Exodus 16:2-15
Philippians 1
Matthew 20:1-16
Of all the jobs I’ve had in my life, the one I have worked the most would have to be in the chicken and chips industry. When they talk about the “perks of the job”, I reckon that one had the best. Because if I was on the closing shift (which usually happened), we would always end up with plenty of leftovers. For about a decade of my life, I more often than not enjoyed having a fridge stocked with chicken and chips – fried, grilled, spicy, original – and the abundance was glorious.
In our first reading we heard of God’s miracle of chicken and chips. Over the past few weeks we have been following their suffering under slavery, God’s miraculous delivery through the waters, and now they are tramping through the wilderness on their way to the Promised Land. And they start grumbling. God is generous beyond reckoning, and so one morning they wake up to find that the land is covered with manna, a flaky white substance that is basically easy-to-make bread; simply “add water and stir”. On top of that, they find the ground also covered with quail – the tastiest of all birds, as well as being small and easy to catch and cook up. Manna and quail – chicken and chips.
Now, with all that generosity from God on display, what do you think their response was? God is the same back then as he is now, and so is his generosity. What is your response to his generosity to you?
In our second reading we heard St Paul begin his letter to the church in Philippi. He is locked up in prison, simply for being a Christian. All he wants is to be is with his church family. So what does God do? God makes a church family for him amongst the prison guards!
The apostle’s response was thankful rejoicing. In the midst of your adversity, God is making provision through his generosity for you, too. Can you see it? What is God giving you, that you may join with St Paul in thankful rejoicing?
Then we had the Gospel reading. Our Lord is teaching us in a parable. A master has a field, and he needs people to work on it. So he sends for workers at the start of the day. The day goes on, and he still needs workers, so he brings more in. On this goes, until just before dusk, and he is still bringing in people to work. Then the sun falls, and it is payday. A whole denarius, just for one day? And so everyone gets a big payout. But those who worked from dawn are grumbling. Look at how Jesus finishes the parable, with the words of the master as he is handing out the money: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” Just as the fictional master in this parable is generous, so too is God.
But the thing is, God is generous all over the place. And when we compare ourselves to others, we risk getting a chip on our shoulder. And this is what Jesus is warning us about: if you awaken yourself to God’s generosity, you’ll start seeing it all over the place. So don’t get a chip on your shoulder about it; rather, listen to the master: “Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?” Let us never begrudge God’s generosity to others.
I want you to reflect on God’s generosity to you. This is the first step. Can you see it? Can you recognise it when you see it? We had two real-life examples, and one parable. The freed Hebrew slaves had been given so much: their freedom! And on top of that, chicken and chips, direct from heaven! Then we had St Paul, who, even though he was locked up in prison, was given a church family out of thin air (at least, that must have been how it seemed when his Roman guards starting becoming Christians). Then there was the parable about how everyone gets a big spiritual payday, no matter how much or how little you deserve it. Can you see God’s generosity to you? Can you recognise it when you see it?
There is an appropriate response to God’s generosity – and that is our liturgy. It is how we worship here in church. We call this service the “Holy Eucharist”, and it’s all in the name. The word “eucharist” comes from a Greek word which literally means “thanksgiving”. That is to say, our worship service is a service of thanksgiving to God. We receive God’s generous goodness to us, and we respond with thanksgiving.
Consider the beginning: we start with a renewal of God’s generous covenant promise to us. We hear the words of our Lord, which is his way of summing up “all the Law and the prophets”. We respond by asking the Holy Spirit to “write this Law in our hearts”. Then, because we do not keep God’s covenant very well, we immediately ask for forgiveness for when we have failed – and receive that forgiveness for which we have asked! The service flows naturally on from there to hear God speaking to us in his Word – and surely this is another blessing of God’s generosity, that he would leave us with this Holy Bible, this collection of sacred writings that speak of himself and his love for us, and how we may learn more of him and his love for us. God’s generosity then flows just as freely as we pray for his world. How generous is our God, that we may come before him prayer, and ask him directly about our concerns! From our prayers, we move to his table, to his feast, to the presence of Christ himself in the sacrament. We gather as his people, as his body, sharing his peace, and hearing again that wonderful story of how he gave himself for us in that moment in history. And then we enter into that moment in history, as he really gives himself to us in the bread and wine. What abundant generosity of God in his goodness to us! Surely there is no other word for what we do than “thanksgiving” – Eucharist.
This liturgy is also designed to shape our whole lives. We celebrate a holy thanksgiving here, and then go out to live lives of holy thanksgiving. Just as God is abundantly generous to us every time we gather around his table, he is abundantly generous to us in our daily lives as we pass through the week.
I spoke about the perks of the job of working in chicken and chips. The thing about always having a fridge full of chicken and chips, is that you always have mates who want to come over and share them with you. But I wonder – we have something better than chicken and chips. We have something better even than manna from heaven and fresh quail. We have the bread of life, and the cup of eternal salvation. If you have seen God’s generosity, and you want others to see it in their lives too, why not ask them to start here at his table? If you want to see God’s generosity in your life, why not start here, at his table?