Workers in the Vineyard
In an effort to pull comments onto my blog instead of my Facebook posted link, I’m going to defer my response to comments to the blog.
First of all, these were the comments received on the last post:
“I thought that the point of that parable was not that everyone was payed equally, but that the employer had such a big heart that he was willing to give beyond what many of them deserved.”
“So true….I’m thankful God doesn’t give us what we deserve….but instead gives us His Mercy.”
Now, while these aren’t incorrect, I do not agree. But, for backup, here’s the passage for us all. I know that I re-read it after the comments and tried to look hard at the meaning.
Matthew 20:1-16
1″For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3″About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7″ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8″When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9″The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12′These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13″But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16″So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Now, I don’t think that this parable is showing the God’s “mercy,” but I do think that it’s showing God’s judgement and fairness. The main idea of the parable is our salvation, and I know that in my last post I tied it to Socialism, but think about it.
Everyone joins Christ at different stages in life, and just because you accepted Jesus when you were 2 years old, worked in a soup kitchen feeding the homeless on the weekends while volunteering in your church 40 hours a week, and ministering to drug dealers every night doesn’t mean that in God’s eyes you are any more or any less special than the gang-member who got shot in a gun fight and gives his life up to Christ in a moment of utter desperation, having nowhere else to turn.
Personally, I’ve struggled with this passage a lot. It’s not fair. There have been moments in my life where I question why I didn’t just go off and have fun. The reward is the same in the end. The answer for me was motivation.
I don’t think this passage actually shows God’s mercy and grace as much as it may seem. The people who got there first thing in the morning and worked all day were mad. They expected that he would give them more than he had said. It is our own judgement about what the people hired in the last minutes of the day “deserved.” I believe that Jesus was trying to tell us that our understanding is wrong. His judgement is what he says it is. It is fair. He has promised us Heaven. You’re not going to get more than you signed up for, nor any less. You’re getting Heaven at the end of your “shift.”
I think that our understanding of this is probably exactly like the workers that started in the morning. It doesn’t seem like they deserve the same treatment, and I don’t think it’s “mercy” or grace that allows God to do it. He’s simply fulfilling his promise to those who accept Him.
So, to recap: If you’re hired for God’s work early do your job, it’s what you were hired for. If you see someone else get the job at the end of the day… he’s still getting the same pay. That’s just how God rolls.
I welcome discussion… just do it here.
