that he wishes himself dead. God invites Jonah to imagine how God might feel about the living creatures of Nineveh, both people and animals. Those living creatures have been, in a sense, invisible to Jonah. Dismissing the people of Nineveh as the enemy, he had not seen them as possessing any value.
. . . By remaining open-ended, the story invites the listener to consider whether there are people he or she may have dismissed as strangers or enemies, who may yet be precious to their Creator. –– Aaron J. Couch
Philippians 1:21-30
Paul considers the relative merits of living and continuing in the work God has given him, or dying and being with Christ. The warmth of Paul’s regard for the Philippian congregation is evident in his desire to be with them. He encourages them to live the faith boldly. –– Aaron J. Couch
Aaron Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.
Homily Service 41, no. 4 (2008): 26-36