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S. Pentecost 17.26 Matt. 20:1-16

‘So the last will be first and the first last. For many are called but few are eclectic’

I know you’re used to hearing that last word translated as “chosen” or “elect”. But I’m giving you a transliteration of the actual Greek εκλεκτοι “eclectic”. Because the English ‘eclectic’ is a quite precise equivalent of the original Greek in a way that “chosen” or “elect” is not.

I translate eclectic as “tastefully curated”. Someone is eclectic who doesn’t follow the common Systems of thought, but picks out from quite different Styles or Systems an element here or there that doesn’t match up with any single Style or System but that fits with the needs of the moment in a way that doesn’t make sense to the herd, but looks good to the eclectic…

Mavericks, rebels with a cause, who march to the tune of several different drummers—the drummers not very popular with the masses—these are The Eclectics, (great name for a rock band!). Their excellence is recognized only by the few (Greek ολιγος, where we get oligarchs from—about as popular as eclectics 😉 Like wearing plaids and stripes, picking out contrasting and apparently conflicting bits of existentialist, Thomist, and evangelical thought as the situation may demand doesn’t look good to dedicated followers of fashion, and makes no sense to Systematic Orthodoxy 😉

Especially this last way of mixing bits and bobs of Camus, Aquinas, and Luther as this friend of mine tends to do 😉 will make you quite unpopular with all denominations and schools of thought in church and academy. But it can make for entertaining preaching! Are you not entertained?

Context is so important for understanding any pericope of scriptures—especially our Gospel today. Jesus tells this parable after the rich young ruler’s walking away after asking Jesus what he has to do to inherit eternal life (uh, kill your testator if they’re tardy about their dying?) Jesus says if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments and mentions the second table of the Law of Moses that has to do with how we treat our fellow humans.

The rich young man ways “Check! I’ve kept all those.” Jesus is like “Really? Well, good job! There’s just one little thing you lack (the First Table which is how we relate to God, I think): sell everything you have and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow me…” And the rich young ruler went away sad because he had tons of cool toys.

Then Jesus tells his disciples that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter heaven. And, astonished, the disciples exclaim “who can be saved?!” And Jesus says it’s impossible for you, but with God, all things are possible (even the impossible!).

Peter, in one of his finest moments, asks: “See we have left all to follow you; what shall we have?” And Jesus says in the regeneration (the all renewing of creation, literally) they will sit on 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel and everyone who has left houses, brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands for Christ’s sake! shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life. But many who’re first will be last and the last first…

Conventional systematic thinking says this parable simply demonstrates how the last ones hired by the master are first to receive their reward which is the same as those laboring all day in the vineyard. And there’s an element of that in the parable. But more, I would suggest, this parable is telling you first: what it is to be rich and how it is the poor can have infinitely more than the rich, and last: showing how only those who are and have nothing themselves can have everything in Christ Jesus as beggar-kings, after all…

Because they are eclectic, picked out from the masses as best and favored by the Father, subscribing to a highly eclectic and strange idea of what it is to be holy, good, and heavenly: that to get there, it’s helpful to mix a bit of Camus with a pinch of Aquinas and a chunk of Luther is like a cherry on top of the sundae 😉

All the ones coming into the vineyard subscribe to the common idea that owners of land and assets are rich and that they pay wages for working their property and a fair landowner will pay according to the hours worked and the quality of the labor. And if you ‘saves your monies honey, when you come home from work’ you may get somewhere…

But they all find to their surprise that the denarius they were promised for laboring in the master’s vineyard has nothing to do with the quality or difficulty of their labor. Nah; it’s just something the master feels like giving them because he’s GOOD. What is not said, but is left for you—the sharp eyed eclectic reader to notice 😉 is that simply laboring in the vineyard is it’s own reward! As Qohelet aka Ecclesiastes says: the secret to happiness is to enjoy the toil and the gifts God gives us all the days of our vain lives.

Simply being in the vineyard, picking grapes, soaking up the sun, bantering with our fellow workers (workers of the world unite!) maybe singing some songs, cracking some jokes and just noticing what an incredibly Lovely Place this is!, and what a joy to hang out there, is the reward! That you get a denarius too (!) is just the cherry on top of the sundae. The master’s fellowship, being part of his gang, is the real joy… 😉

And many are called to this, but few are eclectic—‘tastefully curated’ 😉 It’s only the maverick rebels against the Fashions and Systems of the day, who pick out the good from the bad in everything: clothing, music, recreation, work, literature, and thought and don’t mind mixing plaids and stripes (who dress ironically 😉 who finally GET IT!—and get gotten, tastefully curated by the Master, the 1 lost lamb out of a hundred who fits perfectly into the Master Plan… 😉

It doesn’t make rational or religious sense. IT can’t be EXPLAINED—this Master Plan of God’s. Not just sometimes, but all the time you just have to let ART FLOW OVER YOU! Enjoy the light, the lie of the land, the vibe of this holy place, the new friends you meet on the Master’s Estate, maybe chat up that cute girl you first saw in sophomore English class and cozy up with her… this is the Way of eclectics, everywhere.

Such is the Way to Heaven… 😉

First; it means realizing that heavenly riches are never earned, never ours, but always already gifts of God, given to the beggars who have nothing. And when God’s gifts are never really yours—as earthly gifts never really are, when ‘money’s just something you throw from the back of a train/ gotta head full of lightning, hat full of rain…’ then you get what Jesus’s saying (without really totally comprehending) you just know and follow him as GOOD and TRUE…

And peace, surpassing understanding, guards your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.