Topsy-Turvy

Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off. 

And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 

So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ 

He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:1-16)

Some of us might think we don’t merit love.  We don’t deserve it.  Those who criticize or condemn us consider us to be last, not to be valued due our social status, our place in the pecking order.   

Jesus tells us we are all equally deserved of love, and those who say otherwise will be last.  In other words, we all deserve and receive “equal pay” regardless of when we appear in the vineyard for work, especially when we don’t appear early or at all because we feel unworthy and unloved – rejected by others, including our family members.

Our God is generous with love, and we must not think otherwise.  We simply need “to work for one hour,” that is, believe we are worthy, even if that belief is weak and fleeting.  We will be among the ranks of the first with those who deny us being with the last.  It’s topsy-turvy to be sure, but God’s ways are right, just, and based on love.

Deacon David Pierce