The Divine Penny

On Septuagesima Sunday we hear the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard, and learn again about the grace of God. For the last laborers, who stood idle in the marketplace all day (that is, Christians who know that the work of salvation is done by Another, not by them), went forth by faith, not having an agreed-upon sum, but simply "whatever is right." They went into  the vineyard by faith, and their works were not done to satisfy a contract. But they were sneered at by the first, and envied, and hated. So are Christians treated by the world. Yet the last shall be first, in the  reckoning of God. Behold the inestimable value of the divine penny: Christ's work, his atoning blood, is worth more than a  thousand heavens, and it is given to us freely. This is the goodness of God, in whose vineyard we are now sent to labor. Sermon for Septuagesima.