Is your eye evil because I am good?
(Free Version)- Exodus 16:2-15; Philippians 1:21-30; Matthew 20:1-16
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Our readings this week speak to the generosity of God, the radical nature of grace which shows itself in manna from heaven (Exodus 16:2-15); God’s presence in suffering and in death (Philippians 1:21-30); and in the opening of up God’s family to “late comers” like us (Matthew 20:1-16). In our readings, we hear the good news which shapes the people of God:
We are shaped by everyday dependence. We are called to remember and to be formed by trust in God…everyday. Manna was received each day and was not to be kept for the future. Israel, in no way, could be responsible for their own provision. We might ask our congregations: In what ways are you tempted to depend on yourself? And in what ways has that led to anxiety, fear, or even exclusion of others?
Similarly, We are shaped by trust. If we are dependent on God, it means that we obey his calling to trust. We can only do this if we trust that it is not our work, but God’s work that sustains the universe and our lives. Paul is consistently challenged to trust God in the midst of suffering, and he challenges the church that they must do the same.
Just as the children of Israel, rescued through the Red Sea, had to learn that God was with them in the everyday, so we who have been rescued through the resurrection of Jesus, have to learn that the Holy Spirit is with us in the everyday, even (and especially) in challenging circumstances.
We are shaped by gratefulness. The understanding that God can be trusted turns our grumbling into gratefulness. It was lack of gratefulness which caused God’s people to grumble in the wilderness when faced with their real needs. Likewise, It was lack of trust in the landowner’s generosity, and a lack of gratefulness, which led the group that was hired early to grumble about the pay of the workers who were hired later. The landowner asks them if they are envious, which is literally: “Is your eye evil because I am good?”
In what ways might we challenge our congregations to “count our blessings” this week. This is a particularly difficult practice when we are faced with legitimate needs. When we feel hungry, angry, lonely, or tired this week, when we wonder if there will be enough money at the end of the month, or work is tenuous, or we feel our health slipping, we can cry out to God. We do so from the foundation of his gracious action in the past. We can boldly say: “God, you sustained me before and I trust that you will sustain me again.”
This is why many Christians pray before we eat. We acknowledge that God is the ruler of the universe, has set things in motion. I have food not because I provided it, but because God did. We thank God for our food, reorienting our lives around gratefulness and dependence.
Finally, we are shaped by generosity. The generosity of God leads us to be an “everyday” kind of people. Christians are people who care about everyday situations. When there is a need in the community, we bind together to meet it. When those in our communities are hungry, impoverished, hurting, sick, we rally around them. Because of God’s generosity with us, we can be free to be formed as a generous people, celebrating the landowner’s call to the marketplace that all whom we have not previously welcomed are invited in by grace.