September 20, 2026 "God provides perspective"

17th Sunday after Pentecost

Jonah 3:10-4:11

Psalm 145:1-8

Philippians 1:21-30

Matthew 20:1-16

Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ,

 grace and peace to you

from the one who provides us with perspective. Amen.

This month we are considering God’s way of connecting/ reconnecting.

 Scripture shows that connection

and reconnection or reconciliation

are a value and practice of God

and because God joined us to Christ

and the work of God in our baptisms

 part of our duty and delight as children of God

is to pay attention to where and how God is at work

so that we might join in.

So far this month we have seen how God calls us to live in community

and provides a way for us to address conflict within community,

a way which includes holding others and ourselves accountable.

We have heard Jesus teach that this accountability

 must be held together with mercy,

 and that forgiveness, seeking reconnection

is the project of a lifetime,

something we must practice

until it becomes not something we do but who we are.

And today the readings emphasize

how perspective is important

for seeking to live this way of life,

 as we see the difference

 between human perspectives and God’s perspective

 in each of our readings for today

 and how that influences how individuals choose to live in community.

Jonah sees things very differently from God

actually he has some awareness of how his perspective differs from God’s

and yet he persists in his own way.

 Jonah does not like the Ninevites,

they are enemies to his people,

he has no desire to help them,

 and so when God sends him with a prophetic message

 that might save them

 he runs the other way

God has to work quite hard to get him back on track

 but ultimately he does deliver the message

 that unless the Ninevites change their ways

 God will destroy their city.

And remarkably the message lands,

the people repent

 and God does not destroy the city.

 And this makes Jonah mad

because there is nothing he would love more

 than to see this city and people destroyed

and he throws a tantrum about God’s grace.

“That is why I fled to Tarshish at the beginning, for I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah’s a bit of a drama queen)

and then Jonah goes and sits outside the city,

 still hoping to see the destruction of the city.

 And God provides an object lesson

with a bush that grows and gives him shade

 and dies and exposes him to the heat again,

and when Jonah complains about the death of the bush

God tries to put it in perspective for him,

“You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow; it came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should I not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left and also many animals?”

 In other words,

 how about trying to see things from my point of view Jonah?

 These are my creation too,

 I care for them.

 But Jonah is so wrapped up in his own desires and concerns

 that he misses the bigger picture- 

Augustine and then Luther defined sin in precisely this way,

as being curved in on oneself,

 turning toward ourselves and away from God

 is the essence of sin,

and like Jonah we get so wrapped up in ourselves

 and our own desires

that we lose sight of the bigger picture,

 and God who provides for us everything we need

 (our daily bread),

also provides us with perspective,

and calls us to look at the world the way God does. 

This is what Jesus does with his parables,

and in particular our parable for today,

the landowner who keeps hiring throughout the day.

The first people he hires

he agrees to pay them a denarius,

the people he hires at noon, and three, and five

he tells them he will pay them whatever is right.

And then of course the time comes for payment

and the landowner starts with the last hired, who only worked an hour

 and what does he pay them? A denarius,

and on down to the first hired

 who also receive a denarius

and they say  ‘hey wait a minute? We worked harder, why are we getting paid the same as the ones who only worked an hour, we deserve more!’

And they complain

 even though they got exactly what they had agreed upon

with the landowner at the beginning of the day.

Actually they got more,

they also got a lesson in perspective.

The landowner didn’t have to pay the last first,

 he could have quietly paid in order of hire

 and no one would have been the wiser,

  But this is the kingdom of heaven that Jesus is comparing this parable to,

 and in the kingdom of heaven

what is right is that everyone gets what they need

 no matter how long they work

 in fact those who were able to work all day

were in a privileged position

 they had the peace of knowing they had a job

that could provide for their family for the day

peace that those hired later did not have.

 We don’t know why they aren’t hired at the beginning of the day,

perhaps they went other places first and were not hired,

 or they had to take care of a sick family member

before they could look for work,

or they themselves were sick and only had the energy to get out there later,

or maybe yes they were lazy

but just because they didn’t get out there right away

doesn’t mean they didn’t have the same needs as those hired first,

in fact they probably had greater need.

 By paying the last first

the landowner challenges those hired first to think of others,

to help redefine what is right from a broader perspective.

 By telling this parable

Jesus challenges his disciples

to think about what is right in God’s way,

disciples that Jesus has called

 to help proclaim and begin to live the kingdom of heaven,

just as Jesus has called us to do the same.

And this means that we must practice looking with the perspective of God,

 setting our mind on divine things rather than human things.

To turn away from ourselves and towards our neighbors, towards God.

And this means that we will at times

 have to set aside our own inclinations and desires

 for the sake of the bigger picture,

 for the sake of the Kingdom of God.

 This is what Paul is parsing out

 as he writes to the Philippians in our second reading today.

 In prison in Rome

he is weighing the real possibility of immanent death

and thinking about which he would choose,

death or life

 and there are good things about both.

 he says “I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better, but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you.”

Paul sets aside his desire to be with Christ,

 to escape his current suffering,

 for the sake of the Philippians,

 he will continue to live and encourage them

even as he continues in his suffering.

And he urges them to live lives worthy of the gospel

even if it includes some suffering

 for God has saved them

and granted them the privilege of believing in Christ

as well as suffering for Christ.

And this too is a shift in perspective,

to look on our faith

and all that comes with it as a privilege.

One which when shared will make all lives better.

Jonah certainly didn’t want to share the grace and mercy of God with the Ninevites.

 I wonder what would have been different

If he had gotten to know the people he proclaimed his message to

Connected with them, heard their story.

 The first hired pointed out to the landowner

 that they had borne the burden of the heat of the day

 and that was why they deserved more.

I wonder what would have been different

 if they saw working the whole day as a privilege-

might that have allowed them to celebrate the generosity of the landowner

to those hired later?

I wonder what might be different

 if we could see how living out our faith

makes a difference in the lives of others

and in a way we can

we can reach out to share the gift of our faith

we can get to know the people we serve

hear their story and their place in the world

This is what God offers us

In the gift of faith shared with others

Perspective on God’s good world

And how we and others fit in it together

How sharing makes it better

More like the Kingdom of God for which we long

And which God has promised us in Christ

For God is gracious and merciful,

 slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Amen.