An Unearned Gift – Matthew 20

A text – Matthew 20:1-16

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
20:2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
20:3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace;
20:4 and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
20:5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same.
20:6 And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’
20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
20:8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’
20:9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.
20:10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage.
20:11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner,
20:12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
20:13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?
20:14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you.
20:15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
20:16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

A reflection:

Many of the most interesting encounters between Jesus and his disciples center around Jesus explaining things from God’s point of view when the disciples are thinking of things from a human point of view. Just recently we had the text about Jesus telling the 12 about the fact that he would have to die, Peter rebuking him, saying, Lord this must not happen, and Jesus saying Peter was thinking earthly thoughts, not heavenly ones.

This parable about the hourly workers, the laborers in the vineyard, brings up a similar conversation: the laborers grumble because those that worked longest were paid the same as those who did not. Their argument makes sense to us – we ourselves have probably been in a similar argument at some point in our lives. Never mind the fact that when there is urgent work to be done at harvest time or in an emergency, workers sometimes earn extra for being there at the right time and place. And if it were all about fairness, verse 13 should cover God’s side of the argument: “Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?” In other words, you have not been cheated out of a dime.

But Jesus’s point is that it is the immense generosity of God that is resented by the workers. That God chooses to give to the last ones hired the same wage as he gives to the first hired – that is what is being complained about. Verse 15 is eloquent: “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” Yes. That explains it. We are envious because God is generous.

It is the Prodigal Son story all over again. Or Joseph’s brothers getting saved and lavished upon when they in truth had left their brother to die. Or in fact Jesus’s dying in order to save us from eternal death. Jesus’s dying for us is very lavish indeed.

We seem to prefer thinking that heaven will be our reward, our payment for putting in our time on earth as good people. And we don’t want bad people to reap the same reward. We want to earn heaven for ourselves. But that is not the kind of God we have. God really really wants to be generous to those who do not expect generosity, who have indeed NOT earned it. In fact, the instant that we truly believe we have earned heaven, we have proved we do not deserve the gift that God has died to give us. God is allowed to do that. For that generosity and so much more, we praise God.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for being generous. Never change. Help us to learn that you are simply good, and we cannot earn that. It is a gift you give. Even to us.  Amen.