Resurrection Lutheran Church, St Catharines

A new Chevrolet coupe turned off the highway and headed down into the camp. It pulled to the center of the camp. Tom said “Who’s this? They don’t belong here.”

Floyd said, “I dunno—cops, maybe.”

The car door opened and a man got out and stood beside the car. His companion remained seated. Now all the squatting men looked at the newcomers and the conversation was still. And the women building their fires looked secretly at the shiny car. The children moved closer with elaborate circuitousness, edging inward in long curves.

Floyd put down his wrench. Tom stood up. Al wiped his hands on his trousers. The three strolled toward the Chevrolet. The man who had got out of the car was dressed in khaki trousers and a flannel shirt. He wore a flat-brimmed Stetson hat. A sheaf of papers was held in his shirt pocked by a little fence of fountain pens and yellow pencils; and from his pocket protruded a notebook with metal covers. He moved to one of the groups of squatting men, and they looked up at him, suspicious and quiet. They watched him and did not move; the whites of their eyes showed beneath the irises, for they did not raise their heads to look. Tom and Al and Floyd strolled casually near.

The man said, “You men want to work?” Still they looked quietly, suspiciously. And men from all over the camp moved near.

One of the squatting men spoke at last. “Sure we wanta work. Where’s at’s work?”

Tulare County. Fruit’s opening up. Need a lot of pickers.”

Floyd spoke up, “You doin’ the hiring?”

“Well, I’m contracting the land.”

The men were in a compact group now. An overalled man took of his black hat and combed back his long black hair with his fingers. “What you payin’?” he asked.

“Well, can’t tell exactly, yet. ‘Bout thirty cents, I guess.”

“Why can’t you tell? You took the contract, didn’ you?”

“That’s true,” the khaki man said. “But it’s keyed to the price. Might be a little more, might be a little less.”

Floyd stepped out ahead. He said quietly, “I’ll go, mister. You’re a contractor, an’ you got a license. You jus’ show your license, an’ then you give us an order to go to work, an’ where, an’ when, an’ how much we’ll get, an’ you sign that, an’ we’ll all go.”

The contractor turned, scowling. “You telling me how to run my own business?”

Floyd said, “’F we’re workin’ for you, it’s our business too.”

“Well, you ain’t telling me what to do. I told you I need men.”

Floyd said angrily, “You didn’ say how many men, an’ you didn’ say what you’d pay.”

“[I said], I don’t know yet.”

“If you don’ know, you got no right to hire men.”

“I got a right to run my business my own way. If you men want to sit here on your [keester], O.K. I’m out getting men for Tulare County. Going to need a lot of men.”

Floyd turned to the crowd of men. They were standing up now, looking quietly from one speaker to the other. Floyd said, “Twicet now I’ve fell for that. Maybe he needs a thousan’ men. He’ll get five thousan’ there, an’ he’ll pay fifteen cents an hour. An’ you poor [men]’ll have to take it ‘cause you’ll be hungry. ‘F he wants to hire men, let him ‘em an’ write it out an’ say what he’s gonna pay. Ast ta see his license. He ain’t allowed to contract men without a license.

 

This scene out of John Steinbeck’s novel, “The Grapes of Wrath,” portrays with great realism a scene similar to that laid out in today’s Gospel reading of the parable of the master of the house who went out to hire workers for his vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). Perhaps we perceive more realism in the John Steinbeck scene than in Jesus’ parable. That’s okay.

 

Steinbeck was portraying the very real conditions of the Great Depression. Families from places like Oklahoma left their foreclosed farms behind and made the difficult journey toward California, their resources slowly depleting on the way until they had nothing left. And the closer they got to their destination the more they were in need of work and the more abuse they suffered from landowners who took advantage of their desperate situation. There is no happy ending to John Steinbeck’s novel, other than the author receiving the Nobel Prize for Literature.

 

There are quite a few contrasts between “The Grapes of Wrath” and the Workers in the Vineyard, although they depict very similar circumstances on the part of those desperately in need of work. Jesus’ parable is not about life in the economy of this world. It is a parable of the kingdom of God. It is no contractor who is sent out to hire labourers, rather the vineyard owner himself goes out to find his men. He is not an unlicensed swindler, but a respectable landowner. He offers the sure promise of a fixed reward, not the uncertainty of a wage based on fluctuating markets or the whim of an unscrupulous taskmaster.

 

“After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (Matthew 20:2). No doubt it was with great thankfulness and joy at their fortune that the labourers went to their work. They could not believe the blessing they had received that day to be chosen by such a just and revered master to work for him in his great and glorious vineyard. They could work with confidence and pride without fear that they would be cheated in any way. Everything was above board and the master was above reproach. They would work industriously and respectably so that they might keep their place among the labourers of the vineyard.

 

Not like the seven dwarfs do we whistle while we work, but we labourers in the vineyard of the LORD celebrate our election while doing the work He has given us to do in our life vocations. From ancient times, the church has assigned today’s psalm to be a fixed feature of morning prayers. It is included in the orders of Matins and Morning Prayer in our service book (pages 219, 235), so that we may begin our day with confidence that all we do is for the glory of God and His kingdom.

 

“Oh, come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into His presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to Him with songs of praise!” (Psalm 95:1-2). We are reminded of two reasons to have such a song of thanks and praise on our lips as we begin our day’s work. The first is that our God is greater than anything. He is “a great king above all gods” (v. 3), above anything to which we might otherwise dedicate our lives. It is better to work for Him than for anything else.

 

He created all things, even those things that are out of our reach, the depths of the sea and the heights of the mountains (v. 4-5). No one can do for us what He can do. And “He is our Maker,” too (v. 6). He made us in His image to reflect His goodness and care for all of creation. Everything we are and have comes from Him. We are created to do good works in His good Creation.

 

The second reason to have such a song of thanks and praise on our lips is because “we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand” (v. 7). It sounds like those two lines got convoluted somewhere along the way, but it drives the point home. We are people that He has brought to green pastures (Psalm 23:2). He has led and cared for us our entire lives. And we are the sheep of His hand (John 10:14-15). With little acknowledgement from us He guards and protects us and holds us close to Himself. He is the good shepherd who even laid down His life for the sheep.

 

He is the God who brought His people out of slavery in the land of Egypt and shepherded them to the land that He promised. He saved them from their pursuing enemies and led them through the wilderness, feeding and watering them along the way. Guiding them and clearing the path for them until they reached their destination.

 

He is the God who has freed us from our slavery to sin by sending His Son to lead us in the new life of our Baptism. We are on our way to the promised land of paradise because He has saved us by sacrificing Himself upon the cross for us. Like the hymn puts it, “the shepherd dies for sheep who loved to wander” (O Dearest Jesus). His death on the cross for our salvation leads us through death and the grave to eternal life in His resurrection.

 

And all the while on our way, He provides for all our needs. This is why we can begin each day with such a psalm of thanks and praise. We are the labourers in His vineyard whom He has graciously taken in so that we might not slowly starve and die, but that we may have the certainty that He gives us each day our daily bread; that He keeps us near to work along with Him in His vineyard; and that at the end of the day we will receive all that He has promised.

 

Today’s psalm goes on where it breaks off in the Venite of Matins and Morning Prayer. They end on a high note, but the psalm continues to give a dire warning, that is also reflected in the parable of the master who hired labourers to work in his vineyard. As the psalm implores us to rejoice with thanksgiving at the start of every day, it continues to give a warning about today.

 

“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” (v. 7-8). The warning is given because our sinful nature is so aptly illustrated in the parable and in the history of the children of Israel. In the parable the workers who were hired first grumbled when those hired later received the same promised wages. Although they thought they might have received more from their generous benefactor, their real complaint was that the others received the same. “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us” (Matthew 20:12). Their complaint was against the generous grace of their master who gives to all freely and fully.

 

Likewise when the children of Israel were being led out of Egypt and through the wilderness, after seeing such wonders by which the LORD graciously rescued them, they complained against Him when they feared that they would have no water to drink. Even after they had received bread from heaven on a daily basis and quail every evening came to them as a source of food, they pressed upon the LORD believing that He would leave them high and dry. Even after He brought water gushing out of a rock for the hundreds of thousands of them to drink, they still found reason to complain yet again.

 

And that reveals the sinful nature of our own hearts. While we have such a great and gracious God, “a king above all gods” who holds us in His hand, we don’t trust that we will get what should be coming to us. While He keeps us as “the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand,” we press upon Him to prove that He will safely see us through. Even the grace that He extends towards others who appear less deserving, causes us to question if we have received all that should be ours.

 

That is why we need the unsung reminder that comes at the end of today’s psalm. We need to hear its deafening silence in our joyful song at Matins and Morning Prayer. We need to be reminded of the graciousness of our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us on the cross, whose side was pierced in death by a spear so that blood and water gushed out to quench our need for forgiveness. We need to be reminded that the rock which followed the children of Israel through the wilderness was this same rock from which they drank the spiritual waters that sustained them on their journey.

 

Instead of grapes of wrath we are given a place in the vineyard of the LORD where His bounty overflows with forgiveness of sins and grace to all. We have a permanent place in the presence of our God to do our daily tasks under the protection of His hand and wrapped in the arms of His love. For our sake Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath against the sins of mankind, so that we might drink from the sweet cup of His sacrificial blood and be forgiven for every time we call into question the grace of our great God and King.

 

While we are on our journey let us drink freely from the waters of Christ, washed in our baptism and forgiven in His death, living in His resurrection and sure to receive the fullness of His promised grace when our labour in His vineyard becomes our eternal Sabbath rest. Let us rise every day and go to our work with joy and confidence in the Lord who promises so much and has given us His very self for one and all.