God Will Be God

Matthew 20:1-16 · The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

The first lesson of Spirituality 101 is that God is God … and we are not.

Sometimes we are in charge, it’s our responsibility, and the buck stops squarely in front of us. And although we may grumble and complain about those times, most of us like knowing that we are in control of what is going on and what is coming up next. In fact, we like it so much that we tend to try to take over the reins of control when we are clearly no longer qualified to be running the show. We are constantly tempted to “play God.”

Why do we so quickly forget that the most basic kindergarten lesson in spirituality is this: “God is God … and we are not.”

Rev. Jim Jackson, asked his congregation to revisit the text where the people ask John the Baptist, “Are you the Messiah?” John’s response is: “I am not the Messiah.”

Change the word “God” for “Messiah,” and one has an exchange that needs to take place every morning in front of the mirror. Over the centuries, forgetting this elemental but elementary lesson in Spirituality 101 has led to countless tragedies, large and small, personal, national and global.

Adam and Eve thought they had godlike freedom … they did not.

Saul thought he had godlike impunity … he did not.

David thought he had godlike authority over who lives and dies …he did not.

The Israelites thought they had godlike exclusiveness … they did not.

Peter thought he had godlike loyalty …he did not.

Saul of Tarsus thought he had a godlike mission to wipe out Christians … he did not.

The Romans thought they had godlike ruling power … they did not.

The Europeans thought they alone had a godlike image … they did not.

Americans thought they had a god-like manifest destiny … they did not.

Hitler thought he had a godlike right to take over the world … he did not.

Medical science sometimes thinks it can play god … it cannot.

Cyberspace computer whiz kids sometimes think they have a godlike grasp of our minds and souls … they do not.

Political leaders think they have a godlike right to single handily control a nation and its people and they do not. God is God, and we are not.

By playing at being God so often and in so many different guises, we have succeeded in trivializing the whole concept of God. Donald W. McCullough, of San Francisco Theological Seminary argues that “The worst sin of the church at the end of the 20th century has been the trivialization of God.”

He argues that this sin of trivial gods is equally strong among liberals, evangelicals and charismatics.

Instead of “have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3), we have a pantheon of trivial gods.

 the “god-of-my-cause”,  the “god-of-my-understanding”,  the “god-of-my-nation”, the “god-of-my-experience”, the “god-of-my-body”, the “god-of-my-species”, the “god-of-my-generation”, the “god-of-my-race”, the “god-of-my-gender”, the “god-of-my-class”

But only God is God, and we are not.

God will not be trivialized down to human-sized aspirations. God will not be domesticated to our fads and fancies. God has purposes and ways that are far beyond us and our understanding.

In today’s parable, Jesus provides a glimpse at the difference between God’s designs and human desires. Jesus’ parable opens a tiny portal of light into the Divine as he incarnates the genuine kingdom of God by engaging us in his story.

The landowner’s generosity is bestowed on these last-hired laborers for a reason known only to him. He does not explain or apologize for the accounting system that lavishes the same wage on everyone hired, regardless of the amount of time on the job. The only response the landowner has to the disgruntled first-hired workers is “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?”

Is God not allowed to do what God chooses with what belongs to God? God is God, and we are not.

When our kids are uniquely themselves that is when they do or say something that strikes us as completely off-the-wall the nonjudgmental response a parent often makes is “You’re a piece of work!” Although we don’t always understand our kids’ ways, we shake our heads in acceptance when we say “You’re a piece of work!”

So, too, when God exercises God’s own unique way of doing things, ways we do not agree with or even comprehend. Once again, we are confined to saying in amazement, “What a piece of work!”

The utter and unmitigated sovereignty of God is a reign we humans have never been wholly comfortable with. Most of us would prefer a more democratic system of rule one in which we could actively vote for the outcome of events or the unfolding of history. The sovereign rule of God leaves too many unwelcome subjects in our midst: famine, disease, hate, war, cruelty, waste, envy, greed, despair, evil.

But even in the face of all these troubles, there is one mystery in God’s reign that outstrips all the others. It is a mystery that lives on in full sight of all the ugliness and evil that lurk among the beauty of creation. The greatest and the ultimate mystery of God’s sovereign rule, is the amazing grace of God. “For God so loved the world ….”

The most unimaginable action of God is the gift of all that grace and love brought down into this world in the person of Jesus, the Christ. The most unfathomable sacrifice made by God is the redemptive death of that love and grace on a cross for our sake and for our salvation.

Thank God … that God is God, and we are not.