Matthew 20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who when out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.”
Have you ever been invited to use your imagination guided by a few details? Every children’s story is an invitation to do just that. You can see a child’s mind be transported to another place and another time, even to an alternate reality. Their eyes get larger, their mouths drop open and off they go on a journey.
I love using my imagination when I read Scripture. The Scripture provides the framework for my imagination, so that I don’t move beyond bounds. And there are clues in the text that the author wants you to use your imagination.
Today’s text has one of those clues. Jesus uses the word “like”, like a landowner. This is an invitation to step into that historical context and put yourself in the story, looking around at what you see and don’t see, hear and don’t hear. Since there weren’t many landowners among the crowds who followed Jesus, they would have had to use their imagination as well.
The original hearers were much more likely to be one of the workers hired for the day. They knew what it was like to be on that side of this business transaction. And that is the key to understanding, putting on their shoes and hearing the story from their perspective.
I have worked some ‘day labor’ jobs in my life. It can be very difficult lining up and wondering if you will get work today, if you will be able to pay the bills, how much the boss is going to offer for what kind of work. Will it be enough? Will I even get selected?
So imagine you are one of the first picked. Relief! You have work today, and can feed your family tonight! Stability for today. Tomorrow is another story. Maybe if I do a really good job the boss will hire me again, maybe permanently. So off you go to work.
And then throughout the day others show up and begin working. You think, “That’s strange,” and you keep working. And another group shows up. You think, “I wonder how much they will get paid?” And you keep working.
Then the final whistle blows for the day and everyone lines up to get paid. You are at the end of the line since you were hired first. As the pay is given out, everyone gets the same thing, the same amount you are getting. “That’s not fair!”
You poke the side of one of the other workers who started the day with you and you whisper, “Did you see that, they got a full day’s wage. This guy is generous. I wonder how much he will pay us?” And you move forward in line. Then it is your turn and the generosity you expected doesn’t materialize for you. He was generous with everyone else, but not with you.
Stop! Did you feel what he felt? Could you relate to the people in the story? I hope so, because without that personal connection you miss the generosity of the Owner. He gives when people don’t deserve it, because it isn’t about deserving. It is about grace!
Are you receiving grace? Are you giving grace? Do you even know what grace feels like? The other workers certainly did that day. They know what grace feels like because they have received grace.
The Arnold Journey 