NT Journey Matthew 20

We Before Me
One of the many downsides to our individualistic culture is that we have developed a terrible habit of looking at scripture and instantly personalizing it.  Scripture certainly does have individual application to it.  Ultimately, what matters with the teachings of Jesus or Paul or Peter is what I do with it.  Scripture is intended for me to make personal application--eventually.

Matthew 20 is a case in point.  My guess is that when most people read Matthew 20, the first thing we think about is death-bed conversions.  Jesus' parable about the workers who came late inevitably leads us down this road.  The landowner hires day-workers and says he will pay them a denarius.  As the day went on, He continued to hire workers.  No matter how long they worked, they were still paid the same wage.

When the end of the day came and the workers who had worked all day saw that they were being paid the same as those who had only worked a little while, they were understandably angry.  Wouldn't you be a little miffed?  In our individualistic mindset, we immediately think of people who "accept Christ" on their deathbed and receive the same heaven that the those who have followed Jesus all their life get.

But was this Jesus' primary message?  I don't think so.  Remember that Matthew's primary task is to write to Jews and, first of all show them that Jesus is the Messiah they have been waiting for; and second, to ruffle their feathers a little.  One thing you'll notice about Jesus' ministry is that He starts out preaching to the Jews, but then expands His ministry to Gentiles.  It's not that Jesus all of the sudden started caring about gentiles--He was making a point, a living metaphor, if you will.

In the Old Testament, the Jews became God's "chosen people" for the purpose of working in His Kingdom (the vineyard).  As a result of their labor, they would be "blessed."  But the ultimate purpose of Israel's "chosenness" was not just be blessed, but to bless others.  When Jesus came, He expanded (as was God's plan all along) salvation, blessing, the Kingdom or whatever you want to call it to the gentiles.  No longer were there two classes of people.  No longer does God give preference to Israel--His favor rests on everyone and everyone is now called to work in the vineyard.  Jesus was making a scandalous theological statement with this parable--the Kingdom is open to all.  Everyone has equal opportunity and equal wages.

Again, it's hard for us to understand the significance of this parable.  But let's look at it this way.  Most of us in the United States has functioned as if we were God's new chosen people.  We tend to see ourselves as more spiritual, more "Christian" and more blessed than any other people group on earth.  We send out more missionaries to the world than any other country.  We see ourselves at the top of the Christian heap.  Is it so?

I actually don't think we are any more or less godly than most other people groups.  We might go to church more and might have a greater percentage of people professing belief in Jesus, but in our overall practice, we tend to be greedy, lustful, disengaged and have a higher opinion of ourselves than most.  Jesus' parable of the vineyard tells us that we are all called to work in God's vineyard--to participate with Him in the redemption of the world.  Whether we are American, European, Ethiopian or Iraqi, as followers of Christ we have the same task and the same reward even if we come late to the field.

When you read scripture, I would suggest that you not become preoccupied with issue of whether or not this person or that person is really saved.  When we do that, we often miss out on the great opportunity to learn about our own responsibility to build the Kingdom in Kingdom kind of ways.