What is there about human spirit that always makes us want to desire more?
Are we ever satisfied?
Do we ever have enough?
We covet, to use a good ol’ Biblical phrase. We covet a lot.
To “covet” means to seek, want, to desire something…
We yearn to possess all kinds of things…the latest thing…we are being told is: Do not pick items up, do not hold them in your hands…if you touch them, you will buy them.
It’s almost like you have to possess them.
In the past people even used expressions like, “that is to die for.” Really? You would die to possess something? Seriously?
There is much talk today about the human craving. We crave for more and more. We crave for something better. We crave for something bigger…something newer, faster, and more reliable.
We thirst for…and we hunger after…we wish for, long for and hanker after…
You have to almost wonder if it was always so?
Is the grass always greener?
Has anyone even tried watering their own grass first?
We covet all kinds of things…we want to have them…we want to possess them…and it is no longer – just about keeping up with the Joneses…
The Joneses are joining us in our seeking, wanting desiring…
It has almost become a national epidemic.
It has been suggested that the parable before us this evening is really all about the 9th and 10th commandments.
Do you remember them?
Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s house. Thou shall not covet thy neighbor’s wife, man-servant, maid-servant, ox, ass or anything that is thy neighbors.
We want more stuff…better stuff, newer stuff, faster stuff, ingenious stuff and so does our neighbor!
In a very real sense the parable for today is about coveting.
Coveting fits Jesus’ teaching and the over-arching emphasis in Matthew on the Law…or on the Torah.
We covet what God chooses to give to others. That’s the heart of it. We are jealous. We are envious.
You already know that a parable is an elaborate allegory. We are invited to listen to the story and to see ourselves in each and every story that is told. They story is meant to be applied to us…not to someone else…but to us.
The wages at stake are not wages per se, but they are things like forgiveness, life and salvation. We may not be actual “laborers” in some vineyard somewhere – but we are all “coworkers” in God’s great creation.
Covetousness has always been a problem.
In the story as told by Jesus – the point is not that others receive blessings from God that we do not…nor is it that they get more or better or lovelier gifts from God…
The problem is – they get the same as us…and we cry foul – unfair, not right.
Some of these folks are less worthy…some of them do not deserve what we get. Some are later arrivals…whereas I have been Christian since my baptism. I grew up in the church. I went to Sunday School. I went to church. I got confirmed. I paid my dues. Some people, (I know) are worse sinners…
They do not deserve the same thing that we good people deserve, do they?
Why is God so gracious? They do not deserve nothing…but they also do not deserve the same as the likes of us. I sat through all those confirmation classes…I took copious notes. I did a final exam. I was even examined before the entire congregation.
You can’t quit and come back whenever you want to! There is no such thing as time off…
It is easy to be resentful if others are going to receive the same as you and me.
Some have worked harder. Some have worked longer. Some have been here from day one.
It is not fair.
I tithe. I give more. I never miss church unless I am sick.
Fair is fair. What is unfair is the way that God’s grace applies NOT TO US, but to others…
Are they as deserving?