Sunday September 20, 2020
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
Fields are white and harvests waiting—
Who will bear the sheaves away?”
Loud and long the Master calleth;
Rich reward He offers thee.
Who will answer, gladly saying, “Here am I, send me, send me”? LSB 827:1
A part of us expects justice from God. We think that fairness ought to reign—that each of us should get what we deserve. But this is a dead end. God does not give us what we deserve but acts with mercy and grace beyond belief. He is scandalously generous and lavish with us—giving us what we do not deserve and have not earned. We are tempted to ask God for equity and what we deserve, but God is determined to give us so much more in Christ. Only in faith can we learn to let God be God, to honor His generosity with the only response He desires: faith and thanksgiving. Today we pray the Lord to break through to our hearts and minds with His abundant grace and to rejoice that He is more than fair—He is merciful!
READINGS
Old Testament:
Psalm:
Epistle:
Gospel:
Isaiah 55:6–9
The Lord is my light and my salvation
Psalm 27:1-9
Philippians 1:12–14, 19–30
By grace you have been saved through faith.
And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God
Matthew 20:1–16
The last will be first and the first will be last
COLLECT
It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who, out of love for His fallen creation, humbled Himself by taking on the form of a servant, becoming obedient unto death, even death upon a cross. Risen from the dead, He has freed us from eternal death and given us life everlasting.