“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 20:13-16
“The story is as clear as it is unexpected. Whereas we take it for granted that harder work deserves greater payment, this employer operates on a less conventional basis…The retort of the landowner is of course technically correct: no one has been cheated; the agreement has been scrupulously observed. Why then do we still feel that there is something wrong? Because we cannot detach ourselves from the ruling convention that rewards should be commensurate to the services rendered… But the kingdom of heaven does not operate on the basis of commercial convention. God rules by grace…
The “rewards” which this gospel has so persistently spoken of are neither earned, nor are they proportionate to human effort. The God who lavishly clothes the flowers and feeds the birds delights to give His servants far more than they could ever deserve from Him. It is that principle, rather than the disappointment of the whole-day laborers, which is the main focus of the parable, but their very natural disappointment and sense of unfairness helps the readers to reexamine how far their reactions are still governed by human ideals of deserving rather than by the uncalculating generosity of the kingdom of heaven.”
R.T. France (1938-2012) in The Gospel of Matthew (NICNT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007) 748-49.
As we move toward Holy Week and the passion of Christ, we start to realize that the teachings of Jesus aim at detaching us from the thinking associated with the economy of this world so that we grasp the “uncalculating generosity” of God and life in His abundant economy.
It should not surprise us that Jesus tells parables with both clarity and shock value to dislodge our toxic, worldly perspectives. We think the master has been unfair, because we think we deserve or earn that which we possess. Consider how this adversely impacts our generosity too.
If we give only to people we think are “deserving” of our aid, it reveals that anti-grace thinking remains in our minds. Certainly we must support our local church and global missionary work. The Scriptures exhort us to do this. But our generosity must not stop there!
We imitate God’s generosity when we direct our giving toward “the lost” and “the least” as well. Our almsgiving goes toward the spiritually and materially poor as we realize that all we have received from God is a gift of grace to us. To show the world this grace, let’s extend gracious generosity toward others.