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Introduction and Scripture Reading
Thank you, Jesse. Turn to Matthew’s Gospel. If you don’t have a Bible, just use the one printed in the bulletin there, or you can get it on your device.
We’re looking at Matthew 20. We’re about a month away from Easter. When Jesus was living with his disciples, the closer he got to the time of the cross, his messages became more intense. There was a greater sense of weight that accompanied them.
There were specific things Jesus focused on with his disciples as he approached that season. Often, these were parables related to the Kingdom of God. He was establishing himself—much like in our modern political climate, we elect candidates based on the kind of nation or vision they present. In that same regard, Jesus is describing what kind of world, life, and place his kingdom is going to be. He’s telling us this in increasingly solemn ways the closer he gets to the cross.
Look, if you will, at Matthew 20:1-16:
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into the vineyard.
About nine in the morning, he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
He went out again at about noon and at about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon, he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
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 to the first.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius.
So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last only worked an 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.’
He answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
This is God’s word. The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of God will stand forever. Let’s pray.
Father, be with us this morning as we look at your word. Help us to understand its truth in our minds and let it captivate our senses and emotions. Lord, help us to trust in your grace and your vision for us, that we might then act in accordance with all that you have desired for us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
“That’s Not Fair!”
When my kids were young, we had a rule. I don’t know where Becky came up with this—it was certainly her idea—but we saw another parent do it and thought it was cool. When there was only one piece of cake left and everyone wanted it, the rule was: one cuts and the other picks.
We thought this was cool because, as parents, we didn’t have to referee the cake situation anymore. The one who cuts has to be incredibly meticulous because they know the other person gets to pick first. They are laser-accurate on that slice.
We taught our kids two underlying principles to help them understand how life actually operates:
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Life is not fair.
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You are not special.
The phrase I desperately never wanted to hear in my house—the one that grates on my ears even decades after my children have left—is: “That’s not fair!”
The reason I tell you that story is because Jesus, in this parable, is helping us understand the nature of the Kingdom of God. When the workers who came first hear that the workers who arrived at the eleventh hour (5:00 PM) are getting paid the same, they go: “Wait, that’s not fair!”
A Modern Parable of Merit
There was an author named Jerry Bridges who told this story as a modern parable. At the beginning of the semester, an English professor gives out the syllabus with various readings, checkpoints, and papers, with one final exam at the end to decide the grade.
Now, I was the kind of student who would go to class, but if there wasn’t attendance taken, I might slide in at the last minute. But then there were the other people—the ones dividing up the readings, going to study groups, and handing in every assignment on time.
At the end of the semester, after the exam is over, the professor hands back the grades and says: “Everybody gets an A.”
Who do you think is most angry about that situation? It’s the people who did all the work, all the extra credit, and all the assignments. We think it’s unfair because of what this parable uncovers in the human heart: I didn’t realize how much I operate on a meritorious system. We live in a system based on merit, effort, and “you get what you pay for.” A quid pro quo system. But Jesus says the Kingdom of God is not meritorious. It is a gracious system based on grace.
Why the First-Comers Grumble
The only people who get angry about this passage are the ones who think they are “first-comers.” The people who aren’t tweaked by this are the ones who showed up at 5:00 PM. They’re walking away going, “Oh my gosh! I just got a whole day’s wage for one hour of work! This is amazing!”
The first workers got exactly what they agreed to. They got what the job was worth. But when they see the landowner’s generosity toward others, they feel slighted.
If it were your field, you’d probably pay the people who worked longer more money. That’s how we are naturally built. The world tells us the strong are in and the weak are out; the productive are in and the lazy are out. But this parable tells us the humble are in and the proud are out.
Jesus isn’t inviting us to be “first” by pretending to be “last,” because that would just be another merit system. He is inviting us to simply be last. To be the person who is just happy to be there.
Comparison is Deadly
Comparison is dangerous. It is deadly. Peter asked the same thing. After Jesus tells Peter how he will suffer and die, Peter looks at the disciple John and asks, “Well, what about him?”
Christian tradition says Peter was eventually crucified upside down at his own request, feeling unworthy to die as his Lord did. John, meanwhile, lived to a grand old age on an island. Jesus told Peter, “If I want him to remain until I come again, that’s my business.”
He’s telling Peter the same thing as the parable: the Kingdom of Heaven is about the humble. The humble person—the “wretch on the corner” who has been doing nothing all day—isn’t wondering what everyone else is getting. They are just stunned to be included.
Everything is a Gift
Everything about this parable is a gift. The landowner clearly has wealth and intentionally goes out five times to find workers. He doesn’t just put a sign up; he goes out himself. He is the one bearing the load to find people.
Even for the 6:00 AM workers, it was a gift. If the landowner hadn’t gone down to the docks to hire them, they wouldn’t have had work that day.
Unless you see your life as a gift, you will struggle with suffering, grief, and loss. When something is taken away, our first reaction is often, “Wait a minute! I paid my dues! I did my best! I didn’t deserve this!”
But when we realize that even our children, our health, and our very lives are gifts from God, we can pray like the woman who lost her young child: “Lord, she was a gift. She was yours to begin with, she was yours when she was mine, and now she is yours again. I surrender back the gift.”
How can God be generous when we lose something? I don’t have all the answers. That’s why we have the Psalms and the language of lament. But lament teaches us that God’s lack of “fairness” in our eyes isn’t because he isn’t generous. Look at the landowner—he is extravagantly, almost recklessly generous.
Until we see ourselves as the “5:00 PM worker”—the one who deserves nothing but receives everything—we won’t be able to live joyfully and peacefully. The problem isn’t the parable; it’s the reader. We think we aren’t “any old wretch”—we think we’re special.
When you realize you’re already in the gutter, you can’t look down on anyone else. That is the nature of the Kingdom. That is the grace of God.
Thank you, Lord, for your grace that levels our thinking and the playing field of our power. When we live in a world of comparison, we are only happy when we are “right” or “winning.” But when you tell us the proud are out and the humble are in, it cuts away at our self-achievement. Show us our real selves and give us the generous grace you provide. In Jesus’ name, Amen.