"StackingToy" by fullcrimp, on Flickr

Ezekiel 18:25-32
Yet you say, "The way of the LORD is unfair." Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; for the iniquity that they have committed they shall die. Again, when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Because they considered and turned away from all the transgressions that they had committed, they shall surely live; they shall not die. Yet the house of Israel says, "The way of the LORD is unfair." O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, all of you according to your ways, says the Lord GOD. Repent and turn from all your transgressions; otherwise iniquity will be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed against me, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord GOD. Turn, then, and live.

Philippians 2:12-13
Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Matthew 21:28-32
[Jesus said], "What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him."

--
We are two months away from Sam's first birthday, and he is blessed with loving and doting grandparents and aunts...who are already asking about gift ideas.

In my attempts to put together a birthday list for him, I find myself drawn to things like colorful nesting bowls, stacking rings and stacking towers, and shape sorters, where you have to fit the right shape block through the corresponding hole in the box. Maybe it's my type-A personality coming through, but I have definitely gravitated toward toys that involve putting things in order and getting things in the right place.

Now, Sam will probably take a set of stacking rings and chew on half of them, throw a few of them at the cats, and maybe fit one or two rings back on the base, but with no regard for anything but getting them on there. And I'll be that mom who, when tidying up before bed, will collect all the rings, and put them back on the base in the correct order, from biggest to smallest, in rainbow order.

In last week's gospel, we heard Jesus say that "the first will be last and the last will be first," which, if we are comparing the kingdom of God to a set of stacking rings, might mean that the rings get stacked from smallest to largest, from violet back to red.

In today's gospel, we get yet another picture of the order of things in God's kingdom, and it's even messier. It's the difference between leaving the rings scattered around the room or putting the rings back on the base, in whatever order.

Jesus tells a parable about two sons. The first, when asked by his father to go work in the vineyard, says "no, I don't think so," but later changes his mind and goes out to work. The second, when asked by his father to go, says "sure thing, Dad!" but then didn't go after all. And Jesus asks the religious leaders, "Which is the picture of faithfulness?"

We know the answer that Jesus is fishing for here. The "winner" of the parable (if we put it so bluntly) is the son who changed his mind and went out to work.

In the same way, Jesus says, the faithful are all those who hear God's message of mercy and call to repentance and change their ways from sinfulness toward seeking God's will.

If this means that prostitutes and tax collectors and adulterers and drug addicts and bullies and crooks who repent end up first in line, ahead of religious leaders and "good" people and regular worship attenders who don't see their need for repentance, so be it.

It's not the usual order of things. We're used to being sorted by our accomplishments and by our work ethic and even by our morals and values. We're used to being stacked up from best to worst. We probably also function believing that not all rings are worth adding to the stack in the first place. But in the kingdom of God, we are stacked up not in order of relative sinfulness, but by our willingness to heed the Spirit's call to repentance, by our willingness to see ourselves as sinners in need of forgiveness.

I'm not sure which is the more uncomfortable thought - that even tax collectors and dirtbags will be gathered up from the floor and stacked back up, or that we ourselves might be stacked up right next to them on the post, big rings smushed together next to small rings, yellow rings next to purple rings next to red rings, big sins and little sins on top of each other, all out of order.

It's not quite fair. And as it turns out, God doesn't really care so much about fairness, at least not fairness as we would understand it.

From our first reading from Ezekiel:

You say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair? When the righteous turn away from their righteousness and commit iniquity, they shall die for it; when the wicked turn away from the wickedness they have committed and do what is lawful and right, they shall save their life. Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is unfair.” O house of Israel, are my ways unfair? Is it not your ways that are unfair?

Oh my friends, I know that I struggle with God's definition of "fairness."

I know that I'm not that guy who, disgruntled, set fire to the basement of an air traffic control center outside Chicago, effectively shutting down two major airports for the weekend. And I know that I am not the target of a manhunt in Pennsylvania after shooting to state troopers. I know that I have not punched out my girlfriend in an elevator. I know that I am not a violent religious fanatic and terrorist in Syria.

Like Jonah in last week's readings, like the house of Israel in today's reading from Ezekiel, I balk at the knowledge that God is gracious, and that he will show mercy to all who repent.

I really want only the "right" rings to fit back onto that base, and I want them on there in the "right" order. I want to believe that I am a better version of a sinner than other worse sinners, and even if I can make peace with the idea that God will forgive all who repent, I still wish that I'd get a little extra credit, a better place in line.

In our Lutheran liturgy, our worship has the option of opening with either Confession & Forgiveness or Thanksgiving for Baptism. Liturgically, they serve the same function. They are both rites that remind us of God's mercy in Christ. Baptism, as a dying to sin and a rising to Christ, is the same sort of reminder of our sinfulness and God's forgiveness as praying our confession and hearing absolution.

But I think there is a reason that I gravitate toward using the Thanksgiving for Baptism. I'm much more comfortable being assured of God's mercy swirling in the baptismal waters than I am standing up and having to take stock of my own brokenness when we read the prayer of Confession together.

I don't like having to admit that I'm captive to sin. I don't like admitting that my whole person is capable of straying from God's will - thought, word, and deed. I don't like admitting that I'm just as broken in the things that I have left undone as in the wayward things that I've actively done.

But this time of confession and reflection is a great equalizer, isn't it? When we speak it, we come to grips with our own need for grace, and are reminded that our neighbors, both in these pews and outside thee walls, are also in need of grace.

And if it's unfair that Christ on the cross might have died for the sinfulness of big-time, super-bad sinners, then it's just as unfair that Christ on the cross might have died for me and my own sins and strayings.

Paul writes to the Philippians, "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure."

Working out our salvation with fear and trembling means allowing ourselves to face our shortcomings in order that we might be humble enough to give God credit for whatever good fruit we bear in faith.

Working out our salvation with fear and trembling means letting ourselves be shattered, each week (and each day, even!), by the truth that we are broken, and then letting God put all of our pieces back together with the assurance of our forgiveness in Christ.

Working out our salvation with fear and trembling means trusting God's hands to pick us up and stack us in his kingdom alongside all whom God loves.

Because at the end of the day, God doesn't care about whatever lip-service we might pay to him. He doesn't care how many religious books we've read or how many worship notes we've turned in.

He only cares about the Spirit moving in us to spark faith, seeing ourselves as sinners in need of Christ's redeeming. And whether we feel this call to repentance early in the game or late in the game, whether we have big, momentous sins in our past or whether we are suffering the sin version of "death by a thousand paper cuts," God is quick to redeem all who seek forgiveness. God does not withhold grace from those who feel broken.

May you hear anew today the good news that there is forgiveness and mercy waiting for you. May you continue to feel God's Spirit moving in your heart, the power of God at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

For God in Christ says to you and to me, "Don't fall into despair. I will give you a new heart and a new spirit! I will stack you back up and put you back in order. Turn to me and live."