The Workers and Their Wages
Here we have a simple story.
Jesus tells a parable about a land owner who hires people to work for a
day’s wages. He hires people all
throughout the day and promises them a day’s wage. At the end of the day, the people who worked
longer want more – even though they agreed to work for a day’s wage.
I love this parable for two reasons. First of all, I love it because it shows the
greed of the human heart. We want
fairness, but only in our favor. There’s
an oxymoron right there! The people who
worked longer wanted to be paid more because they worked more. At first that sounds fair. They wanted to be treated fairly with respect
to the other workers. But they don’t
stop to realize that they didn’t have an agreement with the other workers. They had an agreement with the
landowner. For the landowner to pay them
more would be unfair to the landowner!
The people who worked the longer shift are interested not in true
fairness but only in a “fairness” that benefits them the most! That’s human nature for you!
The second reason that I love this parable is because it really
allows us to cut to the chase regarding salvation. So let’s start with a question. Do you deserve to be saved?
Hopefully, you answered, “No.”
You have received salvation through God’s grace; but you don’t deserve
it.
So let me ask you. How do
you feel about deathbed conversions?
Take the person who did everything wrong their entire life but moments
before they die they have a genuine realization of their sinfulness and
genuinely repent before God. {Granted, I think these kind of moments are
extraordinarily rare and my hunch is that even when done it is rare for them to
be genuine. But, I am not God,
either. What is it for me to judge?}
Does that person deserve to be saved? Of course not. They don’t deserve to be saved. Our “conversion” does not ever earn
salvation! But will they be saved? If their repentance was genuine, then
absolutely!
So why do we get angry when a person lives life high on the hog
and has a legitimate repentance to God just before they die? Aren’t we angry because we feel like they got
the best of both worlds? Isn’t that just
like the people who worked all day being angry that some of the workers got to lie
around and relax and only work for a short time?
Here’s the reality. None of
the workers deserved to even work that day.
They were blessed to have the opportunity to work. None of us deserve to be saved. We are blessed to be able to be saved by
Christ.
Furthermore, for those people who are like me and occasionally
fall into thinking that the deathbed conversion folks have the “best of both
worlds” – really? Do we really think
that living a self-centered life is the best of this world? Do we really think that living life without
God is better than life with God? Of
course not. As much as it may pain us to
confess it, living under God’s ways is the better life. It may be more difficult. It may be the life that receives the most
opposition. But it is the better life. Rather than feel angry at the “deathbed
conversions,” we should rejoice that they converted and feel sorrow that they
did not know God for more of their life.
Death, the Third Time
Once more Jesus pulls His disciples aside and tells them about His
coming death. Once more we see the
disciple-maker prepare the disciple.
Once more we see the disciple-maker return to a prior lesson to
reinforce it. We’re never done learning. Even when we think we’ve truly heard God,
there is still more to hear!
James and John
Then we get another lesson on humbleness before God from
Jesus. This time, it is James’ and John’s
mother – the wife of Zebedee. She comes
and asks Jesus if her boys can be the most important people in the
kingdo0m. We can all understand the
mother’s desire to see her boys prosper.
What we shouldn’t like is that this totally usurps God’s will for
James and John. Yes, they will drink the
cup that has been prepared for them.
James will be the first of Jesus’ disciples to be martyred. John will suffer ultimate rejection as he is
exiled to the island of Patmos. But
their mother’s request is completely outside the will of God. There is no humbleness in her request. It is her wanting her desire for prosperity
to come upon her boys.
So, once more Jesus teaches us.
He reminds us that among human beings the powerful lord it over the
normal. Among human beings we seek power
and status so that we can have our own way.
But among God’s people we don’t seek our own will. God’s people seek God’s will. Those who are first in the Kingdom of God are
slaves – slaves to God. As I said
yesterday, those who give up their agenda and embrace God’s agenda will inherit
the Kingdom of God. After all, look at
what Jesus says about His own example.
The Son of Man came not to be served, but to give up His life so others
may live. Now there’s an example!
Blind Men
As Jesus heads towards Jerusalem for the last time, He passes
through Jericho. In Jericho, He meets up
with some blind men. Although the crowds
try to get them to be quiet, they call out to Jesus. As the story ends, they are healed.
Let me hold up these two men with the story with which we ended
yesterday. Yesterday we saw a rich young
man come to Jesus full of all the right words but not full of humble
obedience. Today we see two blind men
who experience healing because of their humbleness. They call out to Jesus. They call Him Lord and mean it. They wait for Jesus to come on His time. When Jesus asks them what they want, they are
honest and simply ask to be healed. When
the healing is over, they follow Jesus.
The rich young man yesterday came to Jesus with all the right
words but none of the willingness to obey.
The blind men of Jericho wait for Jesus to come to them and then they
follow with all of their heart. What’s
the difference? Certainly not
Jesus! The difference is that the blind men
are willing to be humble and follow.
They embrace what Jesus is doing and pursue Him.
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