Surprising Generosity

Shepherd of the Mountains Lutheran Church, Pinetop, Arizona

Rev. Michael “Mick” Mathews

The Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost – September 20, 2026

Sermon:  “Surprising Generosity”     Matthew 20:1–16

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

I’m sure you probably heard that Dolly Parton passed away a few weeks ago at the age of 80. News reports estimated that her estate was worth somewhere between $450 million and $650 million dollars. But people mentioned that Dolly probably would have been a billionaire except she gave away around $600 million dollars to various charitable organizations and activities, especially to people in eastern Tennessee where she was from. Especially because she grew up in poverty, Dolly Parton was known for being surprisingly generous with the money that she made.

The parable that we heard from Jesus today also talks about surprising generosity – pointing us to God’s surprising generosity toward us sinners. In Jesus’ story, God and His kingdom are represented by a man who owns a vineyard and hires laborers to work in his vineyard. He went out early in the morning, around 6:00 a.m., and hired some men to work for the day – a 12-hour workday until evening. They agreed that they would be paid a denarius, the common amount that a laborer would be paid for a day’s work in those days. The workers knew upfront how long they would work and what they would be paid at the end of the day.

Three hours later, around 9:00, the vineyard owner was in the marketplace, and he saw some men standing there idle. He hired them to work in the vineyard, saying, “Whatever is right I will give you” (Matthew 20:4). So they went to work. The same thing happened around noon – and then again around 3:00 p.m. The vineyard owner found men with no work and sent them to work in the vineyard with a promise to pay them what was right.

Then it was around the eleventh hour of the day – around 5:00 p.m. – and the owner found some more men standing around. He asked them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” And they said, “Because no one has hired us.” (Matthew 20:6–7). Imagine what it must have been like for those men to wait eleven hours for someone to hire them. Maybe they saw other people being hired, but not them. Maybe they’d given up hope of being able to earn anything that day. They were thinking they’d have to walk home empty-handed. But when the owner said, “You go into the vineyard too” (Matthew 20:7), they knew that the day wouldn’t be a total loss. Even if they only worked the last hour of the day, they’d at least go home with something instead of nothing.

At the end of the day as evening was coming on, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman to pay all the laborers, starting with those hired last and working up toward those hired first. Imagine the surprise of the men hired last when they were each given a denarius – a full day’s wage for just an hour’s work! In spite of their trouble finding work that day, they did not miss out on anything in the end because of the surprising generosity of the owner of the vineyard.

When the other workers saw what had happened, they got excited thinking that they might receive even more than a denarius, since they had worked longer than those men who only worked an hour. But every worker received exactly the same thing – one denarius – a day’s pay for a full day’s work. Those who were hired first grumbled at the vineyard owner: “We worked all day for you – twelve long hours. We worked through the scorching afternoon heat. And yet you don’t pay us any more than the men who worked only an hour at the tail end of the day.”

In spite of their insults, the owner addressed each one as a friend: “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” The men had kept their side of the bargain by working all day, and the owner had kept his side of the bargain by giving them a fair wage for the day. The owner said, “You are not out anything if I choose to give every worker the same amount. Can’t I do what I want with my own money?”

In the translation we read this morning, the owner then asks, “Or do you begrudge my generosity?” (Matthew 20:15). That translation isn’t really wrong, but I don’t like it because it smooths off the edges of what Jesus actually said in His story. The owner said, “Or is your eye evil because I am good.” That’s language that packs a punch. As one of my pastor friends put it, the men were giving the owner “the stink eye.” But the problem wasn’t with the owner. The problem was with the men. Their “eye” was “evil” because they were looking at the situation from their own self-interest and greed. They wanted more than they had agreed to, even though they had done nothing to earn it. They could find no room in their hearts to admire the vineyard owner for his surprising generosity toward the other men. Even though their pay turned out to be exactly what they were expecting at the start of the day, they could only stomp their feet and say, “It’s not fair!” But that’s the point. The owner chose to be generous rather than strictly fair. And God is that way too.

Dear friends, be very careful about asking God to be fair. You probably won’t like how that turns out. We certainly think it quite often that God isn’t fair. We see someone better off than we are – better health, better finances, better house, better car, better family situation – and we think, “Why them and not me?” Only occasionally do we see someone doing worse than us and think, “At least things aren’t that bad for me.” Do we ever look at the person doing worse than us and think, “Why didn’t God give them the things I have?” Or do we only look at those doing better and think, “Why didn’t God give me what they have?”

If God were perfectly fair, none of us would have anything good. All people have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed. We all deserve His present and eternal punishment – punishment now and punishment forever. That’s what would come to us if God were fair. He would hold us all personally accountable for every single thing we have done wrong, and we would each have to bear the full punishment ourselves.

But thankfully, God is not only a God of fairness and justice. He is also a God of compassion and generosity. As Isaiah tells us:

Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the LORD while he may be found;

              call upon him while he is near;

7   let the wicked forsake his way,

              and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

      let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,

              and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

As the vineyard owner in Jesus’ parable had compassion on the working men who needed a day’s wage even though they hadn’t earned it, so also God has compassion on us who need His forgiveness, even though we haven’t deserved it. God showed His great generosity to the whole world when the Father sent His Son to pay for the sins of the world with His death on the cross. Now everyone who trusts in Jesus and what He has done by His death and resurrection has God’s abundant pardon. To assure us of this, Jesus gives us His body and blood along with the bread and wine of Holy Communion. He gives us all the very same gift: the forgiveness of our sins.

And God graciously makes us a part of His kingdom by giving us work to do in His vineyard. As St. Paul puts it, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me” (Philippians 1:21–22). Paul knows that it would be far better to depart from this world in death and to be with in the presence of Christ, but he also knows that other people need us to do the work that God has given us to do while we remain here. We can be the visible evidence of God’s generosity to others by the things that we do for them, just as they can be way that God shows His generosity to us.

And the peace of God which passes understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Isaiah 55:6      “Seek the LORD while he may be found;

              call upon him while he is near;

7   let the wicked forsake his way,

              and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

      let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him,

              and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8   For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

              neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.

9   For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

              so are my ways higher than your ways

              and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Philippians 1:12 I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14 And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear. …

Philippians 1:19 for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26 so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

Philippians 1:27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28 and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30 engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”