Isaiah 55:8-9
God's Ways are Higher than Our Ways
8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Mark 3:13-19
Jesus Chooses His Disciples
13 Jesus went up on a mountainside and called to him those he wanted, and they came to him. 14 He appointed twelve that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach 15 and to have authority to drive out demons. 16 These are the twelve he appointed: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter), 17 James son of Zebedee and his brother John (to them he gave the name Boanerges, which means “sons of thunder”), 18 Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot 19 and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.
Matthew 20:1-16
The Parable of the Vineyard, the Last Will Be First
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Do we really understand God very well?...Do we think like Him?...Or a better question is why don't we try to think more like Him?...And why don't we think more like Jesus, who did and does think like His Father?...For instance, would you have picked the same twelve men that Jesus chose as His Disciples to spread the good news?...The first day an experienced Israel teacher would have seen these twelve, I wonder what that teacher would have thought about this hand picked group of starting a religion known as Christianity?...I really do not think anyone would have thought Christianity would make it off the ground, with the Twelve men He picked (and we know that one even betrayed Him)...The Twelve He chose is really an interesting group, with little or no theology in their backgrounds...I am not sure there were many good speakers in the group, to spread the gospel to others, especially at first...So God and Jesus do think and act differently than man...When I think about it, even sending His Son to die for our sins, is even a queer concept...If I were born before Jesus, I could have spent my entire lifetime thinking about sin and mankind, and never thought that God might send His Son to save us...And die on a cross crucified saving mankind...
Our thoughts are not His thoughts and our ways are not His Ways...
So while man likes to watch their sports heroes, celebrities, the Oscars, the famous, the popular, politicians, those in power, and worldly people -it doesn't seem that God thinks this way...We like success stories and stories where people get ahead of others...We like to watch the best...This type of thinking makes us miss Godly things...God's ways, in this regard, seem not only different, but much different...That is why the last will be first and the first will be last...Jesus drew crowds teaching them that in the Kingdom of God about the first being last and the last being first...
Jesus tried and tries us to think more like Him in His gospel teachings...Jesus most of the time seemed to be going up and against the traditional Pharisee and teacher's way of thinking and doing...He never followed the herd...Jesus was not only an independent thinker, and He acted upon what He said...Some of the things He did was against the traditions of His time and country...
All men are equal to one another in God's eyes...The famous and the one's who receive no attention...The rich, but also the poor...In fact, God may see favor in the one who receives little attention in life, and is poor...In Jesus' parable about the workers in the vineyard, some workers work all the day and through the heat of the day...Some were hired at noon, and some at three...Some were hired close to quitting time...And all the workers agreed to be paid a denarius...So when God paid His workers...All were paid the same...All received the same pay, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first ones hired...What an odd way to pay your workers...Paying everyone the same made the workers who worked all day grumble against the way this pay scale worked...The full day workers said this to the vineyard owner...‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’...“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend...Didn't you agree to work for a denarius?...Take your pay and go...I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you...Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?...Or are you envious because I am generous?’...God can do what He can do...God will do what He will do...God's will -will get done...
Isn't all money God's money?...Doesn't God have the right to handle money, in anyway He wants?...Is it fair that God wants to be generous to those He is generous to?...Is it fair some seem to get more than others?...Isn't really everything God's, since He created all things, including man?...Don't we all then really depend on Him?...What type of landlord and boss was running this type of vineyard?...The answer is -a Godly One...God makes and wants us to think differently, especially about Him, about people, and even about money...His ways are different than our ways...His ways are heavenly ways...He wants us to think more like the One He sent...
And there is One, no Two, who thought and believed in Christianity and thought it would, in fact, get off the ground...God and His Son...