By Allen White
“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 his 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 about noon and 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 on 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 worked only one 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.’
“But 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 I gave 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.” Matthew 20:1-16
Why should people who don’t work as hard or don’t work as long be paid the same as people who’ve worked so hard all day? If two people had the same job today and one was paid less than the other, we would call this discrimination. If someone was paid the same for doing far less work, we would label it favoritism. There is an unfairness to this scenario that is a little hard to live with.
When you think about this unfairness, it extends well into our spiritual lives. Some of us have been Christians as long as we can remember, while others might come to Christ on their death beds. Why is it that a life-long commitment to Christ seems to get the same reward in Heaven as a last-minute decision?
Shouldn’t life-long Christians be entitled to larger mansions or better seats at the table? After all, they’ve worked all of their lives to serve Christ, right? It would be unfair to give them the same reward as these Johnny-come-latelies.
For those who are keeping score, let’s review the concept of fairness in our spiritual lives. Every person who’s ever lived has sinned (Romans 3:23). The fair thing for God to do is to punish our sin with death (Romans 6:23). When it comes to our eternity, we don’t want fairness. We all want mercy.
Whether you’ve worked hard to live a good life or have partied hard and didn’t care, God’s grace is sufficient for each of us. Our good work amounts to nothing. When it comes to the things of God, we don’t want rewards, we need grace.
As believers, we should rejoice every time someone makes a decision to follow God, even if it’s at the 11th hour. If we can’t celebrate someone crossing from death unto life, then our attitude is “Well, they can just go to Hell. That’s what they deserve for the way they’ve lived their lives.” And, that’s what we deserve as well.
Rather than begrudging God’s patience with someone else, we should be grateful for God’s patience in our lives. God has a plan for us. God has a plan for them.
If we are jealous of people who seem to sin more and get away with it, then maybe we should sin more. Let’s see where that gets us. Maybe we haven’t accumulated enough regrets yet.
Where do you struggle with this idea of fairness? How are you tempted to prove you’re more deserving in your relationship with God than others might be? God’s grace is sufficient, even for our bad attitudes.
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