Making Everyone Whole
One of my favorite parables of Jesus is this one from Matthew's Gospel.
Jesus said, “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” - Matthew 20:1-16
Like many parables, this one gives us a picture of a situation from the perspective of the person in authority, in this case, the wealthy landowner who needs his crops tended to.
Jesus wants us to see God in him, but he also wants is to see ourselves in the reaction of the laborers. Because the last to go into the fields are paid first, those who labored all day think they will be paid more, even thought they agreed to their wages.
The payroll protection program provided a loan to businesses to help them continue to keep employees on the payroll, even though they may not have been able to work the regular number of hours during the pandemic.
In a way, that is a real life example of the message in this parable. Those who worked received their full pay, and those whose hours were cut also received their full pay. Is that fair?
The objective is to make everyone whole. The times are tough and people need help to make it through to better times.
Jesus came to cut us a break, to help us through our own personal bad times, and make us whole again. Everyone can get a break. Everyone can be made whole, regardless of what we have done or failed to do in our lives.
Whether we were away from God for a little while, or a long while, we can be welcomed back.
That's good news, right?
Jesus will protect us through our troubled times and guide us home safely, so in the end, we can be with him forever. So, it may not seem fair to the person who has been good his whole life to see someone stand beside him at the gates of Heaven who had been bad almost to the end, but remember the goal.
Make everyone whole again.
More to come...