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Like the people in the airport, the vineyard workers were upset because they believed they should have been ‘first’. The vineyard workers were upset because they received the same wage paid to those who had done less. They were upset because the people who were hired last were paid first. The vineyard workers did not understand that it was due to the land owner’s grace that all had received what they had been promised! Jesus was making it very clear via this parable that the reason for the rewards we will receive by entering into the Kingdom of Heaven is different than what we often believe. Entrance is by God’s grace alone, independent of what we think is ‘fair’ or where we believe ourselves to be in the ‘pecking order’.

Let’s be honest. After reading the parable, who thinks it is unfair for the guy who only worked 15 minutes to be paid the same as the guy who worked the full day? Many of us would raise our hand! The land owner gave to all the same – regardless of length of service – and the last hired were paid first!

In this parable, just as today, many people feel they are ‘special’. Many feel that their position in life qualifies them to be first in line. We have to be on guard that we do not think the same. A Christian who has been working for the Lord many years and has spent many hours walking with God may feel superior to a new believer. Let’s think back to the thief dying on the cross when Jesus was crucified. The thief couldn’t do good works as he was hanging on a cross. The thief couldn’t give large sums of money to the temple as he was hanging on a cross. The thief could not teach Sunday School as he was hanging on a cross. The thief could not even raise his hand when asking for Jesus to remember him! Salvation came to the thief out of the wonderful, pure, simple Grace of God. The thief on the cross will sit in Heaven alongside Believers who have served God for many years. I can just visualize the Pharisees scoffing as Jesus told the thief ‘today, you will be with Me in paradise’. The ‘last shall be first’.

The parable of the workers in the vineyard is not about rewards but about salvation. It is a strong teaching about God’s generosity in the form of GRACE! We must never begrudge those who turn to God in the last moments of life, because, in reality, no one deserves eternal life – no, not one. We should never question those in prison who “find” God because it is there, in the brokenness and aloneness of their dismal cell that God hears them as clearly as he does any of us on the ‘outside’.

It is easy to believe we deserve to be ‘special’. Even the disciples, as we read in the book of Matthew, asked Jesus who among them would be first. Jesus told his disciples that they could not “go” where He was going. The disciples didn’t understand what he meant. They continued to argue greedily over their positions in Christ’s Kingdom. Even the mother of James and John came to Jesus and “knelt respectfully to ask a favor.” She gave Jesus worship, but her real motive was to get something from Him.

We often do the same. In our churches and in our personal lives we sometimes begrudge those who we believe God has blessed more. We actually may fall to the point where we, in our sinful fleshy state, question God’s decision to give entrance to Heaven to all – regardless of their past. Dangerous thoughts for sure! We must be on guard not to misunderstand God’s Grace. We should rejoice that the voices of all who call on His name, regardless of their past or the situation at the time of their salvation, are heard clearly by our Savior! The last shall be first! Praise God for His wonderful Grace!

- - - Mr. Joseph Mcklemurry received his Masters in Biblical Studies with Trinity Seminary in Newburgh, Indiana and is an ordained minister serving as a praise and worship leader with Beautiful Feet Church in Fort Worth, Texas.