March 20, 2012

Matthew 20:1-16

“God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went. He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?' They said, 'Because no one hired us.' He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.' Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 'These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.'He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?'

Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first."

And this is why Jesus is my right hand man:D lol. Here He tells a parable of basically and employer who pays the same wages to those who start working early in the morning to those who started later on at night. So, of course these men get upset because they think it’s unfair, but is it really? If you agreed to receive a certain wage at the end of the day and someone decides to extend that same wage to someone else, who are you to get angry? It’s not your money and, in the words of my father, it’s none of your business! Lol.

God extends His grace to whom He wills, when He wills. Don’t get upset at God for His generosity. Also, don’t get upset at those who are more generous than you. If there’s one thing I notice time and time again, it’s that people get upset at other people for extending a courtesy that they themselves could not bring themselves to do. You are your own person and so are they. Same goes for Jesus in this case. So, don’t get upset at Jesus for accepting the laborers at any time of the day. It’s probably through this courtesy that you or your family got extended the grace to enter the kingdom of God. Now, aren’t you glad He pays the same rate? :-)