Matthew records many parables between the Mount of Transfiguration and the Crucifixion.  This Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard is a tale of God’s abundant mercy and grace.  Jesus tells of a landowner who goes and looks for people to work in his vineyard. He finds some early, some mid-morning, some mid-day, and some late afternoon.  When the workday is done, he pays them all the same.  Those who worked from the early morning were upset that the landowner paid them the same daily wage as those who came late.  The landowner points out that being generous with those he wishes is his prerogative. 

When reflecting that at the very beginning, Jesus tells us the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner, we see that this is how God is with those of us who come to Him.  Some of us come early in life, some in our early adulthood, others later at mid-life, and others later in life.  But God, in His Grace and Mercy, treats us all the same, welcomes us all the same, and rewards us all the same.  It would be easy for those who came early to say to those who came late that they don’t deserve the same reward or to complain to God about the inequity of His generosity. 

But what standing do we have to complain that any of us are welcomed into God’s Heavenly Kingdom?  Our salvation is utterly dependent on God’s grace made possible by Christ’s death upon the cross.  For all of us have sinned against God, and none of us are worthy of salvation but have earned eternal punishment; but God who is both just and gracious allowed He who never sinned to become sin so that He could substitute Himself for us and bear our punishment.  If He chooses to reward us all, those who came early and those who came in late in life, by welcoming us into His eternal presence, it is merely Grace upon Grace!

So let us give thanks to God who is merciful, for He has redeemed us from our sin! He has given us the gift of His Son. So let us live in this life and the life to come for Him! 

Peace,

Burt