The parable of the vineyard workers is something I struggle with everyday in my real life job day to day. I recently one year ago quit contracting, which I had been doing for 12 years, to work at Mississippi Power. I feel whole heartedly that God has led me there at this stage in my life and has blessed me mightily in my walk with God since I have been there. What I struggle with everyday is knowing that the contractors that come in to do the same work as us are making double the money. I know this because I used to be that contractor. I don’t always handle this with the maturity that I should. I often complain to the guys I work with and point out how the ones doing the same job as us are getting paid a better wage and getting more hours than us. It doesn’t ever make sense to me. This parable is kind of the same. Their of three stages of hiring in this parable. Some got hired at the first of the day, some got hired at around lunch time, and some got hired at the end of the day to do the same job. As the workers got paid their wage at the end of the day that they had agreed too, the workers that worked the longest and hardest complained because it made no sense to them that they would work harder for the same pay. The land owner that is paying the workers in this story represents salvation from God in our lives today. In our flesh it is natural to think that our good works and how much time we give to the Lord should somehow be the thing that gets us to heaven but it doesn’t. God’s grace and mercy makes no sense to us. The 10 year old that gives his life to Jesus and lives his whole life for God is going to go to heaven just the same as the rapist who gets saved on their death bed right before he dies. In our eyes this makes no sense. The thief on the cross beside Jesus that cried out for Jesus right before he died is in heaven just the same as Jesus’s disciples. This picture shows us how prideful and self righteous we become in this world. There is nothing you or I can do without the power of God’s mercy and grace to save anyone. God doesn’t need us but he uses us. Through faith and faith alone, God gives us the power of his Holy Spirit and gives us a new heart to want his will over ours in this world. We must always be careful not to characterize ourselves as somehow better than other people because of our works. Jesus died on that cross for every single person just the same. When you look around this week try to look at everyone you meet as a child of God that Jesus died for instead of what your mind tries to categorize people as. In this world we are going to fight against our flesh until we draw our last breath. The only way we battle it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that we gain through confessing Jesus as Lord. Love y’all! Have a great day!
Matthew 20:1-16
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Parable Of The Vineyard Workers “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the workers on one denarius, he sent them into his vineyard for the day. When he went out about nine in the morning, he saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He said to them, ‘You also go into my vineyard, and I’ll give you whatever is right.’ So off they went. About noon and about three, he went out again and did the same thing. Then about five he went and found others standing around and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing? ’ “ ‘Because no one hired us,’ they said to him. “ ‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he told them. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.’ “When those who were hired about five came, they each received one denarius. So when the first ones came, they assumed they would get more, but they also received a denarius each. When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner: ‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day’s work and the burning heat.’ “He replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius? Take what’s yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what is mine? Are you jealous because I’m generous? ’ , “So the last will be first, and the first last.”
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