Immanuel Lutheran High School, College, and Seminary
Eau Claire, WI

2026-09-18 ILC Chapel — Matthew 20:1-15

2026 Chapels -
Matthew 20:1-15
 
Date : 2026-09-18
Speaker : Stephen Sydow
Matthew 20
(EHV) “Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. He also went out about the third hour and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’ “They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’ “When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: ‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?'”
 
Hymn: LSB 439, st. 3,5 : O Dearest Jesus, What Law Hast Thou Broken
Hymnary.org

3. Whence come these sorrows, whence this mortal anguish?
It is my sins for which Thou, Lord, must languish;
Yea, all the wrath, the woe, Thou dost inherit,
This I do merit.

5. The sinless Son of God must die in sadness;
The sinful child of man may live in gladness;
Man forfeited his life and is acquitted;
God is committed.