Jonah 3:10-4:11 Psalm 145:1-8 Philippians 1:21-30 Matthew 20:1-16

Our Old Testament lesson this morning is from the book of Jonah; the book of Jonah is included among the subcategory of minor prophets.  Like so many Biblical characters, Jonah, even though a prophet of God, was flawed; Jonah was slow to acknowledge God’s divine providence over all creation; Jonah was resistant to God’s call to mission.  Jonah is a very human character given in to the pitfalls of human nature; we can relate to Jonah.

Since we were children, we’ve delighted in Jonah’s story of being scoffed up by the whale.  It almost seems odd to focus on Jonah in a serious religious setting.  Yet, we are wise to do so; it is Jonah who points out so many of our critical pitfalls as self-assumed faithful people of God.

Jonah, a prophet of God, was called to carry God’s message to the people of Nineveh.  Jonah was not happy about the mission; he held the people of Nineveh in great fear and disdain.  Certainly, they were not worthy of his risking his life to carry them the message of God’s call for redemption!  With the intention of circumventing God’s direction, Jonah boarded a ship to Tarshish rather than set out on a journey to Nineveh.  To Jonah’s frustration, once the ship was underway, a great storm arose.  With cargo discharged overboard and all lives in grave danger, Jonah finally suspected God’s purpose in the storm and implored his shipmates to toss him overboard to avoid their own demise.  Thus, Jonah became fish bait, which prompted his fervent prayers to God resulting in his being coughed up on the shore three days later, no doubt causing a good bit of gastric distress for the whale.  From here, Jonah received the word of God more willingly and began his belated journey to Nineveh.

Even after this horrendous culmination of events, Jonah was slow if ever to consider his adventurous journey as being so directly guided by God – God who continued to pursue and protect Jonah with mercy and grace, guiding Jonah toward his designated mission, even using a whale to capture and redirect Jonah rather than chew him to bits or let him drown.

This beloved childhood Bible story, in actuality, has a very serious glaring message for Jonah, as it does to us.  These messages always come when we need to hear them the most.  God had been unquestionably present with Jonah, awarding Jonah with his mercy and grace.  Yet, still, Jonah was not willing to accept that very same mercy and grace of God for the people of Nineveh – his perceived enemies.  Jonah continued to be unaccepting of God’s power over his creation.  Jonah was angry with God for destroying the bush that God had sent specifically for Jonah’s comfort.  At the same time, Jonah was confused and disgruntled with God for withholding the destruction of the people of Nineveh who, by the way, thanks to Jonah’s prophecy, had repented and turned from their evil ways in the face of that destruction.

How many of us found within ourselves a bit of that same disgruntlement and confusion at the thought of these laborers in our Gospel parable who came so late to the vineyard receiving the same wages as those who had worked all day?  If you are an employer, you know not to allow employees to compare each other’s wages.

We are human like Jonah.  Countless times we have found ourselves disgruntled when we consider someone who received the same reward though, in our eyes, is far less deserving.  Countless times we have stood among the jealous and resentful as someone from the “other side” was awarded the prize.  It’s just not fair.  In our eyes, they are undeserving.  I’m guilty – Year after year, as the mother of perfectly obedient and well-behaved children [J], I sat through awards ceremonies where that good behavior was unacknowledged while the one child who had continuously disrupted the class had rallied during the last three weeks of school to receive the award for the “most improved.”

But, our Gospel message is not the message of rewards for human works.  Our Gospel message is the message of the mercy and grace of God – the message of our justification by grace through our faith in Jesus Christ.  God’s grace is abundant and equally gifted to all – even to those who come late to the faith – even to the Prodigal Son and the one lamb among the ninety-nine who was lost and finally found, even this wayward child for whom perhaps this acknowledgement of eleventh-hour improved behavior inspired redirection toward a healthier path.

God’s grace is freely and equally offered to all, we cannot earn that grace through our earthly works.  We cannot direct God’s grace; grace is fully within God’s realm to provide.

Whether we come early or late, God’s grace is the same.  Perhaps we identify ourselves with those laborers who worked all day in the heat.  Let’s think of that day as the time of our lives spent with the knowledge of the presence of Christ.   God’s grace is the same at the end of time, but what of our time spent on earth here and now in the knowledge of Christ – in the work of the vineyard.  Is that not itself our special gift?  Are we not rewarded every day that we spend in the Body of Christ doing the work God has given us to do?  Did not my well-behaved children reap the benefits of healthy learning throughout the school year?

We know no more of Jonah.  The account of his saga ends with the verses we read today.  In these final verses of the book of Jonah, God confronts Jonah as he pouts about the destroyed bush: “You are concerned about the bush, for which you did not labor and which you did not grow.”  God leaves Jonah with the question – the question that we should expand for our own reflection on God’s divine providence over all creation – “Should I, [the God of all creation], not be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do not know their right hand from their left?”

Should God not be concerned about Nineveh?  Should God not be concerned equally about those who come late as those who come early?  Isn’t God calling you to Nineveh?  Isn’t God calling you to reach out to those left standing in the market place?  Think about it, and remember there are whales along the way.