Mentoring (Part 2) - Rev Allister Lane
READINGS: PSALM 105:1-6. 37-45 AND MATTHEW 20:1-16
Although the word ‘mentoring’ does not appear in the Bible, the practice is plain to see.
In the Old Testament we see it in the relationships of Moses and Joshua; Eli and Samuel; Elijah and Elisha; Ruth and Naomi.
In the New Testament, Elizabeth and Mary.
And Jesus himself mentored, by walking closely with and investing heavily in his disciples.
The Bible shows mentoring to be an intentional relationship, and a way of sharing not just information, but our whole-of-life experiences with another.
The last two Sundays we’ve recalled the story of the Exodus – where God liberated the people of Israel our of slavery in Egypt.
Today’s Psalm (105) remembers the Exodus story (for the wondrous things God has done in the past),
AND
the Psalm becomes one of the ways the Exodus story is celebrated and passed on as part of a living faith (what God is doing now).
Our faith has a backstory, but it is what we live right now. We are all here because someone mentored us in faith – someone shared with us the wonderful truth about God’s love.
And we can be mentors for others. When people who have grown up in the church are asked what made the difference in their spiritual journey, they will often name adults in their lives who invested in them and changed or extended their faith trajectory.
It is these intergenerational connections that are a catalyst for significant growth and change in people’s lives.
In today’ Gospel reading, Jesus teaches his disciples by telling a story…
Early one morning a landowner goes to hire workers to work in his vineyard.
He agrees to pay them the usual day’s wage.
Four more times that day he goes and hires workers.
So there are five groups of workers. Only the first group worked the full day, all the other groups of workers worked only parts of the day.
That evening, all the workers are called together to receive their wages.
And that’s where things get interesting…
There are two things that create tension in this story:
the reversal of the expected order of those who are being paid
the equal payments.
Those who have worked more hours expect to receive more, and most of us would agree that’s ‘fair’. So we empathise with the grumbling workers.
So, is God unfair? This story is focused on the last group of workers. Nobody wanted them. But the landowner hired them and paid them the same as the others.
They receive the same as the others. They haven’t earned it, but they get it all the same. What God gives to us, isn’t something we can earn.
The meaning of this story Jesus taught is summed up in the title of a song. This song is one someone shared with me when I was much, much younger. This song is by a group called the World Wide Message Tribe, and it’s called ‘We Don’t Get What We Deserve’
What is Jesus teaching us? We don’t get what we deserve!
It’s about GRACE. We do not earn God’s love and reward, it comes by God’s own grace. Grace isn’t something you accumulate more of over the years of life. So, one person can’t receive more grace than another. What we receive from God isn’t a ‘wage’ at all.
This parable subverts systems of differentiation. We see God is radically inclusive. his is God’s justice (not ‘merit‘ or ‘status‘). This justice is radical, disruptive, even offensive …in its free and unmerited grace toward all of us.
Some might conclude: well, if God is going to treat everyone with grace, why don’t I just goof around now and do whatever I like; ignore God and know God will reward me anyway?
Philip Yancey, who wrote What’s So Amazing about Grace, answers that question this way… If any of us REALLY understand that God’s grace is this radical, this amazing, then we won’t want to ignore God – we will want to accept this grace and be immersed in as much as possible.
For God’s grace is not a ‘get out of jail free’ card. It is the greatest thing ever, that enriches our lives more than we can comprehend.
O God, give me all you have to give me!
In Jesus we see God’s shocking love directed at ALL humanity. His prophetic criticism challenges all boundaries, and his freedom includes everyone.
So… We baptise babies and raise them in the knowledge of God’s love, which is already theirs.
Mentoring is not to teach young people to be good, but show them that they already belong to God and the community of God’s people (the Church).
Let me conclude by reading the first two verses of Hebrews 12:
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
As the Church, we have a duty to surround our children and youth as a “cloud of witnesses”. We do not have to be perfect, we just need to be present, to befriend, to affirm.
We commit to journey together faith in faith – fixing our eyes on Jesus. To whom we devote ourselves, today and always. Amen.