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Happy Thanksgiving Day! The ancient Roman Statesman and philosopher Cicero once said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others” . G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936; a prolific English critic) quoted, “Gratitude is the mother of all virtues.” One parent said, “All I want from my children is thanksgiving.” The Bible says, “…give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 The 5:18). The kingdom of heaven can be best described as the gathering of thankful people, while the opposite of the kingdom of heaven, the gathering of unthankful people. It can be the same with a happy family or any group of people. Today’s passage is Jesus’ parable of the workers in the vineyard. Unfortunately, it is not a story of thankful , but grumbling people. However, it sharply teaches us why people grumble and how we can become people of thanksgiving. Let’s study this passage with the title, “our generous God.” First, the blessing of working in God’s vineyard (1-6). Look at verse 1. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard.” This landowner had his vineyard and was diligent to hire men to work in his vineyard. He went out early in the morning. He did not just put out an advertisement or send his servants. He himself went out to hire men. And he agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them in his vineyard. A denarius is the usual daily wage. A Roman soldier also received one denarius a day. Look at verses 3-5a. “About the third hour (9:00 A.M.) he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.” Here we see that the landowner’s going out and hiring men was out of his merciful heart for them, who had nothing to do. In his merciful heart the landowner allowed them to go and work in his vineyard. This time he did not set their wage. He just said, “I will pay you whatever is right.” He went out again about the sixth hour (12 noon) and the ninth hour (3:00 P.M.) and did the same thing. The landowner was ready and willing to go out and recruit workers again and again. It was for the sake of the unemployed. About the eleventh hour (5:00 P.M.) he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” “Because no one has hired us,” they replied. The landowner said to them, “You also go and work in my vineyard.” It was a pitiful situation that there remained jobless people, even as it neared the end of the day. Their families were eagerly awaiting their arrival, with their daily wages in hand. The landowner, knowing their situation, hired them also. Here we learn that God invites people to work in his vineyard. He does so again and again, and to the end. For without this invitation people actually do nothing in this world, even throughout their lives. God wants them to live a meaningful and fruitful life by working in his vineyard. This is God’s creation truth. In his creation God made a garden, called Garden of Eden, and took the man he had formed and put the man there to work and take care of it. Working in the Garden of Eden would bring the man meaning and happiness of life. To work in the vineyard or Garden of Eden can mean to work in God’s redemptive history. It can also be to do our vocation in this world, whether as employees or students. It is to work or study with a sense of mission before God. Working in God’s vineyard is truly his blessing. We should not take it for granted, but discharge it with a thankful heart. Thank God for giving you the opportunity to study at U of T. May God help you to keep thankful heart and make the most of this opportunity for God’s glory. In the next part, we will see that when we lose this thankful heart, serious problems occur. Second, reason of grumbling (7-12). Look at verse 8. “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with last ones hired and going on to the first.” The owner of the vineyard was none other than the landowner. And here those who were hired were called the workers. Before, they were unemployed idlers in the marketplaces. In contrast, ‘worker’ is a beautiful title. Now, it was time for these workers to receive their pay! According to Job 7:3, a hired man waits eagerly for his wages. So the story could have ended like this, “All the workers received due wages, and they were happy and thankful to the landowner and went home whistling.” But the story has an unexpected twist: the owner told his foreman to pay the workers, beginning from the last ones hired. In this story the owner of the vineyard had his foreman. It showed that this owner was a responsible owner, who did not just give jobs to the hired men, and leave them unsupervised. But, through his foreman, he could keep an eye on the workers, and this also demonstrates a concern for his workers. So, in the end, he could know how each of them worked, and so how to treat each worker appropriately. Let’s see how the story progresses. Look at verse 9. “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denairus.” When the owner of the vineyard had hired them, he had not said anything about their payment. So we can imagine that trusting in the owner, they just worked hard with thanks that he allowed them to work in his vineyard almost at the end of the day. It was a totally unexpected thing that they received each a denarius, a day’s wages. When they received their wages, they must have been full of thanks to the owner’s generous giving, saying, “Thank you, thank you, master.” Then how did the story develop? Look at verse 10. “So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them received a denarius.” To our human mind their expectation seemed to be right. Those who had worked one hour received a denarius. Then those who worked 12 hours were to receive 12 denarii, at least more than a denarius. But each one of them received a denarius. So what’s up next? Verse 11 says, “When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.” Apparently their grumbling sounded right. The reason of grumbling is this: “’These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heart of the day” (12). Their grumbling and the reason of the grumbling are quite understandable, and even seem reasonable. It is easy to have reasonable complaining and grumbling. But human reason often fails to understand God’s way of working. Rationality can be shallow, and with shallow reasoning we cannot know God’s deep way of working. Let’s examine the men who grumbled against the landowner. They said, “These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.” They compared themselves with “these men,” who worked just one hour, and thought that they were deserved to receive more, because they worked much more than “these men.” They could not think of themselves before the landowner. They forgot who they were and how graciously they were hired to work in the vineyard of the owner. Probably, soon after they were hired, they began to think that they were hired because they were in the marketplaces early in the morning. At the end of the day they thought they worked hard bearing the burden of the work and the heat of the day. They could not acknowledge that their working in the vineyard was by the grace of the owner. Only their diligence and hardworking occupied their minds. Then there was no room for thanksgiving in them. When there was no thanks in their hearts, grumbling spirit slipped into their hearts and grew. “They began to grumble against the landowner.” Here we should notice that the cause of their grumbling was not the owner’s treatment, the way he paid them. It was their unthankfulness that had been growing in them. It burst out at a certain time, the time of payment. Their unthankful mind went astray that they could not recognize the owner, his ownership and management. Although the owner, in his deep concern and wisdom, was helping them to find themselves, they protested landowner. Apostle Paul described the deterioration of the sinful men in Romans 1:21-22 very well: “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools…” Here we deeply learn that unthankfulness is not a light matter. It is the root of problems. We need to check whether thankfulness grows in our hearts or grumbling spirit. One does not suddenly become a thankful person or a grumbling person. One should learn how to thank God and people. Daily practice becomes habit and habit becomes character. Thankfulness should be learned until it becomes a lifestyle. Thanksgiving Day is one time a year. But every day should be a thanksgiving day to us so that thankful lifestyle can be formed in us. As such, we should watch out for complaining and grumbling spirits, especially reasonable grumbling. As soon as we sense such an attitude rising in our hearts, we should stop it right away repenting of its cause so that it may not take root in our hearts. God wants us not to be grumbling people but thankful people. Third, generous God (13-16). How did the landowner help them? He helped them individually, though they grumbled and protested together. In this kind of case, personal help is effective. So he answered one of them, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you.” The owner called him “Friend.” Wow! He did not call him, “You rebel” or “You grumbler” labeling him as a grumbling person. The owner’s calling him “Friend” showed how the owner had cared for and helped him, and now still wanted to help him. The landowner was really gracious. He was also truthful in his help. He said, “I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?” Probably, by this time, all of the workers had forgotten the contract. But the landowner had not forgotten it. This was a poignant question, urging the worker to remember to his original condition. The owner was really helping him one on one to think of himself before the owner. The contract was the expression of the owner’s mindfulness for the man who had been insecure in his unemployed situation. Most probably, when the man felt secure, he did not work wholeheartedly, losing thankful heart. Anyway the owner paid him a denarius according to the contract. That’s the owner’s grace to him. So the owner said, “Take your pay and go,” meaning “Go home thankfully with your gracious payment.” The owner went on saying, “I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you.” Here the owner picked one individual among those who were hired last and said, “I want to give this man the same as I gave you.” It showed that the owner was mindful of each individual worker. The owner wanted the protesting man to know that he treated each person differently according to what is fit to each individual. He said, “I wanted to give the man the same as I gave you.” He did not say, “…more than I gave you.” So the owner’s treating was not like loving someone more than others or less than them. He treated each individual uniquely so that there might be true equality. This is the wonder of God’s love. The love of God is personal and at the same time universal, . The owner continued in verse 15, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money.” The man had to know that the one who gave each one a denarius was the owner, landowner and the owner of the vineyard, and the owner of all. This is the fundamental truth of all. God is the Creator and the Owner of all his creation. He is the Owner of the universe, the owner of the vineyard and the owner of each one’s life. When Job recognized this, he could be thankful and even praise God in his extreme suffering and loss, saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” The owner was helping the grumbling man fundamentally. And then the owner said, “Or are you envious because I am generous?” Here the owner finally revealed himself as one who is generous. His generosity has been shown through this whole passage, from the time of hiring men till the time of paying them their wages. He wanted to show his generosity to all and one by one. “Envious” is in other translation “evil eye.” One becomes envious when the person sees generosity only upon oneself but not on others, or vice versa. This is an evil eye. We must know that our God is generous. He is generous to me and to my fellowmen. Our generous God was described best in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God is not stingy or sparing. He is generous to the point of not sparing even his own Son (Ro 8:32). In his generosity he gave the best and the whole. In God’s generosity we can realize that his grace is sufficient for each of us. When Apostle Paul’s prayer for a thorn in his flesh to be taken away was not answered, God said to him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor 12:9). God wants us to have accurate eyes to see that he is generous always. In this part we see that the owner helped the man to the end so that he might not be a grumbling person but a thankful person in the right relationship with the owner. This was more important than wages, even 12 denairii. Look at verse 16. “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” These words give hope to the last and warn the first to be awakened. In the end those who grumble will be last, and those who are thankful will be the first. Thank God who is the generous Owner of all things. In his generosity he treats each one uniquely and his generosity makes his grace is sufficient for us. We should not take his generosity for granted. We should recognize his generosity upon us and on others. And we should guard our hearts from grumbling. In doing so, may we become men and women of thanks and gratitude.

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