I have hidden Thy word in my heart.
(Picture by Lisa R)

Matthew 20. The last shall be first…not a popular concept in the world that we inhabit. However, this is the very lesson that Jesus teaches in Chapter 20. First with that parables of the landowner. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them to the vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing, He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and he did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.'” (Verses 1-7). Here’s an interesting picture the owner went out HIMSELF to look for workers. I can’t picture the CEO of my company doing that, yet God seeks us out. Continuing the story, at the end of the day the owner of the land, sends his foreman to hand out payment (another interesting point…foreman as Jesus, that’s a whole ‘nother post). He tells his foreman to start from last to first. The foreman pays the last workers a denarius. This has the ones who came first believing that they would receive more, since they had worked longer (and harder). However, the foreman paid them a denarius as well. They complained, therefore the landowner replied, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man that was hired last the same as you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Verses 13-16). Mercy. It is what the landowner extended to the last workers, the ones who spend all day standing around doing nothing. He extended the same gift to them as he did to the ones that woke up early. It the same gift God gives today. He extends it to the kind-hearted, the pure, the holy, the honest, and the true. He also extends it to the mean, the angry, the killer, the liar and the thief. It is His gift and He can with it as He pleases. Our job? Be thankful that He extended it to us.

Side Note: Jesus does teach this same thought again in Verses 20-28…my advice read the Chapter for yourself.