In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. Amen. A homily written by Fr. Doug Sangster

In the movie "Traffic" Robert Wakefield, played by Michael Douglas, is a prominent federal judge. He's appointed to serve as the national Drug Czar. It's his job to combat drug trafficking.  But Wakefield has a problem. He's both angered and embarrassed when he realizes that his prep school daughter, has fallen headlong into the drug culture. Consequently, father and daughter become alienated after repeated confrontations.  She leaves home and becomes so overwhelmed by drugs that she becomes a ghetto prostitute. Time passes and the father realizes his love for his daughter is greater than his anger. So, he lowers himself into the ghetto to look for his little girl. But she's so saturated with drugs she can't even call for help.  

When the father finally finds her room, he throws out her latest customer. Then with a broken heart, he embraces his glassy eyed daughter and weeps over her.  

This morning we're going consider the nature of God's love. The movie "Traffic" is something of a parable suggesting that God's love is unconditional. According to the Scriptures, our Lord's mercy and grace come with no strings attached. For some of us, this is a problem. In our culture of work and wages, buying and selling, it's sometimes hard for us to imagine that God's love is free.

Many people have a strict, economic view of love. They believe God operates on a merit system. They believe if you're good, you should receive a reward. If you make a mistake, you deserve to be punished. According to these people, there are no ifs ands or buts. When it comes to love, it's lex talionis, tit for tat, and an eye for an eye. Those who aren't perfect deserve to be punished.

This type of wrong-headed thinking saturates our world. Many people say to themselves, "I'm worthy of love because I've been a good person," or "Because of my past mistakes, I'll never be able to earn God's love."

Many of these people live as though their sole purpose in life is to become worthy of God's love. They spend their days performing for Him. They see the world as a stage where they can earn what they get. Their good behavior earns them a reward to be proud of. In turn, their bad behavior warrants stern punishment and ensuing shame.

This morning, God is calling us to set aside this crippling system of merit. To fully comprehend His unconditional love for us, our skewed thinking about acceptance and love must be scrapped and thrown on the trash heap.

God's love is scandalous. It's not fair. It's not right. It's shocking. It's offensive. It undermines what we've come to accept as just and equitable.

Do you remember the parable of the vineyard workers? It's a story designed to upset good people who believe they deserve God's love. The story is recorded in Matthew 20:1-16. Some workers go out in the morning, some in the afternoon and finally a group of workers goes out in the late afternoon, just before quitting time. Then the sun begins to set. It's time to get paid.

Verse 8 tells us, "That evening he [the owner of the vineyard] told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. ⁹When those hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. ¹⁰When those hired earlier came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. ¹¹When they received their pay, they protested, ^12'Those people worked only one hour, and yet you've paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.' ¹³He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I haven't been unfair! Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? ¹⁴Take it and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. ¹⁵Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be angry because I am kind?' " (New Living Translation)

Let's be honest, this parable rubs us the wrong way. Most of us don't like the idea of someone working less and getting the same reward as us. It goes against our spiritual accounting system that's based on merit. In a lot of ways, we're like the Pharisees. We think God's love is earned by those who work the hardest.

But the parables of Jesus are a unique form of literature. They're designed to subvert and undercut our thinking. Parables are sometimes illogical so we're confused and our thinking is disrupted. This is what the story of the vineyard workers does. It causes us to stop and reconsider our view of God's unconditional love. His love can't be earned. It isn't allocated based on our behavior.

Here's another example of God's love. It's from St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians: "For by grace you are saved, through faith; and that not of yourselves: but it is a gift of God: Not of works lest any man should boast." (2:8-9). The Bible tells us that salvation is a gift from God. Can we earn a gift? Can we pay someone back for giving us a gift? If we could, it wouldn't be a gift. If you can earn God's gift of love, grace isn't grace.

Once we try to create a system to measure our worthiness, we abolish the very idea of unconditional love. But as people raised in an economic system that rewards hard work, our natural tendency is to pay God back or to impress Him by being good.

This is a distorted view of God's grace. The god who doles out love for good behavior is a calculating, cosmic accountant, who constantly enters figures in a ledger to keep track of our worth.

But this isn't the God of the Bible. Have you ever noticed while reading the Gospels that Jesus doesn't get upset at sinners? He gets angry with people who believe they're saints. He reserves His sharpest rebuke for people who think they've earned God's love by being good.

This morning, God wants us to understand that His love does not hinge on our goodness. His love hinges on His goodness. God's unconditional love is radically different from human love. Generally, human love depends upon the other person. Generally, before we love, we reason, "Is that person worthy of my love? Has that person earned my love?" That's the way we usually operate.

But God isn't like us. God's love is completely different. God's love is not determined by our inherent goodness or our innate virtue. God doesn't wait until we get it right or do it right. He loves us even though we fail miserably.

Now pause and ponder the implication of this truth: God's love is determined by God's goodness, not ours. His love is in no way dependent upon us. There's nothing about us that elicits His love. He loves simply because He's good.

Why is this so difficult for us to understand? Why is it so hard for us to believe that God loves us unconditionally? Perhaps it's too overwhelming. Perhaps His love assaults our pride. If He loves us simply because He's good and not because of our good works, that means He's not impressed by our efforts to earn His favor. Perhaps this is what prevents us from experiencing His life-changing love.

The Bible has this to say to people who are trying to earn His favor: "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us." Some people think that being loved by God is the result of being good and holy. But that's not what the Bible and the Church teach us.

The truth is this: God loved us while we were sinners. He didn't wait for us to clean up our act. He entered the ghetto to find us. That means He sent His Son to die for ugly people. He punished His Son for petty people. When did He do this? While we were yet sinners. When we were in an impossible position – when we were helpless and unable to do anything to rescue ourselves from the destruction we deserved, then He demonstrated His love for us by sacrificing Christ. No, God doesn't give us what we deserve. If He did that, we'd be destroyed. Instead, he gives what we don't deserve – His Son and unconditional grace.

Our crucified Lord is proof positive we cannot merit His love. In fact, the very thought of repaying God for the gift of His Son, is an insult. Our attempts to earn His favor amount to sleazy bartering. The sordid thinking sounds something like this, "God, send your Son to the cross to die for my sins – allow Him to be beaten and crucified for me – then I will repay you by being good." What could we ever do to repay Him for His priceless sacrifice? Nothing. We can only receive the gift of His love with humility and gratitude.

In II Samuel 7, verse 18, we have a sterling example of how we should respond to the mercy of God. God has just promised to bless Kind David. When the King hears about the love of God, he exclaims, "Who am I, O Sovereign LORD?" People who understand unconditional love, respond with this kind of astonishment. They respond with humility and gratefulness. And our response is the result not the cause of His love. In other words, we serve Him because of His love. We don't serve Him to earn it.

This is precisely the message of Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. It's a story of love and redemption. The protagonist, Jean Val Jean is forever changed when a Roman Catholic Bishop rescues him from imprisonment. After the candlestick encounter, Jean Val Jean is a new man.

And this is God's plan for All Saints. Our Lord wants us to receive His love. Revel in it. Bask in it. And most of all, be changed by it. Then tell the world there's a God who loves unconditionally. Amen