Matthew 22:36-40
Two Greatest Commandments
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 20:1-16
Parable of Workers in the Vineyard
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[a] 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.”
Luke 15:11-32
The Prodigal Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
In our world it is hard for me to define grace, in the terms God uses it...Jesus mostly defines grace through His stories and Parables...And as I read His Parables, can grace be said to be unfair?...
Some have defined grace as the free and unfettered favor of God, as manifested in the salvation of sinners and His blessings being put on us...But there is no doubt, I believe, that the grace of God is especially hard to define...If anyone could explain grace to us, it would be the One that God sent to earth to teach us about these things...It would be His Son Jesus...But in some, if not many of Jesus' parables and explanations -clearness does not rush out and define things or make them clear...And when He gave us the Parable of the Vineyard and in the Prodigal Son, a mystery remains over these stories for me...These mysterious Parables make it hard to understand, and hard for me to understand the complete story of God's Grace...Is there perfect fairness in God's Grace?...I would think most all believers would say yes...Because Jesus defined and explained things in Parables, the mysteries surround them...In His Parables there are hints of other things in them, there are hints of Another World, that world is different and better than the world we currently live...There are other lessons interwoven in these stories...And in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard and the Parable of the Prodigal Son, we learn some things from Jesus about God's Grace...
I have been taught that the harder one works in life and on their job, and the better he works, and the smarter he works, and the longer he works -he will be rewarded...We see this happening all the time in major league sports...The best athletes make quite a bit of money, for being talented with their God given abilities...And they are paid accordingly, while the lesser talented athletes are not paid near as much...Now the question might come up,is this fair?...In a team sport or even an individual sport, should everyone just be paid the exact same (no matter how they do or how they finish)?...Being paid the same may seem fairer to some...But if one is extremely talented and only has to work half as hard as a less talented athlete is that fair, and is that even moral?...Does it show that we are doing our best, or in this case, not doing our best?...And do we have to do our best in life?...If God gives us a talent, does He expect us to use it fully, whatever that talent is?...
In the Parable of the Vineyard all the workers work in the field...They are told upfront what they will be paid...Some have to work many hours, while some have to work only a few...But in the end, all are paid exactly the same...Some think this is unfair...The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon only worked a few hours in the cool of the late afternoon...These workers came and got paid, and each received a denarius....So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more than the last workers hired....After all they had worked all day...But each one of them also received a denarius, and the same pay as the ones who only worked a short period...When they received their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner...They mentioned that those who were hired last worked only one hour and they were paid equal to those who had born the burden of the work and the heat of the day...The landowner 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?’...“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”...Those who worked only one hour, received the same pay...The first workers were not first in payment...Is this grace?...
In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, how can a Father be so gracious to a wasteful son, who had squandered his wealth in wild living...The older brother seems to be in the right...Or is he?...Is grace about money and material things we receive?...Our Father is Gracious...Yet, these Parables cause a problem in our thinking and how we think about fairness...Do the earliest of workers feel the landowner is gracious?...Does the older son feel like he is being treated graciously...Yet, one would believe, the latest of workers hired feel the landowner is gracious...I believe, that the younger son, who came to his senses would think his Father is very gracious...God wants the lost to be found...He will accept us graciously finding Him at age nine or ninety nine...
We have sinned and God gives us His Son and His LOVE...Is His LOVE towards us unfair?...Maybe grace is more of an attitude of love one has for his neighbor that has accepted God's ways of doing things and understanding of things are fair...