Homily For Septuagesima 2026
Last Sunday, we celebrated the Conversion of St. Paul - how the light of Jesus Christ broke through and captured him - converting him into the great Apostle to the Gentiles. This Sunday we consider what St. Paul’s conversion accomplished in him. Not reticence, not slumber, not sleep, instead rigor and discipline. Truly, Jesus captured St. Paul on the road to Damascus - changing the course of St. Paul’s life and of human history. But the election of St Paul and the call to be an apostle moved him to bear up cheerfully under the burdens of serving Christ. Compare St. Paul’s vigor in the Epistle to the temptation of presumption because of his calling to be an Apostle - surely, someone who was called personally by Jesus had little to fear in failing in his vocation as an apostle.
Yet, what do we read in St. Paul’s instruction in his first epistle to the Corinthians? The church in Corinth presented all sorts of problems for St. Paul. They were a divisive group of people; they were often involved in sexual immorality and idolatry. It was so bad that Christians were suing each other in civil court. Relying on the pagans to resolve conflicts between them. They valued spiritual gifts-a good thing, yet they were corrected because they took great pride in having marks of the Holy Spirit through varied manifestations. In sum, they believed that they had arrived, that nothing else was required of them. They professed belief in Jesus, they had the sacraments (which we read they abused) so all was well with the world. Case closed, heavens gates opened.
Notice in our Epistle that St. Paul, the great expositor of the doctrine of election, gives them an object lesson from their local environment to drive home the point of the importance of striving, focusing and persevering in the life of faith.
Every two years Corinth hosted the Isthmian Games, second only in the Greco-Roman world to the Olympic games. All around Corinth - one would see men running, wrestling, boxing and one would witness their deliberate approach to food and drink; eating for energy and strength but not for pleasure. Indeed, every athlete would have to take an oath that he had been training for 10 months and would not violate the regulations of his event. During that period, the athlete had a strict diet - refusing wine and the most delicious of foods. He endured the hot and the cold with intentional discipline. The secular athlete lived for the glory of the prize - the honor that came from the victor’s crown and the compensation and even tax waivers that came with being the champion.
Moderation, discipline and self-control were conspicuously on display and St. Paul made use of these practices in the sporting world around him. He tells them they should likewise run the race of faith with singleness of purpose; the Apostle then changes the analogy to one of a boxer. A skilled boxer, the champion, doesn’t throw his punches randomly, he doesn’t waste his energy. Instead, he plans his punches, he studies his opponent and tailors his mix of defensive maneuvering with the rightly timed and placed jabs and punches. In the same manner, the Christian is deliberate in his spiritual efforts; he doesn’t randomly spend his spiritual energy in whatever he feels like, whatever novel notion captures his momentary attention. He executes a plan, an intentional approach that fully maximizes his efforts.
St. Paul reminds them that all who enter the race run with the purpose of winning. Athletes trained for years so that they may have the chance to win.
He reminds the Corinthians, that even though many will receive salvation, those who receive the crown of life from Christ are those who strive, who persevere, who focus on obedience and Christian love as though there is only one recipient for the crown. Every person must run with an eye to his or her own race, no matter how great a crowd surrounds them.
St. Paul says that there is an incorruptible crown - one of eternal consequence - which is given to those who love and serve the Lord. They show their love for Jesus, their reliance on his righteousness, by doing everything in their power to make all their thoughts, words, and deeds focus on that singular goal of godly obedience. The life of godly self-discipline which rests in Christ’s work and love but also brings forth the fruit of obedience to our Lord’s will is the example Paul calls us to live.
This is true for every Christian. St. Paul, the great apostle, does not exclude himself from the regimen that he prescribes to the Corinthian Church. Notice the first person pronouns - “I therefore run, I fight not as one who beats the air”. I keep under my body and bring it into subjection. He does so, “lest by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” St. Paul is applying the standard to himself. True leaders, true Christians make sure they are following through, that they are obedient to Christ’s call particularly when preaching to others. I stand before you as someone who needs the grace of God and as we near Lent, with its particular spirit of penitence and meditation, I have in my sights those things I will add to my own spiritual disciplines. The Christian life is a gift from our Lord Jesus who has purchased us through His blood; it is a gift of life and peace but it is one of exertion in response to the sacrifice of Christ. We never earn our salvation, it is a gift, but we are called to the life of slavery - our hearts, minds, wills taken captive by the love that sought us when we were far away from God.
Our Gospel today speaks to the grace of being invited to work in the Lord’s vineyard. In this parable, Jesus likens the kingdom of God to a vineyard in which men were standing idle at various times of the day and were hired throughout the day. The workmen who were hired first, early in the day, were promised one penny, the common wage for a worker in that time period. Throughout the course of the day, the householder, the manager, returns to the market to find idle workers and he promises them “what is right” - a fair wage for their efforts. The manager returns over and over again to find more idle workers and brings them to his vineyard as the day turns from morning to noontime to evening and even brings some to his vineyard with but an hour of daylight remaining. All were idle. All were reliant upon the kindness of the householder who brought them to the vineyard. At the end of the day, the ones who came first remembered his promise of one penny.
Yet, the householder begins payment with those who came last to the work and gives them the amount promised to those who were at the market in the early morning. Those who worked early thought they would get more than they were promised, because they were comparing themselves to the others, yet, all received the same amount. The penny for one day’s wages. We should look at this from a few perspectives. The owner was fair to the first employees and kind to the rest. All received more than they deserved. All were waiting for some to hire them - to put them to meaningful use somewhere.
The problem comes from the comparisons of the entitled servants - those in the weakest position to complain yet most willing to do so. The servants compared themselves to each other - how much one worked, how long they had been there, rather than considering the gift of working for a person who would pay them. When all would have been paid zero, anything better than that for servants is money in the bank.
The focus is on the kindness, the seeking love of the manager who always wants more workers in his vineyard. He desires more people giving themselves to the service of the kingdom rather than comparing what they perceive to be the relative merits of their individual labors.
The key to both the Epistle and the Gospel is the nature of being included. Workers make comparisons among themselves between each other, but it matters very little what they think if the prize is the same. That’s really the point of both readings today. True redemption in Jesus Christ calls us lovingly to labor in the vineyard of the Gospel. To look up to the salvation that we have received (but most certainly did not deserve) is a better thing to do, rather than having an exaggerated opinion of our own gifts in comparison to those of our brothers and sisters. Looking around at others is a distraction.
We must keep our eyes on prize as athletes and answer the individual purpose God has for us to walk in the works He has made for us to do. The truth is, if any are to make it to the kingdom of heaven, it is because of Christ’s work, his invitation that beckons us by his grace to work in accordance to his eternal purposes.
A few years ago, I was attending a priest’s conference where the speaker made an interesting distinction about our duties - rather than saying of himself, “I have to preach, I have to visit a parishioner in the hospital” he noted that the proper posture and perspective is to say thankfully “I get to preach, I get to serve, I have the gift of the opportunity to do a certain thing.” I think this is helpful as we engage with our Epistle and Gospel for today. The Gospel speaks about all the workers who were idle, who lacked the opportunity to work. At different times throughout the day, they get the opportunity to work rather than having to work for a wage.
They get to work for a householder who keeps his word - who always does right. They get to work for a boss who is not just fair, but generous and kind. The Epistle shows us what Christian discipleship looks like, what it means to be a follower of Jesus. It gives more descriptive, practical elements of what it looks like to work in God’s vineyard. It is to be focused on the true Lord, who calls us to Himself - to give ourselves completely to Him. We must remember that the Gospel requires us to give up some of our ‘rights’ and ‘freedoms”; even when such action would feel to us like hard discipline.
We are privileged, we get to give ourselves completely to our heavenly Father who loves us. We get to live in the freedom of giving ourselves to the One who loves us. In our practice of loving obedience, we “get to” rather than “have to” practice disciplines of godliness.
So on this Septuagesima Sunday, we reflect on the joy of having God buying us with a price; bringing us into his kingdom, his vineyard of grace. We then turn our hearts toward obedience - the fact we get to serve in His kingdom, that we have the privilege of godly discipline that is characteristic of the kingdom he is establishing, the essence of the fullness of the kingdom that will come. So, come now, beloved in Christ, and receive the Supper of the Lord, the Holy Eucharist. In doing so receive in faith, receive the power of Christ to redeem and sanctify us. We have the great privilege of service, we get to serve the true King. Amen.
