Some Reflections on the Parable of the Workers

They agreed to work for a day’s wage and they worked hard for it. A days pay for a days work. But then there were some who only worked a couple hours at the same job, and they got a full days pay. Something in me has trouble with this passage in Matthew 20:1-16.

I wonder what I would say if I was at the end of the line. My imagination would be running wild. “They worked for 2 hours and got paid for 10. Do the math, that means we should get paid for like 50 hours. This is going to be awesome. Did I do that math right?” And then I would get my day’s wage, and go home disappointed thinking somehow I had been wronged, forgetting the fact that both parties fulfilled the working agreement.

If God’s grace is anything, it is unfair. But it is unfair in my favor. The difficulty comes when I start having this idea that I am somehow deserving of God’s gifts, that I am entitled to his graciousness. And in His graciousness, He forgives my arrogance and continues to give me His grace. I deserve much worse.

Whether we have served God for 80 years or 8 days, we all get the same reward, which is His Spirit here on earth and His grace and forgiveness, and our adoption as His children, and the list goes on and on. And when we die in Him, the reward is an eternal home with Him.

Salvation is based on God’s righteousness, and His alone. The best we could do is so far short of the goal it would be comparable to the success of an infant running and finishing a marathon. If I work as hard as I can my whole life for that denarii, it is still much much more than I could possibly earn. And it is God’s grace that I get to work in His fields.

May we never get to the point where we somehow think we are entitled to God’s favor, or that He owes us. He will fulfill His promises, thanks to His steadfast and unyielding love. We never deserve it. But thank God He is so unfair, because if He was fair, I would have no hope. And I hope that my heart can get to the point of always being thrilled with the exorbitant blessings I receive that far outweigh my own deservedness. And if God chooses to bless others, praise Him. The grace that has been poured out for me is available to others. May I rejoice with the 2 hour worker, because we have gotten more than we could ever ask or imagine, and certainly more than we could ever deserve. May I never begrudge God’s grace given to others.