Jesus said, For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers...After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour... the sixth hour... the ninth hour, ... the eleventh hour he ... found others standing. ... He said to them, You go into the vineyard too. And when evening came, [he] said to his foreman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages... Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them ... received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us ... he replied to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. ... So the last will be first, and the first last. Matthew 20:1-16 We are very much like the disgruntled workers. We think weve earned something from God because we think weve done the best we can at keeping Gods law. We look askance at the person in church who has lived a less than perfect life. We think weve earned what they cannot. Jesus tells us God gives forgiveness equally to all. We dont like it. It doesnt seem fair. And yet, thank God he isnt fair. For none of us deserves to be paid anything from God except his anger and punishment. We can see it is true in our attitudes and unwillingness to accept those who are different. If God were fair we would all spend eternity in hell. God isnt fair. He sent Jesus to suffer and die for us and bring us forgiveness. We need it, just the same as any sinner in the pew
Posted on: Sat, 02 Nov 2013 10:11:02 +0000
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