Don't you love it when you wait all day for an appointment with a doctor in an emergency situation in a hospital?
He slowly recovered, and we had him back home.
And then just one week ago, he started once again getting acute pain where his pelvis had been removed. What was happening? We rushed him off to our emergency hospital here in Newcastle.
He was so doubled over in pain that he couldn't walk. We managed to put him in a wheelchair after driving him to the hospital here. There was no possible way to get him to Sydney.
We waited in the emergency department, and we waited, and we waited. Things were getting worse. Fortunately, we had brought all his documentation from the specialist in Sydney who had performed the operation, so we could show it to the doctor here in Newcastle.
Back in the Bible in Matthew 20:1-16, Jesus tells the parable about the Workers in the Vineyard. Quote "For the kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius (the standard silver coin of ancient Rome) for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
About nine in the morning, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right,' so they went.
So here we have the owner of the vineyard, or a vintner as they are known, really wanting to get all his grapes in on time - maybe there is a storm coming or some other thing, and all the grapes need to be collected.
Unlike today, where we have lots of skilled workers in vineyards and most other places, in Jesus' time, to get labourers, all you had to do was go to the marketplace and grab all those willing to come.
What did Jesus have in mind when telling this story of the vineyard?
Back to the hospital:- Here we have our boy, desperately ill and in so much pain it is unfathomable. There were so many people in the emergency department, many with flu symptoms, and many really struggling. All waiting and waiting and waiting.
He was called in after two hours, and he struggled to see the check-in nurse. All to no avail, and the nurse told our boy, "Go take a seat, and someone will be there with you shortly." Did they check anything or do anything about it in the check-in system of the hospital? Absolutely nothing. He was desperate.
As it turned out, he had an acute infection called sepsis, which was absolutely life-threatening.
Back to the vineyard:- The Vintner must have been desperate, according to the story that Jesus was telling his disciples. He obviously really needed to get the grapes in quickly.
"He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon, he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing around all day long doing nothing?" ' Because no one has hired us,' they answered.
He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' "
Five o'clock in the afternoon would be getting a bit dark, and they would all soon have to finish up. The Vintner really wanted to get as many people as possible to help out and harvest all the grapes.
Back to the hospital:- Our boy was in absolute agony. No one seemed to be doing anything. He wasn't the only one in agony; there were heaps of others. A lady throwing up in a bucket, a girl with a temperature shaking and feeling cold, all wrapped up in a blanket, and heaps of others, all looking desperate.
Suddenly, all eyes were on the door. There was a young girl who came in all dressed up in her soccer uniform. She had obviously been carted off the field with a hurt ankle. The nurses and the doctor who were present dropped everything and rushed over. She was whisked off to another room and immediately surrounded by a doctor, a nurse, plus the check-in nurse.
She was x-rayed immediately, bandaged up an gone while everyone else waited. Hmmm, made me think.
Back to the vineyard:- When nighttime eventually came, they all apparently gathered around to get their wages for the day. He told his servants to call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.
The last workers came and were paid a denarius. Then the others came to be paid, and after seeing that the new guys got paid the same as they were due to receive, they were shocked! They reckoned they should get more, seeing as how they were there all day. But each one of them also received a denarius.
When they were paid, they were pretty grumbly with the owner! "A denarius? Really? We've been here all day and got the same pay as those you hired last, who only worked one hour. You have made them equal to us, who have been here all day and worked in the hot sun."
The owner answered them, " I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'
Back to the hospital:- I was shocked! There was this young girl, triaged, medicated, and all fixed up and gone, and here we were still waiting with my boy. Actually, he was so ill with sepsis, and as it turned out, he really could have died had we given up waiting and gone back home.
Praise God, we didn't leave. After waiting all day and half the night, he was finally whisked off to emergency surgery throughout the night with three specialists and a phone link to his specialist in Sydney.
He underwent an amazing operation throughout that night. It is an absolute miracle that we still have him with us.
So, really, what can I learn and what can you learn throughout all of this?
Firstly, everyone is important! Everyone!
What does the parable of the vineyard teach us? Jesus came to the Jewish nation first of all, and a lot of these amazing people came to know and love their Lord. Did the message of God stop there? certainly not!
The message is still going around the world every minute of every day. Years after Jesus lived here on earth, and after he gave his life for all of us, his amazing message is still reaching many thousands of people.
When Jesus was born in Israel, he was the vital plan of God right from the beginning.
In the parable above, God's amazing kingdom would not only be shared by the country where Jesus was born, but to the entire world. All of us, everyone. That was God's plan right from creation.
Just like our experience in the hospital. Of course, that young lady was due for her medication and well-being. Of course, I fully didn't understand exactly what was going on in her life and what had actually happened to her, and of course, she is just as important as the rest of us, and of course, I learned a huge lesson.
Jesus came to earth to save us, and all we have to do is accept his sacrifice and his eternal love for all of us. We can ask him into our lives to lead us and give him the honour and glory afforded to him, making him number one in everything we do.
You can do this. All it takes is a prayer of acceptance, and he will lead your life.
God bless you, and I hope to see you next time.
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