Matthew 20:1-12 NLT
"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. [2] He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. [3] "At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. [4] So he hired them, telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. [5] So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o'clock he did the same thing. [6] "At five o'clock that afternoon he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, 'Why haven't you been working today?' [7] "They replied, 'Because no one hired us.' "The landowner told them, 'Then go out and join the others in my vineyard.' [8] "That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last workers first. [9] When those hired at five o'clock were paid, each received a full day's wage. [10] When those hired first came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. [11] When they received their pay, they protested to the owner, [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.'
When I read this parable do I find myself agreeing with those workers who had worked a full day?
It doesn't feel right that those who had worked only a few hours should be paid the same wage as the full-time ones.
We think with our worldly mindset, don't we?
Jesus tells the story to try and illustrate God's Kingdom - the same Lord who said:
Romans 9:15-16 NLT
For God said to Moses, "I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose." [16] So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.
Are those first workers like those who come to know Jesus at a very young age and give themselves to serving Jesus all their lives compared to someone who has a "death bed conversion"?
Is it fair that they all receive the same grace?
Jesus goes on with the story:
Matthew 20:13-15 NLT
"He answered one of them, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair! Didn't you agree to work all day for the usual wage? [14] Take your money and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. [15] Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others?'
It isn't "fair" that any of us get into Heaven. If God was to be just and fair we would all be damned and shut out of The Kingdom of Heaven.
For everyone is undeserving of grace, or it wouldn't be grace.
We only get in because of God's kindness shown in Jesus' payment of our wages - He paid our death penalty.
Whether we've sinned a lot or a little we all need the grace of God.
Don't ask for your wages, but plead for God's grace and kindness.
Father God help me to see myself and others through the lens of Your Grace and Mercy at the Cross of Jesus...
Mercy there was great and grace was free
Pardon there was multiplied to me
There my burdened soul found liberty
At Calvary
Comments