Grace

Read: Matthew 20

DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: At the time of Jesus' earthly ministry, rich landowners possessed most of the property in the fertile regions of Israel. They would lease land to tenants, making sure to keep for themselves large tracts of choice acreage where they could plant profitable crops tended by a few servants. In agriculture at that time labor demands were largely seasonal, so additional workers were required for planting and harvesting. Unemployed workers or underemployed tenant farmers would gather in the marketplaces of agricultural villages early in the morning during these busy seasons, hoping that landowners would hired them as extra workers for the day.

In Jesus' parable of the vineyard, a landowner hires a group of workers for his vineyard at around 6 AM and agrees to pay them the standard daily rate of a denarius. Apparently, the vineyard required more work than anticipated, for the landowner hired more workers at 9 AM, at noon, at 3 PM, and as late as 5 PM. When darkness fell and daily work came to an end, the landowner had his foreman pay the workers. Much to the surprise of the workers who were hired late in the day, they were paid an entire day's wage. When the workers who had worked most or all of the day were subsequently paid, they were surprised to discover than they simply received the agreed-upon amount of a day's wage. The daylong workers complained that it was unfair of the landowner to give the late hires the same wage; if that was going to be the case, the daylong workers wanted more! However, the landowner points out that daylong workers were paid the agreed-upon standard wage; they were not cheated. There had been no injustice committed by the landowner...the landowner simply wanted to extend generosity to all who had served him that day.

Perhaps Jesus in this parable is addressing the Pharisees who resented Jesus' emphasis on reaching out to "sinners and tax collectors," or perhaps Jesus is teaching His disciples that they should not expect and did not deserve a greater reward as a result of their greater commitment and sacrifice (notice later in the chapter that two of His disciples wanted special places in Jesus' Kingdom, and the other ten disciples quickly went into battle with them over this). Nevertheless, the point is clear: No one "deserves" the blessings and rewards of the Kingdom of God. God does not evaluate on the basis of what is "earned;" rather, God acts on the basis of grace. In the words of the familiar hymn, God's grace is indeed "amazing," and the only proper response to this grace is unreserved availability for Kingdom ministry: "Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave - just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (verses 20.26-28). Indeed, the time of that life-giving ransom was quickly approaching (verses 20.17-19), and Jesus wanted His disciples to be ready and be focused.

As Jesus started the final segment of His trip to Jerusalem (taking the road from Jericho to Jerusalem), He had compassion on two blind men who were persistent in their attempts to ask for healing. They had only one request: they simply wished to see. Upon receiving their sight, they had only one response: they followed Jesus. They had received...and they responded to...grace.