Trinity 16_2026

Readings:

• Philippians 1.21-end
• Matthew 20.1-16

Sermon:

When we hear the story of the labourers in the vineyard it is only at the end that we have to question whether or not the landowner is being fair to his workers.

We hear a lot today about fairness or unfairness in the workplace – equal rights an  equal pay according to the job being done and the gender of the workers; and I sense if the story happened today there would be an outcry of opinions about fairness, most of them posted on facebook, tiktok, instagram, etc. Many people holding many differing opinions as to the perceived rights or wrongs of the landowners actions.

If we look again at the story we see that his aim is to give work to all the people he sees standing idle in the market place throughout the day – at 9am, noon, 3 o’clock and even at 5pm.

All say they are idle because no-one has hired them so he tells them to go to his vineyard to work and he will pay them whatever is right.

At the end of the day he tells his manager to pay them, beginning with the last. In each case the labourers are given the usual daily wage, and those who were last or not hired until the afternoon must have felt very grateful  to receive a full day’s wage. Those who were hired at the beginning of the day felt very hard done by – they had toiled all day in the scorching heat but had not been rewarded with any more than those who had worked only one hour. They had not been treated equally.

The landowner replied. ‘But I am doing you no wrong; you agreed to work for the usual daily wage which is what you have received. It is my choice to give to the last the same as I’ve given to you. You are envious of my generosity –  Am I not allowed to do what I choose with my money?

Now you could have endless discussions after hearing this story as to the rights and the perceived wrongs of the actions of the landowner, but as always the story is a lesson about the nature or God and how he treats all of us.

Over and again we are told we are made in the image of God, that each one of us is loved equally by him regardless of race, coloure, creed or status in life. God can only be fair – he cannot be partisan and favour one over another. He loves each of us in the same way he loved Jesus his Son and it is what he is offering each of us at the end of our lives is the same.  Whoever we are or become in this life, whatever our status, whatever befalls us in this life – ultimatley if we believe in God, have faith and trust in him, our final reward will be the same as the greatest among us. We will be given life everlasting with him and loved by him regardless of when we were  created and what life we experienced on this earth. We can never doubt our reward is fair and just.