First Reading: Isaiah 55:6-9
6“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; 7let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Psalm 27:1-13
1The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then shall I be afraid? 2When evildoers came upon me to eat up my flesh, it was they, my foes and my adversaries, who stumbled and fell. 3Though an army should encamp against me, yet my heart shall not be afraid; 4And though war should rise up against me, yet will I put my trust in him. 5One thing have I asked of the Lord; one thing I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life; 6To behold the fair beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. 7For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe in his shelter; he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling and set me high upon a rock. 8Even now he lifts up my head* above my enemies round about me. 9Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation with sounds of great gladness; I will sing and make music to the Lord. 10Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; have mercy on me and answer me. 11You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” Your face, Lord, will I seek. 12Hide not your face from me, nor turn away your servant in displeasure. 13You have been my helper; cast me not away; do not forsake me, O God of my salvation.
Second Reading: Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30
12I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, 13so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. 14And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.
19… {F}or I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, 20as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. 23I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. 25Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, 26so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again. 27Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, 28and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. 29For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, 30engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.
Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16
1{Jesus said,} “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Bound but Still Moving Forward
Our epistle reading for this morning is from St. Paul’s letter to the Philippians: he’s writing from prison. The fact that Paul is writing while imprisoned is important for two reasons, first, consider that some of the great letters of the world were written in prison. Most recently, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail turned the tide in the civil rights movement. After that letter was published, the civil rights movement gained national support. The Rev. Dr. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor, wrote letters from prison, smuggled out by his guards in Germany. Those letters and notes, some just fragments, ideas about the Christian life, were published after the war as Letters and Notes from Prison. That little book, perhaps a hundred pages, caused a revolution in the way we understand living as Christians in the modern world. Russian philosopher Dostoyevsky wrote The House of the Dead from prison. John Bunyan wrote Grace Abounding from prison. But the first prison letters were written by St. Paul.
Arguably, the Apostle Paul’s greatest letter from prison is his letter to the Philippians. It’s an amazing theological document and the testimony of a man who learned to rejoice in difficult circumstances. Most likely Paul was in prison in Rome since he mentions that he is under the Praetorian Guard. Under normal circumstances, the Praetorian Guard was only in imperial cities. This also means that the situation for Paul wasn’t good and could also indicate that his time on this earth was near the end.
In this letter Paul seems to understand the brevity of his time left for ministry. Starting in verse 21 we read, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account” (vss. 21-24).
Paul, I believe, knows the end could be near, and he wanted the Philippians to understand this as well. We too need to understand this so we can better appreciate the content of this letter. There’s a special bond between Paul and the Philippian church. He founded that church during his second mission trip years before and throughout the years their friendship had deepened, matured, and grown. The occasion of this letter is to thank the Philippian Christians for their thoughtfulness. They sent Epaphroditus, a member of the church, with a present for Paul, as a way of showing him their concern and love. We don’t know what the gift was, but Paul wanted them to know he appreciated their thoughts, gift, and prayers.
We see the connection and appreciation of Paul in his salutation: “I thank God for you. I am always praying for you and giving thanks for you. I hold you in my heart, because we are partners of the same grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense of the gospel” (1:7). What that means is that they stood with Paul through thick and thin, when he was being attacked by his detractors and even now while he’s in prison. They stood by him and helped him to the end. Paul concludes the salutation by writing, “How I yearn for you with the affection of Jesus Christ.” This language was unusual for Paul. His letters to the other churches were much more formal: “Grace to you and peace through Jesus Christ. Now about that matter that you wrote about…” In his other letters he gets right down to business. But in this letter his words are more relational.
In this letter he sings. He rejoices, he says, “Rejoice; again, I say to you, Rejoice” (4:4). Even in the chapters where he doesn’t tell them to rejoice, he, himself, rejoices and sings. And when you consider the conditions he’s living under, this is incredible. And this is what I want us to focus on this morning. How can Paul find anything to sing about when he’s in prison and looking at the possibility of execution? His secret is in the letter: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (v. 21). Not many of us can relate to these words, even when we consider that he is bound and in prison.
I’m not sure I can relate to Paul’s declaration. As much as I’d like to think I can say these words, I’m not sure I believe it deeply in my soul. We were claimed in Baptism so most of us will whole heartedly echo the first part, “For me to live is Christ.” But can I honestly declare before the whole world, “for me to die is gain?” It’s much easier for us to admit, “for me to live is everything.” Honestly, how many of us want to die? This is true for a good many reasons; fear of the unknown, not wanting to leave our family, unprepared to meet Jesus face to face, unfinished business and more. Dying just doesn’t seem like it would enhance my happiness.
Someone once asked Woody Allen what kind of funeral he wanted. He said, “All I want is just a few of my close friends to gather around my coffin…and do everything they can to bring me back to life.” Many of us would echo that sentiment. Deep down we all want to live. We were claimed in Baptism so it’s easy to say, for me to live is Christ, but can we just as easily say, I have given my death to Christ? Can we come to the place where we can honestly say with Paul, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain?”
Paul continues: “If it is to be life in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is better. But to remain in the flesh is better for you.”
Again, I find it very hard for me to fully relate to that kind of resolve. I can imagine the minister of the Church of Philippi, addressing the congregation on Sunday morning. “Well, we got a thank you letter from the Apostle Paul this morning. He said that he would rather die than come and visit us.” When you stop and think about it, that is how it sounds.
In a sense, it sounds out of touch with our priorities. Some might claim it’s inappropriate. The Philippians were just trying to be thoughtful. He taught them to be concerned about one another, and they were doing that. They sent a messenger with a gift, and encouragement. It almost sounds like Paul is saying, “Thanks, but it really wasn’t necessary. I’m bound in chains and I may die, but that’s all right. I’m better off dead than being with you.” But this isn’t what’s going on here.
I recently reread the account of Morehead Kennedy’s captivity in Iran back in the late 70’s. Some of you may remember when the Ayatollah Khomeini held 52 Americans hostages for 444 days, Moorehead Kennedy was one of them. Later he wrote about his captivity. He said, “You know when you are going through a bad moment in normal life, you usually say to yourself, ‘Well, it could be worse; at least I am still alive.’ Well, I was imprisoned in Iran, and all of a sudden I realized that may no longer be true.” Kennedy had come to the point where saying, well I’m still alive was no longer a source of hope. He knew in that situation of extremity, as he was reminded by his captors, that tomorrow he could die.
He continued: “From that realization came the greater awareness that life is not just for now and here. There is a plan somewhere. You are part of a much larger thing, much larger than one’s own life. It’s God’s plan, if you will.” I suspect that’s what the Apostle Paul experienced in prison. He came to realize the cost of discipleship, what it really means to serve Christ, in life and in death. When he finally did that, he saw something. Really, it’s better to say that he experienced something, because he had seen it before. He had put Christians in prison before he met Jesus on the road to Damascus. And because he had come face to face with Jesus, even in prison, he could rejoice. It’s the reason he sings. What he believed and what he had preached, he now experienced.
On the road to Damascus, he committed his life to Christ. In Rome, in prison, he gave his death to Christ, so he says, “I am now content to stay here in prison if that is God’s will. If not, that’s all right too, because Christ has, in his Resurrection, revealed to me that there is a greater plan than mine waiting for me. So for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” This remarkable letter not only outlines that proclamation, it also illustrates it with practical experiences from Paul’s own life.
Paul tells the Philippians, “I now have three alternatives. First, I can be released and come to you.” He isn’t ruling his release out. In fact, I think he believes that too is a real possibility. He knows that God is in control of the future. Besides that, Paul has gotten out of jail before (Acts 16:16-40). In fact, it was in Philippi. The Philippians were there. They saw it. You remember that when the earthquake hit, the jail doors were shaken open and their shackles were loosened. He walked out with Silas, and converted the jailer on the spot, who stood there dumbfounded by all of this. So the Philippians knew that God had intervened on Paul’s behalf before. This is why Paul writes, “I plan to come and see you.”
You may have seen the old cartoon. Two prisoners in a cell. No windows in the cell, just stone walls. They’re both chained to the wall. One prisoner turns to the other and says, “Now here’s my plan.” That was Paul; he believed that the future belongs to God, so anything can happen. He didn’t let the difficulties of the day keep him from making plans. From this, we can learn a lesson from Paul. Whenever the future seems uncertain, trust God and keep making plans, keep moving forward. I read about a woman the other day who took this lesson from St. Paul’s experience to heart.
Rilla Lovell retired some years ago. In fact, she retired from two careers: she was a captain in the Navy, and then she went to work for the San Diego School District. She loved to travel. She shared that she gave the first ten percent of her income to the Church and another ten percent she put into a travel fund. About ten years ago, she got cancer. Her first round of treatments worked so she kept on going. Then there was a re-occurrence. Again, she kept right on going, although she was weaker now. One day she came home from a trip to Russia. She got back in time to attend a church function held at a member’s house. She got off the plane from Russia in the morning, and went to a church dinner at night.
The neighborhood where the dinner was held was strange to her. It was dark. She couldn’t find the house. So she decided that it would be easier to read the addresses if she parked the car and walked. She walked up to a house and since it was dark she tripped on the step. She lay on the ground for a couple of hours, unable to get up. Eventually, someone found her and took her to the hospital. She had broken her pelvis, which had been weakened by cancer. She knew that it was bad. She was concerned that she may not recover from this one.
The next day, when interviewed, she said, “I made a list of all the places I wanted to visit, all the trips I wanted to make. This recent trip to Russia was the last one on that list. I just came home, and then this happened.” When asked what was next, she said, “I am going to make out a new list.” This is what St. Paul was doing as he wrote to the church members in Philippi. He may have been in chains under the watch of the Praetorian guard. There may have been whispers among the guards that this would be his final arrest, but Paul continued to make plans for the future. That was the first alternative.
Paul understood that God was in control and that freedom from prison may be further off than he hoped for, so he allowed for that possibility as well. Paul writes, “That’s OK too, because I have already discovered that I have important work to do, right here.” Earlier in the first chapter he writes, “I want you to know that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel.” He was in prison. He had found something to do there. Paul was a preacher. The Romans, to imprison him, had to assign soldiers to guard him. What did Paul do? He preached to the guards. They couldn’t leave.
The soldiers’ job was to keep an eye on Paul. They couldn’t go to sleep. They would be court marshaled or killed if they were found asleep on duty. “I want you to know what happened,” Paul wrote to the Philippians, “bad as it is, it has turned out to be good. Now the whole Praetorian Guard knows about me. They are all talking about me now. They all want to know more about the gospel.” This reminded me of an anecdote out of the life of Nelson Mandela, who was imprisoned for twenty years in South Africa. When he was inaugurated as president of South Africa he invited a small group of friends, and some dignitaries, to witness his swearing in. Two of those present were his guards in prison. They had been won over by the witness of a man being faithful to the best that he knew, in the worst circumstance of his life.
That’s the second alternative Paul offers. If a particular situation isn’t what you wanted, if this isn’t your plan, if you’re stuck with it, then look for something good in it, because God may have plans for you right where you are. There was also a third alternative. The first alternative is to be released and find a new life. The second alternative is to stay where you are and find a life. The third is to die and find a greater life. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. The central focus of Paul’s life is the Resurrection. It had always been the Resurrection. He wrote about it to all his churches, especially to the Corinthians.
First Corinthians 15 is where we get most of our language about the Resurrection. For us, the Resurrection is something we hope for at the end of life. For Paul, the Resurrection was something that guided him every day of his life. I like to think that the Resurrection for him was like a horizon. Because he had his eyes always on the horizon, he was able to live meaningfully in any situation that life threw at him.
I looked up the definition of “horizon,” in the dictionary. “The horizon, is the boundary line at which earth and sky appear to meet.” The horizon for Paul was the boundary line where earth and heaven meet, and on the boundary, there’s an empty tomb. So, with his eyes on the horizon, he not only saw the limit of this life, he also saw the promise of another life.
While stationed in Alaska, I flew in a private plane to a remote area for a Caribou hunt. During the flight I noticed a large instrument on the panel, right in front of the pilot. It was an instrument with a little plane on a horizontal line. I asked the pilot what that was. He said, “That’s an artificial horizon. It’s the most important instrument on the plane.” Then he told me stories of what happens to pilots when they don’t pay attention to it, especially when flying through bad weather with no visibility. If you don’t have an artificial horizon, you’re in trouble. He then demonstrated how it worked.
He dipped the nose of the plane, and that little plane on the instrument panel went below the horizontal line. He pulled the yoke back, and it went above the horizontal line. When he was flying straight ahead, the little plane was right on that horizontal line. That is what Paul lived by, an artificial horizon; a horizon that only the eyes of faith can see. The horizon line enables us to keep steady in a storm, to keep going even when we cannot see the future. When life gets difficult, when things are uncertain, we need to pray and keep going. That’s why Paul could sing in prison. He could see not only the boundary of this life, he could see the beginning of an even greater life, and that’s why he could say, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Amen