This week’s reading is from Matt 20:1-16. Jesus told the story about the workers who worked a different amount of hours but at the end of the day they all received the same pay! This made the workers who worked all day mad. They felt that it wasn’t FAIR that people who worked less than they did got the same amount of money that they did. It didn’t matter that they got what they had been promised. It didn’t matter that the money was the landowner’s to spend however he pleased. Somehow, they DESERVED better, because the other workers had worked less than they had. I love this story because it reveals the heart of God in such a shocking way.
Jesus is letting us know that when it comes to rewards, He is not fair. He often gives people MORE than what they deserve. He won’t ever short change anyone. Each person will get at least what they deserve, but some people will actually get MORE than what they deserve! Actually that is the definition of grace. Grace is getting something we did not deserve. Mercy is not getting something we do deserve, like being let off the hook for something we did and not getting punished. But grace is all about getting more than we deserve and this is the heart of the Father. For some reason we all like it when that happens to us, but it is easy to get upset when we see someone else getting blessed who didn’t deserve it. Learn to rejoice in other’s blessings. The workers in this story were not able to enjoy their own blessing because they could not rejoice that the others got more than they deserved.
Have you ever experienced times in your life when you got more than you deserved? How did it make you feel? Have you ever experienced times in your life when you saw others get more than they deserved? How did you act?