March 29th, 2026
Sunday, March 29
Am I not allowed 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 20:15-16
Am I not allowed 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 20:15-16
______________________________________
Jesus seems to have enjoyed telling stories. He did it a lot. He also seems to have enjoyed telling stories that surprised, shocked, or upset people. He wasn’t doing this to be difficult. On occasion he did this to issue a clear challenge. But genuinely, Jesus’ stories are meant to open people’s minds to a new imagination for life in this world according to his kingdom.
Those whom Jesus sometimes challenged with his stories are often framed as the “religious” people. There are books about this. I’m sorry to say this is not exactly true. It’s something we have created in our culture as a way of defending our culture’s obsession with distancing ourselves from religious institutions or practices that are too “wooden” and boring. So we create the “religion” or “religious” category as the bad guy. If you haven’t noticed, this has not proven very effective or helpful. And, most of all, it blinds us to the ways we are just like the Pharisees.
Jesus’ stories challenged not the religious mindset, but rather our human tendencies to want to be “right,” and our superiority complexes that think we have a handle on God’s ways, which mostly just means that God’s ways are the ways we think God should act. Of course, we are quick to point out that we all know that God’s ways are not our ways. But, in practice we show ourselves to be liars and hypocrites. Just like the Pharisees. So, Jesus’ stories often upset the neat God applecart we have arranged according to our own likeness.
Jesus’ told one such particular parable in Matthew 20. The final quote of the parable is the Scripture today. We should read this parable daily, I think. And yes, it will challenge everything we want to or think should be “right” and “fair.” And…it’s a central parable of grace.
The parable is about a landowner who has offered grace to several workers in the marketplace. They’re standing around waiting for work. They’re poor, unattached, struggling for a livelihood. This landowner generously goes out and hires workers throughout the day as he sees them. In this, they are offered grace – a sharing and fellowship in the work and livelihood of this landowner.
The trouble is that the workers he hired had a certain understanding of how the grace system was supposed to work in the ancient world. This parable doesn’t play by the human rules of what’s “fair” and “just.” You can imagine what they might think: Why share such monetary generosity with those who don’t deserve it? It’s not just or right! Well, it seems to be just fine to God. And it makes us uncomfortable.
In our discomfort, Christians often spiritualize this parable and say it’s really about God’s forgiveness. It’s not. The entire context of the parable in Matthew is about giving to the poor and about the last or least being first in Jesus’ kingdom. The parable is really about generosity – God’s generosity that gives us all we have, that challenges our economics, and our sense of what’s fair.
We all are like the people in the marketplace. We often put ourselves in the category of one of the early workers who worked all day. No one puts themselves as the last one who showed up at the last minute. How lazy.
The point of the parable is that we are not the good diligent worker. We think we are, but in reality we are all like the one who really doesn’t deserve the generosity. Yet, this is in fact what God has done for us, my friends. And so we should for others. Until we get this, we don’t get the parable. Being religious isn’t the problem. Human pride is.
Am I not allowed to be generous however I want? Yes, Lord, you are.
Are you not a recipient of my generosity? Yes, I am, Lord.
Do you think my lavish generosity is just for you or that you’re more deserving of more of it? No, I do not.
Ok, then. Drop the “I’m better” act and live in the joy of my grace.
And probably be generous, too.
___________________________________
For reflection:
Prayer: God of life, you bless us with everything we need. Help us to be grateful recipients of your generosity. Amen.
Those whom Jesus sometimes challenged with his stories are often framed as the “religious” people. There are books about this. I’m sorry to say this is not exactly true. It’s something we have created in our culture as a way of defending our culture’s obsession with distancing ourselves from religious institutions or practices that are too “wooden” and boring. So we create the “religion” or “religious” category as the bad guy. If you haven’t noticed, this has not proven very effective or helpful. And, most of all, it blinds us to the ways we are just like the Pharisees.
Jesus’ stories challenged not the religious mindset, but rather our human tendencies to want to be “right,” and our superiority complexes that think we have a handle on God’s ways, which mostly just means that God’s ways are the ways we think God should act. Of course, we are quick to point out that we all know that God’s ways are not our ways. But, in practice we show ourselves to be liars and hypocrites. Just like the Pharisees. So, Jesus’ stories often upset the neat God applecart we have arranged according to our own likeness.
Jesus’ told one such particular parable in Matthew 20. The final quote of the parable is the Scripture today. We should read this parable daily, I think. And yes, it will challenge everything we want to or think should be “right” and “fair.” And…it’s a central parable of grace.
The parable is about a landowner who has offered grace to several workers in the marketplace. They’re standing around waiting for work. They’re poor, unattached, struggling for a livelihood. This landowner generously goes out and hires workers throughout the day as he sees them. In this, they are offered grace – a sharing and fellowship in the work and livelihood of this landowner.
The trouble is that the workers he hired had a certain understanding of how the grace system was supposed to work in the ancient world. This parable doesn’t play by the human rules of what’s “fair” and “just.” You can imagine what they might think: Why share such monetary generosity with those who don’t deserve it? It’s not just or right! Well, it seems to be just fine to God. And it makes us uncomfortable.
In our discomfort, Christians often spiritualize this parable and say it’s really about God’s forgiveness. It’s not. The entire context of the parable in Matthew is about giving to the poor and about the last or least being first in Jesus’ kingdom. The parable is really about generosity – God’s generosity that gives us all we have, that challenges our economics, and our sense of what’s fair.
We all are like the people in the marketplace. We often put ourselves in the category of one of the early workers who worked all day. No one puts themselves as the last one who showed up at the last minute. How lazy.
The point of the parable is that we are not the good diligent worker. We think we are, but in reality we are all like the one who really doesn’t deserve the generosity. Yet, this is in fact what God has done for us, my friends. And so we should for others. Until we get this, we don’t get the parable. Being religious isn’t the problem. Human pride is.
Am I not allowed to be generous however I want? Yes, Lord, you are.
Are you not a recipient of my generosity? Yes, I am, Lord.
Do you think my lavish generosity is just for you or that you’re more deserving of more of it? No, I do not.
Ok, then. Drop the “I’m better” act and live in the joy of my grace.
And probably be generous, too.
___________________________________
For reflection:
- Read the parable in Matthew 20:1-16. Why is this parable challenging? How might this parable help us understand that our work and our earning comes from the generosity of the Lord? How might this change how we are generous also?
- For those with kids: Read the parable with them. Ask them if they think what the landowner did is “fair.” What do they think about the idea that this is how God treats all of us?
Prayer: God of life, you bless us with everything we need. Help us to be grateful recipients of your generosity. Amen.
No Comments