Repentance, in the sense I talked about last time, is not something we can accomplish once and for all. There are so many habits we have developed, so many “obvious” things we have learned to accept by living in the world, that just knowing we want to leave them behind is not enough. We are fighting lifelong patterns of behavior. The Good News is that, since Moses’ time, God has been telling us, He will give us the ability to change.

The bad news is that sometimes we can’t even tell what the change required is. I think the reason is that the language with which we think, the language we try to use to frame the logic of the decision-making process, that language itself is limited. It is limited because we learned it from the world.

The best analogy to see how this problem can arise is that classic fantasy story about “Flatland”. Imagine a world where all creatures are two-dimensional. Their world is not a globe; it is a circle on a plane (a sheet of paper). They have laws of physics that govern cause and effect, they have customs, they interact with each other. But the word “thickness”, the way we mean it, the way we would measure that sheet of paper, is meaningless to them. In their world there is no other spatial dimension.

The idea of something being perpendicular to their plane (a pencil punching through the paper) is inconceivable.

In the same way, if we have allowed our consciousness and our value system to be shaped by the kingdom of the world then, when faced with the Kingdom of Heaven, we may have trouble even expressing what we feel or what we want.

Mark 10:32-34 And they were in the way going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was going on before them; and they were amazed, and were afraid as they followed. And taking the twelve again to [him], he began to tell them what was going to happen to him:

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be delivered up to the chief priests and to the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him up to the nations: and they shall mock him, and shall scourge him, and shall spit upon him, and shall kill him; and after three days he shall rise again.

Jesus again is trying to prepare them for the reality of the culmination of His Mission. We have already talked about how that description makes no sense if the only kind of Messiah you understand is the conquering warrior. But the brothers James and John really want to understand, and they really want to follow Jesus…

Mark 10:35-37 And there come to him James and John, the sons of Zebedee, saying [to him], Teacher, we would that whatsoever we may ask thee, thou wouldst do it for us. And he said to them, What would ye that I should do for you? And they said to him, Give to us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and one on thy left hand, in thy glory.

Mark’s narrative is, as usual, summarized. From the other gospels we know that the brothers really really wanted to get this; so much so, that they brought their mother along and had her ask Jesus for this boon.

Mark 10:38 And Jesus said to them, Ye do not know what ye ask. Are ye able to drink the cup which *I* drink, or be baptised with the baptism that *I* am baptised with?

And there you have it: Jesus tells them plainly: “You do not understand what you are even asking.” But they think they do.

Mark 10:39-40 And they said to him, We are able.

And Jesus said to them, The cup that *I* drink ye will drink and with the baptism that *I* am baptised with ye will be baptised, but to sit on my right hand or on my left is not mine to give, but for those for whom it is prepared.

I think we can assume the best: I don’t think James and John are thinking in terms of worldly power. I think they believe that they have left behind the desires of the world and have truly set their eyes on the Kingdom of God. The problem is, they cannot imagine that Kingdom of God. They assume that what would qualify someone to attain those positions of honor they asked for, is something that is within their reach.

But Jesus has just told them (even if they did not understand the meaning of His reply) that not even being martyred for the Kingdom of God could earn them what they asked for. Those seats of honor are reserved for someone else by the Father.

Is that fair?

Think about it. What would it take to prove myself worthy enough?  Martyrdom is not good enough? Maybe the way James and John died was not severe enough. Maybe that’s it. Or maybe Jesus knew they would not do enough for the Kingdom during their lives. Was that it? Can I do better? How much better? Why isn’t one of those seats available to me?

That’s not fair.

It’s not fair to deny me my potential. Is it? I mean, is that the problem: the fact that God knows the future? But that should not keep me from trying. If it does, isn’t that almost like God controlling my future, causing it to happen? Then where is my free will?

Can you tell where my thinking has gone astray?

Can you tell what “worldly value” I have assumed in trying to shape my argument above?

Fairness.

That should surprise us. 

Because we assume fairness is good, that fairness is a virtue. If God did not invent fairness, who did? Fairness is intimately tied to Justice.

But the way we think about it has been corrupted in our minds by the world. Yes, we assign fairness value but that is precisely the problem because value, to us, in this world, more often than not, is measured by money. Do you remember this next parable?

There is a parable in Matthew that happens immediately after the verse we read in this gospel as Mark 10:21; you remember that: Peter asks Jesus what is going to be their reward for giving up everything for Him. And Jesus, after answering, and finishing by telling him that the many first shall be last and the last shall be first, says:

Matthew 20:1-16 For the kingdom of the heavens is like a householder who went out with the early morn to hire workmen for his vineyard. And having agreed with the workmen for a denarius the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

And having gone out about [the] third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle; and to them he said, Go also ye into the vineyard, and whatsoever may be just I will give you. And they went their way. Again, having gone out about the sixth and ninth hour, he did likewise.

But about the eleventh [hour], having gone out, he found others standing, and says to them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say to him, Because no man has hired us. He says to them, Go also ye into the vineyard [and whatsoever may be just ye shall receive].

But when the evening was come, the lord of the vineyard says to his steward, Call the workmen and pay [them] their wages, beginning from the last even to the first. And when they [who came to work] about the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius. And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more, and they received also themselves each a denarius.

And on receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying, These last have worked one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the heat.

But he answering said to one of them, [My] friend, I do not wrong thee. Didst thou not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is thine and go. But it is my will to give to this last even as to thee: is it not lawful for me to do what I will in my own affairs? Is thine eye evil because *I* am good?

Thus shall the last be first, and the first last; for many are called ones, but few chosen ones.

I have always loved this parable. Some people find it bothersome. The owner of the vineyard expressly states that he will give them whatever is just; namely, what is fair. But then, in the end, he gives everyone the same amount? How is that fair? Certainly, in the eyes of the world it is not. The workers say so themselves.

The traditional interpretation of this parable is that it is a warning to His people, like the parables of the banquet; or the parable of the two sons that the father sent out to work in his field. In those other parables, the people who were expected to welcome the invitation to the banquet, and the son that immediately said “yes” to his father, represent the people of God, the children of Abraham. As long as all that was required of them was verbal assent, they gladly gave it. But when it came time for actions to match words, they bailed out.

The Lord addressed them through Isaiah (over 700 years earlier):

Isaiah 29:13-14 And the Lord saith, Forasmuch as this people draw near with their mouth, and honour me with their lips, but their heart is removed far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught of men; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do marvellously with this people, to do marvellously, even with wonder, and the wisdom of their wise [men] shall perish, and the understanding of their intelligent ones shall be hid.

That consequence that God promised that would be marvellous, incomprehensible to them in the  midst of their rejection of the call of the Lord, would be the acceptance of that same call by the Gentiles: As we saw last time (in the songs of the Suffering Servant in Isaiah) the Messiah was destined to be a covenant not only for the House of Israel but for all the people of Earth.

In this parable of the workers of the vineyard, then, the men that agreed to a worker’s contract at a fair wage at the beginning of the day, can be looked at as the people of Israel. Many of them viewed their relationship with God that way. He called them through a covenant: first with Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob, and then renewed with Moses in the wilderness.

In their minds, they kept their side of the contract, therefore God would (have to) keep His side of the covenant. That’s only fair. So, after having “worked hard” all day, they expected to get what they had earned. But what about those people whom the Owner hired barely at the last hour? Certainly, they should not get the same wage because they hardly worked at all. They had not earned it.

How could the Gentiles, called at the last minute, deserve the same reward as the children of Abraham who had “stuck with God” for thousands of years? How could that be fair?

And Jesus’ answer, in the voice of the owner of the vineyard has three parts:

“What are you complaining about? Aren’t you getting what you agreed to?

“What I do in my affairs, is my business.

“Is your eye evil (stingy, ungenerous) because I am good?”

Part 1: Did you really keep your side of the bargain?

The first part of the answer is more complicated than it sounds. It is a fact that God had chosen to enter into a covenant relationship with the children of Abraham. And it is a fact that the people claimed that they would keep their side of that contract. But the problem is, they did not; they could not; and God told them so from the very beginning:

Moses said all of God’s miracles would not be enough to convince them: Deuteronomy 29:2-4 And Moses called to all Israel, and said unto them, Ye have seen all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his bondmen, and to all his land: the great trials that thine eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. But Jehovah hath not given you a heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, to this day.

Joshua told them again; telling them that their stumbling block would be their own sins: Joshua 24:15-19 And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods whom your fathers that were on the other side of the river served, or the gods of the Amorite, in whose land ye dwell; but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.

And the people answered and said, Far be it from us that we should forsake Jehovah, to serve other gods; for Jehovah our God, he it is that brought us up and our fathers out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and who did those great signs before our eyes, and preserved us in all the way wherein we went, and among all the peoples through whom we passed! And Jehovah drove out from before us all the peoples, and the Amorites the inhabitants of the land: so therefore we will serve Jehovah, for he is our God.

And Joshua said to the people, Ye cannot serve Jehovah, for he is a holy God; he is a jealous God; he will not forgive your transgressions nor your sins.

And their history proved God’s warnings right. Because of their sins, they lost the promised land, were taken away in exile to Assyria and Babylon. And then God brought them back as He promised in Isaiah. But even so, after the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, they again rebelled, and they again lost it all. The Greeks took over their land and then the Romans.

In light of this history, that none of them could deny, did they really earn their agreed upon contract wage over those thousands of years?

And yet, the owner of the vineyard is still willing to give them what they agreed upon… even if they really did not deserve it.

Jesus did not go any further; He could have. He could have thrown their faithlessness in their face. But would they have even understood that?

Their worldview is so stuck in the systems of the kingdoms of the world, that they don’t realize how far they are from understanding what the Owner of the vineyard cares about. They still don’t understand that they are not able to keep the contract to the standard that God required of them.

They think they know what the contract means; they think they can measure the value of the required actions by their own standards. And then that is what they perform; and they think they kept it.

This is the essence of the problem: They take the words of a contract written in the Kingdom of Heaven and they translate them to the closest words they can come up with in the language of the kingdoms of this world. And then, having devalued them, having corrupted them, having taken away their power, they easily satisfy them. And then, they go to God and say, “OK, now it is your turn to give us all that we have earned.”

Again, Isaiah warned them:

Isaiah 58:1-12 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and declare unto my people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as (if they were) a nation that doeth righteousness, and hath not forsaken the ordinance of their God; they ask of me the ordinances of righteousness, they take delight in approaching to God:  —Wherefore have we fasted, and thou seest not; have afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?

Behold, in the day of your fast ye find what pleaseth [you], and exact all your labours. Behold, ye have fasted for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness; ye do not at present fast, to cause your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul,—that he should bow down his head as a bulrush, and spread sackcloth and ashes [under him]? Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day acceptable to Jehovah?

Is not this the fast which I have chosen: to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, and to send forth free the crushed, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring to thy house the needy wanderers; when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

Then shall thy light break forth as the dawn, and thy health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee, the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearguard. Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger and the unjust speech, and thou proffer thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thine obscurity be as midday; and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and strengthen thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a water-spring, whose waters deceive not.

And they [that come] of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations [that have remained] from generation to generation; and thou shalt be called, Repairer of the breaches, restorer of frequented paths.

This is an amazing passage. The people really convinced themselves that they were pleasing the Lord by keeping the external motions of the commands. They prayed; they fasted… but none of that came from their hearts. And they knew it!

How do I know they knew? Look at the way Jehovah challenges them. Each time it is with questions that imply they know better: “Is this the fast I called for?” “Isn’t this what a real fast would be?” And He ends reiterating that His promised reward is still there to be had… if they do the real thing. They could have restored the blessings to their future generations. But, as Isaiah began in this passage, all they have in mind is what pleases them and the labors they can measure and keep track of.

Part 2: God is God, and I am not.

Once we understand how short we have come of getting anywheres close to earning what we claimed to have agreed to, we can begin to understand how messed up our perceptions are. If we think this contract, this covenant, is anywhere close to being “balanced”, we are sorely mistaken. That is all a delusion of the world.

The world wants us to believe that good and evil are equal and opposite; that the devil (if he exists) is just as or almost just as powerful as God. But those are all lies. God is God. no one else comes close. Evil is the absence of good. But good is not the absence of evil. Good is what God is and everything else He has taught us that is worthy in the Kingdom of God: Truth, Kindness, Compassion, Love.

This idea of the extreme heterogeneity of God compared to anything else we can think of, extends to the whole universe. God created it and it all belongs to Him. He created us and, ultimately, we all belong to Him. He has given us free will, true; but He has never given us any authority that competes with His.

This is why arguing with God about sin is a thoroughly stupid proposition. If God is the definer of Good, and the definer of Reason and Logic, and the creator of Language, how could any human philosopher ever imagine that he could argue with God about anything? How can fallible human beings stand up, bare faced, before God and dare to tell Him that what He calls good is not… that because we don’t like it…  because it doesn’t feel good to us, or feel just, it is not fair… that we know better.

Isaiah 45:9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let a potsherd [strive] with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that formeth it, What makest thou? Or thy work, He hath no hands?

It is like the old joke about God and the devil arguing about humanity at the Garden of Eden. The devil tells God that he could have done a better job. So, God says, “Ok, go ahead and prove it.” And the devil bends down to get some clay to make his own version of Adam, and God says: “Wait, wait, wait… Go get your own clay.”

If you think – if I think – that we know better than God, we are free to go try and create our own universe.

This is one of the hardest realities for us to accept: That we are infinitely inferior to God in power and in authority. We cannot comprehend it because we are stuck in the worldview of the kingdoms of the world, where power over other human beings can be had by any human being… all we need to do to attain that power, ultimately, is be willing to do whatever it takes.

But no one can come close to God. He is the infinity of all infinities. And yet, against all worldly logic, He Loves us so much that he sent His Son to die for us.

In the end, all we can do is accept that God must have the last word.

Are we willing to do that?

Part 3: The choice we have.

Note again that in Isaiah’s passage where God is challenging His people about their idea of a fast, God’s approach is to reason with them. He rightly assumes that they know right from wrong. Why? Because He knows He put that knowledge in their hearts.

If we have forgotten it, it is because we have blinded ourselves.

Not a flattering conclusion. But that is the conclusion He wants us to reach: to own up to our own rebellion. Because only then can we begin to Repent.

It is a choice; it is up to us. It is a choice we can make… We have the power. But it takes humility to accept that God is right, and we are wrong. And that is the greatest stumbling block for many of us. The Owner of the vineyard knows that, because He has seen it so many times: It is a true paradox: that we would use God’s goodness as an excuse for our wickedness…

Our response is: “If that is the way God is going to be, then I don’t want any part of that.” And if we stopped there, then at least we would have acted with some measure of honesty. But we don’t stop there; because, really, we are angry at God. And since we cannot strike back at Him, we take it out on His children.

Is thine eye evil because *I* am good?

The vineyard owner’s response is the same as God’s challenge in Isaiah: “You tell me: Is it right for you to act this way?” The question expects us to know He is right, expects us to bow our heads and accept that He is God and we are not.

The parable may indeed be taken as a challenge to Jesus’ fellow Jews, but I hope we see that its message was really for all of us today. I believe this because, as I pointed out above, its place in Matthew’s gospel comes immediately after Peter asks Jesus what is going to be the (fair) reward for those like him who gave up everything to follow Jesus. And Jesus’ immediate answer was:

Mark 10:29-31 Jesus answering said, Verily I say to you, There is no one who has left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, [or wife], or children, or lands, for my sake and for the sake of the gospel, that shall not receive a hundredfold now in this time: houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the coming age life eternal.

But many first shall be last, and the last first.

That is not a very comforting answer, in this world…

Jesus did not stop after He said we would get back the equivalent of what we give up – even more, a hundred-fold. No. He had to go on and speak the Truth: That those Kingdom rewards in this world are not our only lot but will be accompanied by persecution in this world. Only in eternal life will we be free of that last clause.

That is not an easy thing to accept. In our world-trained mind, that is not fair. If we do good, if we do what is asked of us, we want the reward. The problem is… we want it here; we want it now.

But what’s wrong with that? (Our worldly mind asks.) What is wrong is that, by focusing on this life as the place where rewards ought to be received and enjoyed, we are losing sight of the largest chunk of Reality: Eternal life.

We have to wait until after death.

Trust me… it will all pan out in the end.

That is quite an ask. There is no way to minimize the leap of faith required to accept that… and choose to live accordingly. Jesus knows it. And that is why He followed it up with the parable of the vineyard workers.

He is essentially telling us:

“You think it is not fair that you have to wait until this life is over to get your reward? Let me try to explain something, you are measuring fairness with the wrong stick. I AM the measure of fairness.”

The bottom-line: Am I willing to bow?

That is really the only way out: We have to be willing to give up all our expectations and hopes based on this world and open our hearts and minds to God’s Will… Because He is Good. That is how the Owner of the vineyard finished His challenge to the workers. This is their choice. This is our choice: Do we believe God is Good?

James and John cannot have the seats of honor in the Kingdom.

But that doesn’t matter because whatever reward God the Father has for them in eternity will be exactly perfect for them.

It is a good thing that they went ahead and asked their misguided question because that question was in the hearts of the rest of the disciples. They did not dare to ask it, but they were just as confused about how the Kingdom of God works, as James and John were. We know this from their reaction: they are offended.

Mark 10:41-45 And the ten having heard [of it], began to be indignant about James and John.

Why are they offended? We are human; we understand their reaction, right? James and John were trying to get a higher place in the “pecking order” than the rest of them. (Whether that was their motivation or not, that’s what we would all think.)

And the fact that they reacted that way, even after Jesus told them the parable of the vineyard workers, means they still don’t get it. The Kingdom of God is nothing like the kingdoms of this world.

Everything in the Kingdom of God is measured with a standard different from what we use down here.

That difference is greatest when we are dealing with the concept of authority (precisely what James and John were seeking).

In this world, authority is measured by power. That is why people will do whatever it takes to get in positions of authority… after all, they think they know best.

Mark 10:42-44 But Jesus having called them to [him], says to them, Ye know that those who are esteemed to rule over the nations exercise lordship over them; and their great men exercise authority over them; but it is not thus among you; but whosoever would be great among you, shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first of you shall be bondman of all.

The measure is upside down: Being great in the Kingdom of God is not about telling everybody else what to do; it certainly is not about everyone catering to your every desire and whim. It is the opposite: To be great in the Kingdom of God just requires one thing: Become a servant.

In this world, the way to get to the position of highest authority is clear: climb! Climb over anyone and everyone that stands in your way. But in the Kingdom of God the title of the position does not matter; furthermore, the level of responsibility requires no special training, no great wisdom, no great worldly skill. All it requires is being willing to work at the bottom, to be willing to serve everyone else.

Forget about being that oxymoron, a “servant leader”…

Jesus is asking us to be, pure and simple, just servants.

And if that idea of giving up all claim to ambition is shocking, we need to remember that that is the standard He accepted for Himself:

Mark 10:45 For also the Son of man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister, and give his life a ransom for many.