Being Equal

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MATTHEW

BEING EQUAL

Matt 20:1-16

20:1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 "About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went. "He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 7 "'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. "He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' 8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' 9 "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12'These men 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.' 13 "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' 16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." 

NIV

This is a whole parable, and it simply cannot and should not be looked at piecemeal. This parable is also self-explanatory regarding, first, the sovereignty of God and Second, the unparalleled lack of favoritism of God. Each man received the same amount of pay no matter how much work they had done or as to how long they had labored in his field. This gives us this truth, first, it does not matter how many years we have been both walking and working in the faith, our reward is the same as the one who just got saved and then steps into eternity. Of course, we who have been saved from the beginning of the day, as in the parable, work, and labor through the whole of the day because that is what we have been called to do. We were called to work in the master’s field, and our agreement to do so is for our daily wage, or we could say for our daily bread, who is Jesus, the bread of life. That is our agreement with God. We will do his bidding for the reward of being with Jesus. This is the same agreement the person who the master calls to work in his field in the last hour of their lives. It does not matter the length or the amount of our working for we do so not out of obligation but because we are receiving a wage, only that it is not actually a wage, but a free gift. Our reward is the free gift of eternal life, simply because we believe in Jesus. No amount of labor can change the reward. Although some might get the impression that each gets a different reward from the words of God that each will receive his reward according to their deeds, as the Lord said to John to write to the church in Thyatira. But it is not about the number of good deeds, that is not what he said. The Lord said he knows and searches the hearts and minds of men. He said that he would repay each according to what is in their heart and mind. The deed of accepting Jesus is repaid with eternal life. The deed of refusing Jesus is repaid with perishing, or as some would say, eternal torment in the lake of burning sulfur. If we have an ear, we will hear the truth about this working in the field, which indicates walking in the faith, and the fairness of God, giving each the same reward.