Sunday 21 September 2008
- Bible Book:
- Matthew
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire labourers for his vineyard ... When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the labourers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first'." (v.1, 8)
Background
This parable is set just after Jesus' encounter with the richyoung man who asked what he must do to have eternal life and thenwent away grieving when Jesus told him to sell his possessions andgive the money to the poor. Not for the first time the disciplesstarted to get hopeful and curious about their own position. Afterall, they had left everything for Jesus.
"What then will we have?" Peter had already asked and Jesus assuredthem "Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or fatheror mother or children or fields, for my name's sake, will receive ahundredfold, and will inherit eternal life" (Matthew 19:29).
This sounds good, but Jesus added a cutting proviso before theycould so much as rub their hands together in anticipation... "Butmany who are first will be last, and the last will be first" (verse30). The parable of the vineyard from today's passage follows ondirectly and explains what it might mean for "the last to befirst".
In saying this Jesus wants to guard the disciples, or anyone else,against pride and expectation based on being among the 'first' withJesus or in any privileged group. Imagine the headlines if thisparable were worked out in public welfare policy: 'Impossible!''The state will be bankrupt!' 'It is not fair, they have only justarrived!'
The point is not that God is less than fair with those who havebeen working all day, but that God is much more than fair (as theworld sees such things) with the ones who were left in the marketwithout work. From what we know of Jesus we should not be surprisedthat his riches are not just 'pie in the sky when we die', but thereal stuff we need to live now.
But no parable gives a simple rulebook or policy edict. That is nothow parables work. Instead they provoke us to examine ourselves andour world with Jesus' eyes, and lead us into relationship withhim.
To Ponder
With whom do you identify in this parable?
With whom would you want to share this parable intoday's world? Why?
To what extent do you agree with the parable?