Laboring in God's Kingdom

For September 18, 2011

All Scriptures are from The Message Version

One of the consistent teachings of Jesus concerns the Kingdom of God or Kingdom of Heaven.  He uses analogies to describe something that can be very difficult to grasp as it exists both today and in the future.  Today’s scripture is one of those analogies.  But first you can read some thoughts about the Kingdom of Heaven by one writer:

The Present and Future Kingdom of God

"Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." John the Baptist and Jesus proclaimed the nearness of God’s kingdom (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Mark 1:15). A literal translation is "has come near." The long-awaited rule of God was near. This message was called the gospel, the good news. John and Jesus preached a soon-coming kingdom, something that was near in time to their audiences. The message said something about what people should do now; it had immediate relevance and urgency. It aroused interest—and jealousy. By proclaiming that changes were needed in government and in religious teachings, the message challenged the status quo.

Jesus’ announces a kingdom not of this world (John 18:36). When he talked about the "kingdom of God," he used a phrase the people knew well, but he gave it new meaning. He told Nicodemus that God’s kingdom was invisible to most people (John 3:3)—to understand it or experience it, a person must be renewed by God’s Spirit (verse 6). The kingdom of God was a spiritual kingdom, not a physical organization.

No matter how much we try to live in a way that reflects God and his kingdom, we cannot transform this world into God’s kingdom. It must come through dramatic intervention. Apocalyptic events are needed to usher in the new age. Satan must be completely restrained.  Numerous verses tell us that the kingdom of God will be a glorious future reality. We know that Christ is a King, and we yearn for the day he will exercise his power in a great and dramatic way to stop human suffering.

Excerpts from an article by Michael Morrison, 1993

http://www.wcg.org/lit/gospel/kingdom.htm

·         After thinking about it what is your picture of the God’s Kingdom?

Let’s take a look at one of Jesus’ descriptions as recorded by Matthew in Chapter 20:

¹"God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

·         What is your picture of day laborers?  What perceptions do you have about the people who gather in a designated location in hopes of finding short term work?  Who might find themselves in this job market?  Who might hire them?

·         From this first sentence what do you expect the following story to illustrate?  Who might the Estate Manager and workers represent?

² They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. ^3-5"Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

 ^5-6"He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?'

 ⁷"They said, 'Because no one hired us.' "He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

·         What wage was offered to the first group?  What was offered to the succeeding groups?  Why do you think they accepted it?  What does it say about their condition and evaluation of the manager?

·         What role did the laborers have in their hiring?  To what did the last group attribute their lack of a job?  What must have been their reaction to his invitation?

·         What does the hiring pattern tell us about the landowner?  What seems to have motivated the addition of workers later in the day, particularly the last group?  Does it seem to have gone beyond his actual need for labor?

·         What images about day laborers are reinforced or changed by this scripture?

 ⁸"When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.'

 ^9-12"Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 'These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.'

·         What is the order of payment to the laborers?  Do you think that this has any other meaning other than to be a storytelling technique?

·         How would you have reacted if you were in the ‘first group’?  Does what was done make sense, is it fair?  What do you think that Jesus might intend for us to understand from the paying of equal payment to all of the groups?

^13-15"He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?'

·         What do you think about the landowner’s response to the grumbling laborers?  What does it tell us about living in the kingdom?

·         What do we learn about fairness in this kingdom?

·         What does it say about the reality of who is in charge of the kingdom, where do we stand and who decides how the kingdom operates?  Do you like this arrangement?  Does it matter whether you do or not?

"Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

·         Think of pairing (rich/poor) that describe being first and last in today’s definition of the terms?

·         Which category do you feel you fall into the most?  Evaluated from your perspective do you think that this is fair and appropriate announcement?

·         What does this admonition tell us about the way we will live in the literal kingdom of heaven?

·         What lessons should we take away from this story about just what our behavior as people of faith should be today?  Are we cast in the role of both manager (those with something to give) and worker (needing something) as we live our lives?  What does the story teach us about serving either role?

·         What might the “usual daily wage” be for those of us living in the kingdom of heaven?  What do you receive from acts you perform as a response to your faith

·         What has to change for us in order to make us better able to respond as this story seems to teach?

Next Week’s Lectionary Scriptures: Exodus 17:1-7, Exodus 17:1-7, Philippians 2:1-13, Matthew 21:23-32