The kingdom of heaven is unfairly generous...

At the church where I serve we are in the middle of a sermon series entitled “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…” During this series, we are spending our time together looking at a series of statements that Jesus made about the kingdom of heaven that are recorded for us in an account of His life that has been preserved in the New Testament of the Bible, called the gospel of Matthew. 

During this series, we are discovering how Jesus described the kingdom of Heaven. During this series, we are discovering how one enters into the Kingdom of Heaven. During this series we are discovering how one should live as part of the kingdom of Heaven. And as we go through this series, our hope and our prayer is that God would move by the power of the Holy Spirit, in our heads, hearts, and hands in such a way that we would live lives that reveal and bring the light and love of the kingdom of Heaven into the areas of influence we have been given. 

Today we see Matthew give us afront row seat to an event from history where Jesus told a story that reveals a timeless truth about God and how He runs the kingdom of Heaven. So let’s jump into this parable together, beginning in Matthew 20:1-2:

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Matthew brings us into this section as Jesus was having a conversation with His disciples about how His followers will relate to one another as members of the kingdom of heaven. And in the middle of this conversation about rank and rewards, Jesus began to tell a parable that compared the kingdom of heaven to a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 

Jesus explained that the landowner entered into an agreement with the laborers to pay them a denarius for their wages and then sent them into the vineyard to work. In the Jewish culture of Jesus day, a denarius was the equivalent of a day’s wages. So this landowner was paying the laborers what was generally accepted as a fair pay for a fair days work. Jesus then continued His parable in Matthew 20:3-7:

"And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; ⁴ and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And so they went. ⁵ "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. ⁶ "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?' ⁷ "They said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'

To understand what is happening in this parable, we first need to understand a little about what working in a vineyard entailed. Now in the agricultural society that Jesus lived in, a typical workday would begin at 6 a.m. and end at 6 p.m. Laborers would be hired during the harvest season to go into the vineyards to hand pick the grapes off the vines. There was no special automated machinery; this was manual, intensive, time sensitive work.

Jesus explained that as the landowner looked over his workforce, he saw that he could hire some more men. So the landowner went out about the third hour, which would be around 9 a.m. and saw others standing idle at the marketplace. The landowner approached these men standing at the marketplace and offered them a job, saying “go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will pay you”.

Notice that the landowner did not enter into a prearranged agreement with these laborers; he only stated that he would do what is right. The landowner is simply stating to these laborers that they would not be shortchanged or treated unfairly. Jesus continued by stating that the landowner went back to the same marketplace at the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. In other words, the landowner went out at noon and at 3 p.m. and hired more workers.

Now here is a question to consider: Why would laborers still be standing at the marketplace at noon and 3 p.m.? The workday is more than half over, isn’t it? You see, most likely, either these workers showed up late or they were less motivated to work than the earlier workers. However, the landowner could still hire more workers, so he chose to enter into the same agreement that he entered into with the workers that he hired at 9 a.m.; “go into the vineyard and whatever is right I will pay you”.

Jesus then explained that, at the eleventh hour, the landowner went out to the marketplace and found others still waiting to be picked up for work. To these laborers, however, the landowner asked a question: “Why have you been standing here idle all day long”? In other words, “What have you been doing all day? Why have you not been hired? What’s your problem? Are you not worthy to be hired?” The laborers respond to the question simply; “because no one hired us”.

You see, no one hired these laborers because they were the least desirable workers. They showed up to work late; they were not as prepared or as motivated as the other workers; they did not have the best resume or work history. However, the landowner chose to hire the workers and sent them into the vineyard for the remaining hour that was left. And at the end of that hour, when the workday was over, it was time to pay the laborers. We see Jesus reveal what happened next in Matthew 20:8-9:

"When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.' ⁹ "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius.

At the end of the day, as a day laborer, you would be paid for the days work. You were not under a contract; you are not a salaried employee; you simply received your pay and went on your way, because tomorrow you would begin this process all over again. So at the end of this day the landowner called his foreman and directed him to pay out their wages, beginning with the last group and ending with the first group. What would happen is the foreman would call all the laborers to line up in a line according to the time that they were hired. The laborers would then come forward, one at a time, and receive their pay for the day.

Now remember, the only laborers who entered into a prearranged agreement for a denarius for a day’s wages were those who were hired first; all of the rest of the laborers have no idea of exactly what they are going to get paid. All the landowner said was that he would pay them what was right. Now, if you were hired at 5 p.m., were you really expecting to receive much in terms of pay? Probably not.

Yet Jesus explained that when the laborers came forward to receive their pay, they each received a denarius which, as we saw earlier, was the generally accepted pay for a fair days work. The reason that a denarius was considered a fair days pay for a fair days work was because a denarius was what was needed financially in order to provide for one’s family. So the landowner did not pay them what they deserved; the landowner paid them what they needed.

Now you might be thinking to yourself “But Dave, just hold on there, just wait a minute. These are the least desirable workers; these are the scrubs, the slackers, the losers. They did not earn a full day’s wages; Dave that’s not fair”.  Well, if you think that is unfair, look what happens next, in verse 10-12:

"When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, ¹² saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'

Jesus explained that when those who were hired first came to receive their wages, they expected to receive more. I mean that would only be fair, wouldn’t it? However, they were in for a surprise, as the landowner responded to their day of hard work by paying them the exact same amount that he had paid the laborers who worked for only one hour.

Jesus explained that the laborers responded to the wages that they received by grumbling at the landowner; in other words, the laborers responded by whining. “These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day. That’s not fair”.

But if we are brutally honest, isn’t that what we do when it comes to fairness? “God it’s not fair that she is better looking than me. God it’s not fair that he makes more money than me. God it’s not fair that she is married and I am single. It’s not fair that he always has a girlfriend and I can’t get a date”. However, when we become concerned and even consumed with fairness, we tend to focus on the wrong things, don’t we? We see the landowner’s response to the whining and grumbling of the laborers in Matthew 20:13-15. Let’s look at it together:  

"But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ 'Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ¹⁵ 'Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'

Now did you notice the landowner’s response here. “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius.” You see, the landowner responded to the whining and complaining about his lack of fairness by reminding the laborers that he simply gave them what they had agreed upon in advance. You see, the landowner did the right thing, not the fair thing, or the even thing. The landowner followed through by keeping the agreement that was made in the beginning.

And to bolster his point, the landowner reminded that laborers that as the landowner, he had the right and the freedom to distribute his resources as he desired because they were his resources. The landowner then exposed the motivation behind the laborers whining and complaining with a simple question: “Or is your eye envious because I am generous?” The phrase “Is your eye envious” literally means to give someone the evil eye as a result of being jealous of what someone else has or has been given.

You see, the laborers whining and complaining had nothing to do with whether or not the landowner was just; the laborers whining and complaining had everything to do with the landowner’s generosity. Jesus then concluded this parable with a statement that reveals a timeless truth about the kingdom of heaven in Matthew 20:16:

            "So the last shall be first, and the first last."

Now if you have grown up in church or have spent any time in church, you may have heard this phrase used as a punch line for a joke about the fact that you ended up being last in line seem spiritual. But Jesus used this line at the end of this parable to reveal for us a timeless truth about the kingdom of heaven. At that timeless truth is this: The kingdom of heaven is unfairly generous.

Just as you grew up hearing life is not fair, God is not fair. God does not do the fair thing; instead God does what is most unfair but what is most generous. Jesus told this parable, this earthly story designed to reveal a deeper spiritual truth to reveal for us the reality that fairness is not a Biblical value. Instead rightness is a Biblical value. And God, in His rightness and rule of the kingdom of Heaven, has the right and the freedom to distribute the resources of His kingdom as He desires because they are His resources.

So here is a question that this parable confronts us with: If you were to find yourself in this parable as a character in this parable, which character would you be? Or better yet, if those who were closest to you, who knew you best, were to place you in this parable as a character in this parable, which character would you be?

Would you find yourself in this parable as the laborer who started at 6 a.m.? You see, the danger for those of us that have been members of the kingdom of heaven for a while is that we begin to whine and complain and stamp our feet while saying “it’s not fair” after someone responds to their selfishness and rebellion against God by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader later in life. “God that’s not fair; they get the same reward that I get and I have been with you doing the right thing my whole life. I should get what I deserve”.

Are you okay with the reality that the kingdom of heaven is unfairly generous? Are you more concerned with fairness, or evenness, than you are about God’s rightness? Do you really want what you deserve? Or are you responding to the reality that the kingdom of heaven is unfairly generous by reflecting that generosity to those around us that so desperately need God’s unfair generosity?

Would you find yourself in this parable as the laborer waiting at the marketplace at the eleventh hour. Maybe you are here and feel like you are less desirable to God; that if God was to look at your resume and your history that He would not want to have you as part of His kingdom.

If I have just described you, God wants you to know that just like the landowner in this parable, God is seeking and pursuing you, even at the eleventh hour. God desires that you would respond to receive what those who were found by God earlier have received; the forgiveness of your rebellion and the relationship with God that you were created for by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and Leader.

If you were to find yourself in this parable as a character in this parable, which character would you be? How are you responding to the offer that has been extended to you to be a part of the kingdom of Heaven?

Because, as we discovered, the kingdom of Heaven is unfairly generous.