A Soul of Sacrifice: Called into the Vineyard of the Lord 

In this sermon, Fr. Seb explores Matthew’s parable of the labourers and Paul’s call to share in Christ’s suffering. Discover how Christian discipleship moves us from reward‑seeking to sacrificial love, forming in us a “soul of sacrifice” shaped by prayer, service, the Eucharist, and generous giving. This reflects on the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 20, verses 1-16. 

Those of you who also come along to the Wednesday Eucharist may recall that we had this same Gospel passage from Matthew then not too long ago. What I’m wanting to do this morning is essentially offer the same reflection on the Gospel but build on it with St Paul’s letter to the Philippians in mind. I want us to think about what a ‘soul of sacrifice’ might mean for us in our discipleship.
 
Turning first to the Gospel. You could sum up this passage as the fussing about rewards. We are told a landowner goes out to hire workers for his field. Some of the workers are hired first thing in the morning and others at different points in the day.
 
And then he does the extraordinary thing of paying each of them the same wage. The obvious question that comes to mind is why should those who have worked only an hour be paid the same as those who have slaved in the hot sun all day long? Is the landowner being unfair? Indeed, is the landowner really being unfair?
 
There are some possibilities to consider. Maybe he saw something the first workers failed to see. Perhaps he compassionately realized that their day spent waiting for work to feed their families was a difficult and terrible day, which caused them to feel anxious and dismayed. Perhaps he was aware that they were poorer or less able and recognized that they needed a bit more encouragement.
 
I think all valid possibilities. There is another way of looking at it though. As sinners we can easily become caught up in a reward-focused approach to God – ‘if I do this, then I expect you to do that’. But that is a very immature approach – at least from the perspective of the Gospel.
 
We have all been invited to something incredible. We have all been invited to work in the vineyard of the Lord, to participate in God’s work of salvation for the world. Seen through that perspective why would we waste our time fussing about rewards when we have something so much more important to give our attention?
 
Instead of fussing about silly things – rewards, comparing, spying, and worrying – Christ asks us to instead nurture in ourselves a sacrificing soul. What do I mean by that? Well, we turn now to our epistle.
 
For he has graciously granted you the privilege not only of believing in Christ, but of suffering for him as well…
 
Suffering for Christ – it may well seem like a strange idea. Yet, it is incumbent on all Christian people to share in Christ’s suffering. Christ’s Passion is not something we merely know about, merely spectate, merely remember – it is something we share in with a sacrificing soul expressed in our time, in our day, according to the needs set before us.
 
We are called to enable Christ’s desire that as the pilgrim Church on earth we prolong his loving Passion for the world. And that means sacrifice. To be invited to work in the vineyard of the Lord means sacrifice because that is the measure of true love as we encounter in Jesus Christ.
 
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
 
Possibly the most famous verse of all scripture from John 3.16. We are called to be a Church of sacrifice that shares in God’s giving of his Son for the salvation of the world. And that means turning away from the ‘tit for tat’ preoccupation seen in the workers of the field, who fussed about what they saw as just reward, and instead opening the channels for God’s love to pour into the world.  
 
And how do we do that?
 
We do it, first, through prayer. Prayer is where we learn to stop fussing about ourselves and our rewards and turn our attention towards God. In prayer we allow God to shape our hearts after the heart of Christ, so that we might become people willing to give rather than always asking what we will be given.
 
We do it through service. To serve is to give something of ourselves for the sake of another. It may be something great, or it may be something so ordinary that nobody else notices. But every act of loving service becomes a small participation in Christ’s self-giving.
 
We do it through the Eucharist – that height and summit of Christian life and worship. Here we come not as people demanding our due, but as people receiving everything as gift. We receive Christ who gives himself for us, and then we are sent out to give ourselves for others. The Eucharist forms within us the sacrificing soul we are called to have.
 
And finally, we do it through giving – giving our money, our time, our attention, our gifts, our very selves. Not because we are trying to earn God’s favour, but because we have already received his grace.
 
So let us not ask, ‘What do I get?’ but ‘What can I give?’ For we have been called into the vineyard, and the work before us is love.