A Different Lesson
By Matt Nuth
The older I get, the more I understand that I have so much more to learn. I get this shot of humility every day as situations arise that provide me the opportunity to look at them in a different way than I did yesterday. Recently, I had a look at the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard through a different lens to learn an additional lesson.
We are familiar with the parable from Matthew 20. It is a story of laborers who are hired to work in the vineyard for a specific and satisfactory pay. As the day proceeds, other laborers are employed to join the workforce. At the end of the day, the landowner pays them all the same amount, beginning with those that started working last and finishing with those that started at the very beginning of the day. The parable ends with the message “So the last will be first and the first will be last.”
When I first read this parable as a kid, it was difficult for me to get beyond the feeling that somehow the landlord was unfair in providing the same pay to all the laborers, regardless of the amount of time worked. It was years before I understood that feeling is integral to understanding the point: we do not earn everlasting life through our own actions, but through the grace of God. It is not about being fair; if fairness counted, I would be in trouble; we all would. We do not deserve forgiveness. A second aspect of this story tells us a little more about our God. His gift is not contingent upon when we accept him; those who convert to Christianity late in life are rewarded the same as those that find Christ early. It is a wonderful gift and is a demonstration of our loving God.
A couple of days ago I had the opportunity to get third learning from this parable: that of being satisfied. A family I know had agreed to sell their home to a friend. The transaction would be contingent on the friend selling his home first. Verbally, they agreed on a price. It was a price with which they were both satisfied and happy.
Subsequently, housing prices skyrocketed, with both the family and their friend’s home values increasing significantly. The original family now questioned whether they should charge the friend more for their house, given that both homes have increased in value. After all, they had not signed any legal agreements and the friend would likely receive more for their existing home. Now the new learning. The original family was satisfied with the original price, BUT they were tempted to no longer be happy because their friend would receive more, and they would not. They were like those who first started work in the vineyard at the beginning of the day.
I am pleased to say this family honored their original price, recognizing that they were satisfied with their original agreement and their buyer was going to get more; they were being tempted, and I do not think by God. This family had agreed on a price, given their word, and CHOSE to be happy and satisfied. Just because they could get more, did not make the original agreement any less valuable. They did not allow the temptation of “more money” to damage their integrity.
To me, their decision demonstrates the importance of honor and being satisfied. The original laborers in the vineyard could have, and should have, been thrilled that others also benefited from the grace of the landowner. They were not. They missed the satisfaction of their reward.
It is important to be grateful for the gifts we receive, no matter how extravagant or modest. It must be to always want more and not be satisfied. Let us not let temptation for more make us blind to the ONLY gift that matters.
