One day a rich young ruler came running up to Jesus and asked, “What must I do to be saved?” Jesus answered, “Keep the law.” “I did that,” the young ruler answered. Jesus then responded, “Go and sell all that you have, and give it to the poor. Then come follow me.” We are told that the young man walked away sorrowfully.
When the disciples saw what happened, they were disturbed. Jewish tradition had always taught them that God had especially blessed rich people, and that is why the young ruler was rich. Peter then asked, “Lord, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?”
In other words, “What is in this for us, Lord? Where is justice here? How do we stand to profit?” In response to the question of Peter, Jesus then told this parable:
There was this landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard, and agreed with the laborers to pay each of them a denarius for the day. About the third hour, he went back to the marketplace, and said to some men, “You, too, go into the vineyard, and whatever is right, I will give you.” The landowner went back to the marketplace three more times to recruit more laborers. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages.” The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came first, and each received a denarius. When those hired earliest in the day came, they thought they would receive more; but they also received each one a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner, saying, “These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.” But the landowner answered them, “I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Are you envious because I am generous?”
I know that a parable has only one point. Nevertheless, let me share with you two things I learned from this parable: First, I noticed that the workers would have been perfectly happy if they had not played the comparison game. They compared what they were paid with those of the others, and then they were dissatisfied.
Comedian Dennis Miller puts it this way: “Remember how good you felt when your neighbor’s house got struck by lightening because he got the new satellite dish?”
I think most of us are perfectly content with what we have–until we compare what we have with what someone else has.
Gilbert Brim wrote a book with the simple title Ambition
Second — and I think this is the main point of the parable to Peter and to others–Salvation is granted to us by God’s grace. We cannot earn our salvation. I think this kind of concept goes against the grain of our natural expectation.
How could this landowner pay to those who came at 5 in the afternoon the same amount as he pays to those who started in the fields at 8 in the morning and who worked till sundown?
For many of us, it mocks our logical sense of justice and fairness. We have been taught that one gets something directly in proportion to that which one puts in it. That is why we are taught to work hard.
We often have a deep feeling of outrage when we see people getting what they don’t deserve. When we see those senators getting lots of money from the government for personal reasons, we really get angry. When we see people getting paid without working hard, while we have to work hard to get paid, we get angry. It makes us angry when we hear of a teacher who spends 60 hours a week working, and is given the same adjustment as the teacher who does not prepare his syllabus. We get angry when another student gets good grades without studying just because he is a friend of the teacher. It is not fair; it is not just. And in a world of tenure and seniority, it goes against our grain when we hear Jesus say, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.”
However, Jesus is saying in this parable that God’s grace is not based upon what is fair according to our worldly standard, but rather what helps.
Using this parable, Jesus assured his disciples that they will be well-rewarded for their services. They will be welcomed into the kingdom of God, given eternal life, and have a hundredfold.
However, the parable also suggests that the blessings and rewards of God are not measured according to the length of time we have served God. The blessings of God’s peace, the hope of God’s grace, the promise of life everlasting, the joy of forgiveness, the fruits of the spirit are given to those who will receive them. And those who come late to the table do not get less of the Lord’s Table than those who have fed there all their lives.
And certainly in the light of the long story of the Christian faith, for most of us, we ought to find ourselves rejoicing in this story for we are those who have come to the vineyard late in the day, and thus, find ourselves blessed by the generosity of God.
A story is told about a man who died, and went to heaven. St. Peter meets him at the Pearly gates and said, “Here’s how it works. You need 100 points to make it to heaven. You tell me all the good things you’ve done, and I give you a certain number of points for each item, depending on how good it was. When you reach 100 points, you get in.” “Okay,” the man says: “I was married for 55 years and never cheated on my wife.” “That is wonderful, that is worth five points” says St. Peter. “I served the church for 20 years, giving my tithe, supported its ministries.” “That is terrific. That is worth three points.” “Three points? Well, I worked in a shelter for homeless.” “Fantastic, that is good for two more points,” he says. “Two points!” The man cries, “At this rate, the only way to get into heaven is by the grace of God!” St. Peter smiled, “There’s your 100 points! Come on in!”
I know this is just a story. But just like the parable, it points to us that it is only by the grace of God that we are saved. Sometimes in life that may seem to be unfair or unjust. But if grace were fair, it would not be grace, would it?
The Psalmist tells us that God’s wonderful works is more than our human understanding. And St. Paul in his letter to the Church in Ephesus said, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God–not the result of works, so that no one may boast.”
God gave up on salvation by the book, and quit keeping score about 2,000 years ago, gathered up all our IOUs, marked them “Paid in full,” and we nailed them to the cross of Calvary. The only way to “get saved” is to accept the invitation to the party, and let God be as generous with grace, as God wants to be.
I guess in the end, it comes down to this: we can demand to get what we deserve, or we can place ourselves totally at the mercy of a loving, gracious, and extravagant God. I don’t know about you, but I’m taking the extravagant grace of God.
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Author’s email: sillimanuniversitychurch@gmail.com
