Matthew 20
Parable of the Vineyard Workers
“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[a] 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.’
13 “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?’
I went into the Junior High Sunday school this past Sunday morning cause John Penry was teaching [me and my friend sarah go in there when he's teaching, we've known him for a while so we like to go in there and see him when we can] and he decided to teach on this scripture. So he had a student read all of it then he asked us this question: Why did the people who only worked for the end of the day get paid as much as the people who worked all day long?? And when he asked that question none of us had an answer. I re-read through the parable again, and i still didn't have an answer. Cause it just doesn't make sense. Then my friend, Sarah, made the statement, "But that's just not fair". And it really isn't fair to the other workers. They worked hard. They worked for a long time. And the others just worked for the end of the day.... So here i am, sitting at my desk thinking about this whole parable and thinking about why the landowner wasn't fair to the workers that worked the longest. At the beginning of the chapter it says how "the kingdom of Heaven is like this...." So that makes the landowner God.. Where is God unfair? How is God making our lives unfair? Well God is making our lives unfair in every way! That may seem weird, but hear me out. God is always making our lives unfair, and it's only for our advantage. If life were fair then we would all being going to hell. That's all there is to it. There's no way that i can say it and make it sound nice. It's the truth. If life were fair, then we would all be going to hell. But luckily God is unfair to us, and when we sin he gives us grace- By no means does that mean that we can sin and get away with it. God will still punish us for our sins, it's just that He chooses to forgive us. But the more i think about it, the more i realize that i take advantage of the grace that God gives me! I've taken advantage of the sacrifice that was made. And i take advantage of the blood that was shed, just so that i can be forgiven. How many times in your life do things go wrong and you blame it on God, or you assume that God doesn't have your best interest in mind? Well, for me this happens too often. It's almost as if i recieve grace willingly, but i won't give grace willingly. It wasn't the workers fault that they weren't picked to work at the beginning of the day.... But i kindof got off track a lil' :P Back to the question that was asked: Why did the people who only worked for the end of the day get paid as much as the people who worked all day long?? And the general consenses of the whole class was: It doesn't matter how much time you're given. It's just matter what you do with that time. The people who were hired at the end of the day still worked hard with the time they had. It wasn't their fault they weren't picked at the beginning of the day. So they still worked as hard as they could for as long as they were able to. Like, if someone was dying but they accepted Christ minutes before they died they still get into Heaven. Just like someone who accepted Christ when they were young. It doesn't matter how much time you have, it's just what you do with the time you're given.
So yeah. There's so many more things i could say about this. But this is all i'm gonna post for now(:
~RDanaeJ
"But the beauty of grace is that it makes life not fair." -Relient K
