Generosity in God's Kingdom

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Empowering the Needy

Matthew 20:1-15

The Message

A Story About Workers

 ^1-2 "God's kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work. ^3-5"Later, about nine o'clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.  ^5-6"He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o'clock. At five o'clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, 'Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?'
 ⁷"They said, 'Because no one hired us.'
   "He told them to go to work in his vineyard.
 ⁸"When the day's work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, 'Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.'
 ^9-12"Those hired at five o'clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, 'These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.'
 ^13-15"He replied to the one speaking for the rest, 'Friend, I haven't been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn't we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can't I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?

For Reflection
Did the estate manager hire just to get work done?  I'm sure that is what the first workers thought.  Surely the manager did not expect the second and third hires to get as much work done.  Why did he hire them?  What was his objective?  How is one's need different from one's want.  How is God's sense of fairness different?


Pray
that we hesitate to make God into our own image.  Pray that in God's kingdom all are acceptable at equal value.  Pray that you see all people as equal in the sight of God.