‘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?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:12-16
“The parable of the workers in the vineyard is a fine portrayal of God’s generous forgiveness and mercy. Jesus compares God to a vineyard keeper who pays the same wages to workers who sign on late as those who have been toiling through the heat of the day. Can we accept the idea of a God who is so merciful, so forgiving? Whose justice is so mysterious, so hard to decipher by ordinary rules?
For some of us, this is difficult to accept. But I think the best way to let go of our own judgmentalism is to remember the boundless mercy of God. Rather than make a list of our own slips, rather than chronicle our own self-righteousness, we should let go of even judging ourselves. Instead we should focus on the immeasurable love of God. To remember how deeply God loves us is to feel that we have love to give back, to others and to God.”
Emilie Griffin in Small Surrenders: A Lenten Journey (Brewster: Paraclete, 2009) 32-33.
On this Lord’s day in the heart of Lent, let us focus on the boundless mercy and immeasurable love of God, because when the last are first and the first are last, all people before Him are on the same plane. Only when we realize that all people are equal before God, do we “remember how deeply God loves us” and tap in to His abundant “love to give back, to others and to God.” Letting go of judging others and ourselves is hard. It does not follow the “ordinary rules” of this world.
The measure of the world, that is the value of people, is determined by earthly judging. Where our giving gets all messed up is when we give based on merit, which is the opposite of mercy. We judge one person as deserving of generosity more than another. Nothing could be further from Christian generosity. Alternatively, only when we grasp God’s boundless mercy and immeasurable love toward us, can we exhibit Christian generosity filled with mercy and love.