On Reimagining the World
September 20, 2026
Rev. Tracey May Kalvaitis

Jonah 4:4

And the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”

Matthew 20: 1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘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.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

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Today’s sermon is titled On Re-imagining the World. Jesus is re-imagining the world in our parable today. He is re-imagining a world indelibly defined by mercy, love and generosity of spirit. In such a world there are no “us” and “them.” In such a world there are no enemies.

I ran across a beautiful story this past week. I can not verify the authenticity of the source, but I can absolutely verify the authenticity of the message. Near the end of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln had gave a speech in which he spoke kindly of the people of the South and a woman later challenged him with the question, “How could you speak kindly of our enemies?” Lincoln reportedly replied, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” Perhaps the woman was offended by Lincoln’s words in the final paragraph of his Second Inaugural Address, delivered from the East portico of our nation’s capitol building on March 4th, 1865, just one month before the South surrendered. Perhaps Lincoln, too, was re-imagining the world in the future, a world where North and South would re-unite as a republic. Here are his word “With malice toward none with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds…to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

“With malice toward none with charity for all.” This is the same sentiment expressed in the parable we find today from the book of Matthew. There are a dozen parables recorded in the scriptures where Jesus invites his followers to re-imagine the world. The words Jesus uses for his re-imagination are the Kingdom of Heaven or the Kingdom of God. In the book of Matthew, the words are consistently “Kingdom of Heaven.” In the books of Mark, Luke and John, the words are “Kingdom of God.” We have learned before that Kingdom of God is more accurately translated as Reign of God, so in Jesus’s re-imaginings of the world, a world under the reign of God, or under the influence of God, there is mercy, there is love, there is a spirit of generosity and a willingness to forgive. In a world living under the influence of God, there is no judgement about who deserves mercy, love, forgiveness and generosity; all are deserving. This is the number one complaint of the vineyard workers who worked all day long and received the same wages as those who worked for an hour or two. They cry out, “You have made them equal to us.”

[For the past two weeks, Jesus has been offering us the blueprint for building his merciful, loving and generous world; we have been learning that such a world is built on the foundation of forgiveness and reconciliation. This is key, Friends. We learned last week that two-thirds of Jesus’s teachings are directly or indirectly based on forgiveness. Forgiveness is at the heart of the 12-step program that continues to help millions worldwide on their road of recovery and the program begins with the acknowledgment that we need help from the higher power to accomplish this work of forgiveness and making amends. There is a very good reason that the road of recovery from addiction includes the critical step of identifying those we have wronged in the past and asking them for forgiveness. It is only when we are liberated from the guilt and shame of our past mistakes, it is only when we have had a taste of mercy and grace that we can then offer mercy, grace and forgiveness to others. Only then can we cultivate a generous spirit within ourselves. Only with a generous spirit can we see that evil ways in others are the result of a broken spirit. Only when we can see the brokenness in others can we extend a generous and compassionate spirit.]

Generosity and compassion were in short supply among the workers in that vineyard. They could not find the satisfaction in their own earned wages because others had received the same for less effort and they became angry and irate. The landowner’s reply is sobering; he says, “I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Are you envious because I am generous?”
We had another similar question from the book of Jonah this morning. God asks Jonah, “Is it right that you should be angry?” The question comes at the end of Jonah’s story when Jonah is absolutely exasperated. He has been fighting with God. [I have to say here that I love these first testament stories of God, so present and so engaging.] God told Jonah to go to warn the Assyrian citizens of Nineveh that if they did not change their ways, their city would be destroyed. Jonah wants Nineveh to be destroyed; he regards the Assyrians as his enemies. Jonah suspects that God would spare them, so instead of going to Nineveh, Jonah jumps aboard a ship sailing in the opposite direction. He probably bragged about running away from God because when a massive storm threatened to sink the ship, his shipmates figured God was angry with Jonah so they threw him overboard and along came that whale…you know the story. Anyway, after he is regurgitated, Jonah comes to his senses, warns Nineveh, the Assyrians repent thoroughly, the city is saved and Jonah is sulky because he is suffering from a poverty of spirit; in his opinion, those Ninevites did not deserve to be spared. God asks Jonah the poignant question, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah thought he knew what his enemies deserved. His first mistake was seeing the other as enemy.
In closing, Jesus calls us to reimagine a world where we seek the Godspark in one another, a world where we can clearly see because we have taken on the inner work of clearing our consciences, asking for forgiveness and at the ready to forgive the other who has trespassed against us. It is easy to think we know who deserves what, how much, and when. I admit, there is some satisfaction when the criminal is caught, when the crooked corporate executive is exposed, and when the corrupt politician faces charges. But the satisfaction is short-lived. Jesus is reminding us today that there is so much more available to us in a relationship with the supreme source of goodness we call God. It is an entirely different paradigm altogether, one that is not based on what we deserve, but based instead on a radically abundant spirit of generosity. So let’s re-imagine our world, Friends, and recommit to doing all in our power, in all our relationships, to foster a generous spirit, marked by mercy, forgiveness, love and the attendant grace. So be it. Amen

Pastoral Prayer
God who is both Father and Mother, I pray your blessings of peace upon us all this morning. This worldly life is fraught with hardship and disappointment and it can eclipse the light of Your presence among us. Help us, Lord, to attune our awareness of the divine that is intermingled with the ordinary, the blessings that come along with the tragedies, the beams of holy light that shine into the heart of darkness. For the parts of us that are fearful, grant us assurance; for the parts of us that feel unworthy, flood them with forgiveness. Strengthen us, we pray, when faced with difficulties within ourselves and within our culture, strengthen us with a love so tender that we become boundless and effectual, on every level of our beings. For the healing that is happening, we thank you; for the awareness that is deepening, we thank you; and for the guidance that is only a prayer away, we thank you. This we pray, in Christ’s name. Amen.

Benediction

I leave you with these words from Luke 17: 20-21 where Jesus assures us “…the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’…the kingdom of God is within you.”