Thy Strong Word – Looking Ahead: Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20)

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Hosted by Rev. John Lukomski, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Darmstadt & St. Paul Lutheran Church in New Athens, Illinois.

With guest Rev. Brian Holle from Zion Lutheran Church in Bunker Hill, Illinois.

Looking Ahead: Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 20)

Introit: Psalm 116:12-13, 15-16

¹² What shall I render to the Lord
    for all his benefits to me?
¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
    and call on the name of the Lord,

¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the Lord
    is the death of his saints.
¹⁶ O Lord, I am your servant;
    I am your servant, the son of your maidservant.
    You have loosed my bonds.

Antiphon: Psalm 116:17

¹⁷ I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving
    and call on the name of the Lord.

Gradual: Psalm 34:9, 19

⁹ Oh, fear the Lord, you his saints,
    for those who fear him have no lack!

¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
    but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Old Testament: Isaiah 55:6-9

⁶ “Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call upon him while he is near;
⁷ let the wicked forsake his way,
    and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
⁸ For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
⁹ For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Psalm 27:1-9 (antiphon: v. 4a)

The Lord Is My Light and My Salvation

Of David.

Epistle: Philippians 1:12-14, 19-30

The Advance of the Gospel

¹² I want you to know, brothers,^[a] that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, ¹³ so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard^[b] and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. ¹⁴ And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word^[c] without fear.

¹⁹ for I know that through your prayers and the help of the Spirit of Jesus Christ this will turn out for my deliverance, ²⁰ as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. ²¹ For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. ²² If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. ²³ I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. ²⁴ But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account. ²⁵ Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith, ²⁶ so that in me you may have ample cause to glory in Christ Jesus, because of my coming to you again.

²⁷ Only let your manner of life be worthy^[a] of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸ and not frightened in anything by your opponents. This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God. ²⁹ For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, ³⁰ engaged in the same conflict that you saw I had and now hear that I still have.

Proper Verse: Ephesians 2:8

⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,

Gospel: Matthew 20:1-16

Laborers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius^[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ ⁵ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ⁸ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ ⁹ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. ¹⁰ Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, ¹² saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ ¹³ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ¹⁵ Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’^[b] 16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”