In this sermon preached by Piero Gorriti, we place two unsettling kingdom parables side by side: the laborers in the vineyard and the parable of the talents. Though they seem to operate by opposite logics—one dismantling our sense of fairness, the other confronting our fear of risk—both expose the same underlying issue: the subtle enthronement of self. Set within the final days of Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem, these stories reveal an upside-down kingdom where entitlement, comparison, control, and self-preservation are unmasked as false sources of identity and security. The reactions of the early workers and the third servant show how what appears culturally reasonable can still be rebellion when it is rooted in certainty rather than faith.

This sermon calls us to examine how resentment, envy, fear, disengagement, and risk-avoidance reveal who or what we truly worship. In contrast, Christ is revealed as the generous Master—enthroned through radical obedience to the Father and sacrificial love—who invites His servants into a life of faithful surrender and joyful trust. The Gospel dethrones both self-actualized entitlement and self-preserved false humility, calling us to invest our time, talents, and treasure for the expansion of God’s kingdom. As we reflect on where we have invested—or buried—what God has entrusted to us, we are invited to hear the Master’s gracious call: “Well done, good and faithful servant… enter into the joy of your master.”