I want things to be fair. If you work hard, you should get rewarded for your effort. If you put in less time or effort, you should get paid less. A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work!
But then I come across a passage like Matthew 20 – the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. And I have to confess that it just doesn’t seem fair. Jesus tells this parable in response to a question by Peter in in chapter 19 verse 27 regarding rewards.
The parable tells of a landowner who needs some workers to work in his fields. Early in the morning he goes and hires some laborers and agrees to pay them a denarius (common wage for a day – about $20) for a day’s work. The owner then goes out later in the day and hires more workers; he does the same thing again later. Finally he goes out near the end of the day and hires still more workers.
When it is time to pay the men, he pays them based on when they were hired – with those hired last being paid first. He pays these last men a denarius. He then proceeds to pay all the men a denarius, including those he hired first. This of course leads to grumbling among the men who were hired first – they worked the hardest and through the heat of the day, shouldn’t they receive more.
The landowner tells them – didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? And, “is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?”
Those last two sentences cut me to the quick. My eye is envious of others because of the generosity of others (whether employer, family, friends, or God). I need to be content with what I have been given – a very hard thing, but necessary. I have been blessed in so many ways, to be discontent because of the blessings of others is really ingratitude.
May we all be content with the blessings that have been poured out on us.
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Sunday Thought 79
by JD on March 21, 2010
I want things to be fair. If you work hard, you should get rewarded for your effort. If you put in less time or effort, you should get paid less. A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work!
But then I come across a passage like Matthew 20 – the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. And I have to confess that it just doesn’t seem fair. Jesus tells this parable in response to a question by Peter in in chapter 19 verse 27 regarding rewards.
The parable tells of a landowner who needs some workers to work in his fields. Early in the morning he goes and hires some laborers and agrees to pay them a denarius (common wage for a day – about $20) for a day’s work. The owner then goes out later in the day and hires more workers; he does the same thing again later. Finally he goes out near the end of the day and hires still more workers.
When it is time to pay the men, he pays them based on when they were hired – with those hired last being paid first. He pays these last men a denarius. He then proceeds to pay all the men a denarius, including those he hired first. This of course leads to grumbling among the men who were hired first – they worked the hardest and through the heat of the day, shouldn’t they receive more.
The landowner tells them – didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? And, “is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?”
Those last two sentences cut me to the quick. My eye is envious of others because of the generosity of others (whether employer, family, friends, or God). I need to be content with what I have been given – a very hard thing, but necessary. I have been blessed in so many ways, to be discontent because of the blessings of others is really ingratitude.
May we all be content with the blessings that have been poured out on us.