Supernanny and the Workers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20 1-16

I don’t know if many of you watch a programme called Supernanny? It’s not a programme I usually watch, but having heard others talk of it, I watched it on Wednesday evening.

The camera took the viewers into a home where the mother had completely lost control of her five sons. They told lies, they were deceitful, violent and had no respect for their mother who spent all day with them, or for the father who came home each night to confrontation and open warfare.

Of comes ‘Supernanny’ like some super hero, and by the end of the week the situation had improved considerably.

Her initial way of dealing with the situation left me with a dissatisfied feeling, and I just couldn’t put my finger on the reason why.

 The boys’ behaviour did turn around.

The method she used was the ‘dangle a carrot’ method… a system of coloured balls and cage was used, the boys were told the rules, and for every praiseworthy act on their part, the balls in the cage grew higher and higher, and the boys moved one step further toward their carrot…the return of a favourite toy, a racing track.

In effect the system was all about , ‘What’s in it for us if we do things your way?’

In a sense our parable is quite similar.

It tells us of some casual workers at the beginning of the day, agreeing a price of a day’s wages with the Master to work in his vineyard. At other times during the day, at 9, 12, 3 and 5 o’clock, others were hired too, with the promise that the master would do the right thing by them.

When the Master’s steward handed out the wages at the end of the day he was told to give payment to the last first, and to give them also… the daily wage.

Of course when those who were hired first come to receive their payment they expected far more and were quite miffed that they were being paid the same amount of money. They felt they deserved more, after all they had put more in to the job. They had worked all day in the blazing heat, their burden of work had been far greater than those who came at the last minute.

I’m sure that modern day Trade unions would have been straight on to this one, and I don’t think any of us today would have been at all surprised to be reading about this controversy in the evening paper, or surprised to see a situation where all casual workers in the city had downed tools the next morning, to come out in support of their brothers.

In the world of employment there have always been questions raised on what is fair and what is not, and here in this parable, we see and hear in action, some of the first union representatives speaking out on behalf of their members.

But the  Master reminds them, ‘Friends I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go!

Jesus often told stories about familiar things, about lifestyle, about work, about home life, things people could identify with…

Here was a controversial parable which would certainly have made people sit up and take notice.

a)       The first theme that hits out at me is the generosity of the Father.

Many casual workers at the time of Jesus were paid on a daily basis. If they couldn’t find work, their families went hungry.

In paying the workers full rate for less hours, the Father was being compassionate and understanding of their situation.

God’s generosity, and his amazing love is way beyond the first workers’ comprehension, just as Jesus love for the poor and dispossessed was far beyond the comprehension of the Jewish leaders. They, the Jewish leaders, would have watched from afar and judged coldly, complained and built up resentment.

In the Supernanny programme, I was relieved when the nanny noticed that there was very little individual contact between the mother and her children, because most of her time with them was on the field of battle. For her children to respect her and love her, the supernanny told her she would need to spend quality time with each one. This was the missing ingredient, with her pointing this out I felt more relaxed watching it.

Her love began a turnabout, with better results.

How well do we know the Father’s heart? How much time do we spend with him, immersed in His word?

We too need to spend special time with God, if we are to   really know him and love him and come to respect him.

We need to come in openness and honesty, minus our masks, if we are to discover the depths of his love for us.

     A man called Walter Wiersbe once said,

In grace God has given us what we DO NOT deserve, and in his mercy He does NOT GIVE US what we DO deserve.

Just as God’s love has penetrated us, despite our sin and rebellion.

God’s mercy and forgiveness benefits all who draw close to him, therefore we must love like our Father does and penetrate the grimy exterior of those we may deem unfit, and not judge anyone to be unworthy of receiving his love and generosity; he calls us to love others into his kingdom, just as we have been loved into it.

So in the parable, the first workers are ignorant of the heart of the Master, he was generous beyond measure…they did not know him or understand his nature.

‘I CHOOSE to give to this last the same as I give you’

…I am GENEROUS?’

Secondly, there’s the question of working only to get something out of it.

b)Is it possible that we’re in danger today as we try to attract people to faith we use the dangling of the carrot method rather than the deeper challenges our faith demands?

Are people brought to believe that in coming to faith they will simply get something out of it… …rather like the workers that came first and like the five naughty children?

When we advertise our faith to others are WE missing out something very important issues in the process of believing?

The parable comes as a result of a question put to Jesus by Peter.

‘Lord we have left everything and have followed you. What then will we get?’

It would have been very appropriate for Jesus to have responded to Peter with a rebuke. He could well have said that anyone who followed with that kind of attitude had no idea what following him meant at all!

 Jesus answered him graciously, not only explaining the benefits, but also the true nature of the kingdom.

The kingdom was not about power, wealth and the sharing of glory, but his disciples would also share his sufferings and his shame and his ministry.

THE BENEFITS AFTER ALL ARE MANY.

Indeed, are we not promised eternal life, freedom from chains and oppression and  forgiveness of sins.

Many also come to faith through the church’s social life, its promise of friendship and family, its pastoral care and service, and there’s actually nothing wrong with this, but we must all surely  be brought at some time to a realisation that the kingdom of God is something much more serious and mysterious; it involves sacrifice and service and servanthood! It involves putting in rather than taking out.

Yes we have many benefits and rewards as Christians, but what if there weren’t any? What if it were more of a challenge? What if it really meant laying down our lives as did the early Christians? What then?

Would people still come in their droves, or as regularly and openly to meetings?

If we were arrested for being Christians would there be enough evidence to convict us?

Are we into God so deeply, we wouldn’t want out?

One of the main lessons of the parable is about the spirit in which the work was done.

The last workers worked willingly and happily and left the reward to the Master. Christians must work for the joy of serving God and our fellow people.

Thirdly,

c) It matters not how many years of service we have given to God, the newest Christian is loved in the same measure and means just as much to God. All service, all people rank with God, he has no favourites.

No matter if a person comes to God in the first flush of youth, or in the strength of midday, or when the shadows are lengthening, he or she is equally dear to God.

A story is told of a punk who walked into church one day, right in the middle of a service and strode right up the aisle. When she reached the front, she sat down on the carpet.

The congregation were very relieved to see the Steward, seconds later walk up the aisle to where she was sitting, they knew he was in charge and he would do what was right, perhaps sit her elsewhere or even evict her.

However the Steward, hymnbook and service book in hand, smiled and sat down beside her, and helped her to follow the service through.

To welcome others ought to be a joy for all of us.

It does not always follow though that seniority equates with ‘honourable’ practice.

A church warden was once heard to say; ‘I’ve seen many changes in my years as Church Warden, and I’ve opposed EVERY single one of them!

Also in God’s economy there is no such thing as a favoured Nation! Or a favoured denomination!

And it may well be we who have been Christians for so long and belong to established churches, can learn much from younger churches who are latecomers to faith.

Rather than seek to exclude or build walls, we are called to embrace all Christians and reach out across barriers, without judgement.

SUMMARY:

At the end of the Supernanny programme, every face was shining; the parents knew their children better, the parents smiled at each other, the children were happy with a new set of rules and they also enjoyed time with their parents.

It was as though the sun had come out inside their home, no longer was it a battlefield.

 Jesus, God’s Son, reflected his Father’s nature so well to us. He was the human face of God, his face …the mirror of God’s brilliance.

We have come to know the Father through him.

So too we must mirror him. If we shine brightly, it is because of His true source shining in our direction, and we must reflect and light the way for others to follow, and see their potential just as God has recognised ours.

A famous Victorian thinker and painter called John Ruskin once sat with a friend in the dusk of an evening and watched a lamplighter, torch in hand, lighting the lights on a distant hill. Very soon the man’s form was no longer distinguishable in the distance, but everywhere he went he left a light burning brightly.

‘There,’ Ruskin said, ‘that is what I mean by a real Christian. You can trace his course by the light he leaves burning.’

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People at a church in Washington State make this promise to each other, and their church has grown in number over a period of fourteen years to 4000 members. 

You will never knowingly suffer at my hands.

I’ll never knowingly say or do anything to hurt you.

I’ll always in every circumstance, seek to help and support you.

If you are down and I can lift you, I’ll do that.

If you need something and I have it, I’ll share it with you.   If I need to, I’ll give it to you.

No matter what I find out about you, no matter what happens in the future -either good or bad - my commitment to you will never change.

And there is nothing you can do about it!

Come let us sing of God’s wonderful love.