O my soul,

What else did Jesus say about that treasure in heaven?

In fact, what is the very next thing he said? Let’s pick up where we left off.

“And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands, for my name’s sake, will receive a hundredfold and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the labourers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.”

― Matthew 19:29-30, 20:1

Did you remember this being the introduction to the parable of the labourers in the vineyard? We’d better reacquaint ourselves with that parable then!

And it starts with an agreement of a denarius a day for working in the vineyard. That was a right and true payment for a day’s work. It wasn’t riches, but it was enough to live on.

But the crux of the parable is what comes next.

And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went.

― Matthew 20:3-5a

Have you ever known an employment contract like this? How many try to nail down every last aspect of an agreement before entering into it? But here we see something else. Here we see trust. We see the new hires trusting the master of the house to do what was right and true. And as we shall see, they were not disappointed.

Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

― Matthew 20:5b-7

Look how the character of God is already shining through in this story of the master hiring labourers for his vineyard. Not only do we see one who is trustworthy and true, but we see generosity towards those in need. Did it make any difference to him whether those left idle came to join his workers, given there was so little time left to be about his work? Not in the slightest! But it made a difference to them, such a difference. So the master says, more! Let more come in to my vineyard!

And in particular with regard to employment, doesn’t this often seem to be unreasonably hard? Ought it not be straightforward to find honest and appropriate work? But it so rarely is. And there is a reason for that.

And to Adam [the Lord] said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

― Genesis 3:17-19

So we should expect work to remain hard until the end of our lives, and we have no-one but ourselves to blame for that. But notice in our parable the grace extended by the master of the house, welcoming into his employ those whom others had rejected. Such is the Father heart of God⸺a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.

Even so now we come to the crunch, the reason for the parable, and it is not pretty.

And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the labourers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’

― Matthew 20:8

Beginning with the last. Doesn’t this seem to be a constant refrain throughout Jesus’ teaching? The last will be first and the first last. We heard it twice even in these few verses. So why are so many striving to be first? Do they simply not believe Jesus?⸺the one whose name is Faithful and True.

And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you.

― Matthew 20:9-14

There’s something ugly here, and it afflicts many in the Kingdom. The ugliness is called entitlement.

And what is the source of this entitlement? Is it not in comparison and envy? Is it not in that misguided and deeply held belief, I deserve more than this, because I am better than them?

O my soul, you must notice that self-centred tendency in your own heart so you may repudiate it. Replace it with rejoicing in the goodness and generosity of the Father to all⸺each one made in the image of God, and each one deeply loved. The Father cares for each one, because each one matters to him. Each one was bought for a high price, and each one has a part to play in the Kingdom.

‘Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.

― Matthew 20:15-16

O my soul, do you begrudge the generosity of the Lord to those whom you look down upon? To those whom you count as less? To those to whom you yourself are entirely indifferent? May it not be so!

Because there is such a strong word of warning here for the begrudgers, and that word is so. Such a little word, but of such profound importance. So the last will be first, and the first last. This is the reason. This is how it happens. This is how those already richly blessed in the Kingdom find themselves with so much less than they were expecting. So much less than they thought they were entitled to. Because of that entitlement. Because of that begrudging. Because of that self-centredness.

And how is it that the last may be first? Simply by responding to the unmerited favour of the Lord with grateful and obedient hearts.

O my soul, repudiate that entitlement, rejoice in the generosity of the Father to all, and be grateful! 🙏