Grace to you and peace from our loving God, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

In addition to this being the nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, we are incorporating into our liturgy ways of marking the International Day of Prayer for Peace set for this day. Congregations around the world join prayers for a cessation of violence on the planet and for all that makes for true peace. This World Council of Churches observance coincides with a United Nations initiative that encourages a "global 24-hour spiritual observation for peace," which "is meant to demonstrate the power of prayer and other spiritual practices in promoting peace and preventing violent conflict." We pray for peace today in every context of violence—war, nature, disease and its treatments, the home, prejudice, and religious extremism.

Over the past couple of weeks, the texts we have read in worship have dealt with just such matters of our human nature-divisiveness, resentment, an unforgiving spirit. The scriptures have countered these with visions of the kingdom of God, where love and forgiveness prevail. This morning, we deal with another part of our circumstances that lead us away from peace—envy, an uncharitable spirit.

The popular form of humor making use of the light bulb often perpetuates stereotype and a lack of charity. For example: How many Wall Street brokers does it take to screw in a light bulb? The answer: One. The broker holds the light bulb and the universe revolves around him.

Or: How many Exxon officials does it take to change a light bulb. Ten. One to turn the bulb and nine to handle the public relations.

Or this one out of Hollywood: How many actors does it take to change a light bulb? The answer: One hundred. One to change the bulb and ninety-nine to say, "I could have done that."

As has been well said, "After a person makes their mark in the world, a lot of people begin showing up with erasers."

One of the most basic of human emotions is envy. We see it on the first pages the Bible. Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain, a tiller of the ground. "In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering, he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell..." (Gen. 4:3-5 RSV) And you know what happened. Murder. Envy is familiar to all of us, and it can be deadly.

There is in us an undercurrent of resentment and envy when others receive unearned good fortune and we don't. Paul writes to the Romans that they are to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep; and it's a lot easier to weep with those who weep than it is to rejoice with those who rejoice. Try though we may, it's often hard to keep the tone of envy out of our voice when confronted with the good fortune of another.

Our text for the day depicts a head-scratching display of the generosity of God in a kingdom that knows nothing of envy or hierarchy or seniority or works righteousness. Everyone who works gets paid the same, whether they work for one hour or twelve. Some might consider it to be unfair, but the issue isn't fairness. The owner doesn't treat those who worked all day unfairly; they get what they bargained for. The complaint really isn't that the workers of long hours were cheated; it is that the others were dealt with so generously. The boss doesn't cheat anybody. He is simply generous. He gives to those who trust him the same as those who bargain with him.

From our point of view, it's not fair. From God's point of view, it's a matter of grace; and grace isn't fair, but it's the same for everyone. The same envy is displayed by the elder brother of the prodigal son. "It isn't fair that my younger brother should receive a welcome like this, when I have stayed home all these years in my Father's house and I've never been given a party like this one."

Now, of course, the workers have a point. The elder brother has a point. Even Cain seems to have had a point. Life isn't fair. But why does it bother us when someone else has what we don't? The workers in this morning's parable agreed to work for a certain wage, and they received that wage. Why did what others received bother them? As the owner said to an offended worker, "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?" God said to Cain, "Why are you angry... If you do well, will you not be accepted?" Still, Cain is angry, and the workers are angry, and it's rare that any of us can help being angry when we see someone else getting something that we don't.

It happens even within the Body of Christ. Someone is recognized or gets chosen for a special office or sings a solo in the choir and there's someone else asking, "Why her or him? Why not me?"

Envy, it is important to note, always springs from a feeling of insecurity and uncertainty about self-worth. If we feel good about ourselves, we don't need to worry about other people's accomplishments, position, or gifts. God asks Cain, "If you do well will you not be accepted," and Cain has no answer. The truth is that Cain isn't sure if he is acceptable or not. And that's sad. People who feel unacceptable are the cause of many of the world's tragedies, and whenever a person is envious of another, you can be sure that individual has never fully recognized grace or accepted his or her own gifts.

Envy does more harm to us than it ever does to the object of our envy. There is a fable about an eagle envious of a fellow eagle who could fly better than he could. One day the first eagle sees a sportsman with a bow and arrow. He says to him, "I wish you would bring down that eagle up there." The man says he will if he has some feathers for his arrow. So the jealous eagle pulls one out of his wing. The arrow is shot, but it doesn't quite reach the rival bird because he's flying too high. The jealous eagle pulls out another feather, then another—until finally he has lost so many feathers that he can no longer fly. The archer takes advantage of the situation, turns around, and kills the helpless bird. The moral, of course, "Your envy of others will cause you more grief than it will the object of your envy."

If only we could take to heart the message of our Lord on the cross and in this parable. We are worth more than we could ever expect. We aren't failures or losers, but children of God. Not only that-God has given to each of us eternal value. We don't need to compare ourselves with others. All we need to do is take our eyes off of them and turn our eyes toward our LordJesus. We don't have to prove that we're worthwhile. We don't have to tear others down to build ourselves up. We are loved with an everlasting love. If we truly believe that, it will lift us to a place where we need never be bothered by envy.

This parable is telling us, simply, that we are saved by grace. Grace isn't fair, but it is the same for everyone. Merit and wages are wholly inadequate concepts when it comes to God. It's not the about the rate of pay, but the generosity of God. And the gratitude of God for our service.

Isn't it interesting that God (if we view the owner of the vineyard as God) shows gratitude to the workers. And God shows that gratitude equally to all.

Why would the owner give so much to those who worked only an hour or a few hours? The only reason I can think of is that he is grateful for their labors. He obviously has a pressing need to complete the grape harvest, he needs the workers, the workers provide a real service, and he is ecstatically grateful for the work.

What are we to make of this but that God is grateful? We often think only of our own offering of gratitude to the God who gives all good gifts. Here we find Jesus telling us that his Father too is grateful for our offering of our own good gifts to the work of service in God's vineyards. Our work is valuable to God.

One of the best books I ever read is entitled "The Divine Relativity." Charles Hartshorne writes: "Gratitude is the appropriate expression of genuine indebtedness, of really having received benefit from others."

If that is the case, if God is in this parable portrayed as genuinely indebted to us, if God truly does receive benefit from us, our lives take on an entirely different texture. Our service in God's vineyard makes a difference to God. We make a difference to God.

It is an amazing insight, and one not often affirmed in our churches. God not only makes a difference in our lives; we make a difference to God.

Hartshorne continues: "Conceited men would perhaps like to avoid occasions for gratitude, so that they might boast of their independence. But no good man blessed with a beloved wife is sorry to feel that without her he could not have been so happy. To God each of us is dearer that wife to husband, for no human being knows the inner experiences of another human being so intimately as they are known to God. And to know experiences is to appreciate them; for the value of experience is just the experience itself. As we are indebted to a few persons for the privilege of feeling something of the quality of their experiences, so God is indebted to all persons for the much fuller enjoyment of the same privilege. (p. 46)

When we hear this story of the workers in the vineyard, with whom do we identify? Most of us here in this congregation probably think of ourselves in the place of those hired early in the day. After all, have we not been baptized-as Easton is baptized this morning, and nurtured by Christian parents who helped bring to fruition the faith instilled through the sacrament of baptism. Have we not labored long and hard as heirs of the kingdom of God and workers with God in this world? Haven't we given of the sweat of our brow and the substance of our time and income that the church might be built effectively and fruitfully as a place of God's redemption?

But, if we so identify, are we not playing the role of the Publican in another of Jesus' parables? Are we not considering ourselves justified before God, when in fact it is the one who feels unworthy to approach God's altar, the one who is fully aware of her or his own sin, who is justified?

Yes, because in truth, we do not earn God's grace. We could never merit such love as comes from God. We can only come, no matter how long we have served, in full awareness of our sins and our weaknesses before the one who loves us and appreciates even the most meager offering of our selves.

If we are really to hear this parable rightly, we will recognize that we are one of the late-comers to the vineyard. We will understand that our labors have been only a small portion of what we might have done. We will know that we have been lazy in responding to God's calls, even on a daily basis. If we don't know this, why then do we come so frequently to the Lord's Table in search of forgiveness and restoration?

Humility is the only approach to God. Our haughtiness, our pride, our judgments, and our envy, only separate us from the one who loves us eternally. Part of the trouble of hearing this parable rightly is that we aren't dealing with reality. The parable employs a metaphor of laborers, and work for a wage; it leads to the kind of thinking that suggests a theology of works righteousness. It's so pervasive, this idea that we must earn whatever we get. But this is only the case if we see the parable from a human point of view.

When we turn it on its head. When we identify with the last of those hired and the ones who worked the least, then we're freed from our envious, prideful, and judgmental natures. Then we can see that the wage isn't the point. The point is God's gratitude for our service. The point is not made for the sake of cash. It's told to make a point about God's grace—God's loving, forgiving, reconciling, relationship with all of us. Whatever contribution we make to the eternal is treasured by God for eternity!

Into the marketplace of our lives Christ comes in this parable, asking us to labor in God's vineyard-to use our lives for the kingdom. We are put to use as we are. Perhaps today, with the emphasis on peace, we might reflect particularly on how we contribute to that particular part of God's will.

With every godly act, God will both find joy in our service and deal with us more graciously than we could ever deserve. Amen.

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord unto eternal life. Amen.