Jesus told a story of a man who was hiring day laborers. He hired some at 9am and agreed to pay them a fair day's wage. Around noon, others were brought in to work with the promise of being paid whatever was right. As the afternoon wore on and others were still without work, the man hired them as well. At the end of the day when the wages were being handed out, those who were hired first thing in the morning expected much more pay than those hired late in the day. They were quite upset when the employer paid each person the same wage regardless of the length of time worked. (Read: Matthew 20:1-16)
All of us who have gone to a day labour office know that whether we are the first to get work or we have to sit in the office and wait, we all need to eat and pay for shelter. No landlord reduces the rent because we’ve found it difficult to get enough hours of work. We are all in desperate need.
All have sinned and are not good enough to share God’s divine greatness. When people sin, they earn what sin pays—death. But God gives his people a free gift—eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 3:23, 6:23 ERV)
It would not matter when we started, we never could do enough to turn our lives around by our own efforts. We are powerless and our lives are unmanageable. But our generous God, if we are willing to respond to his offer, chooses to be generous to all of us and provide exactly what each person needs. This is justice on God’s terms. There is no place for jealousy of someone who got the message early in life or only received God’s kindness minutes before they died. We just need to rejoice that God offered it and we got it when we did.
Prayer: Loving God, You know what each person needs and, regardless of our age or our past, You offer us grace and forgiveness today. As I have been treated by You, help me to treat others in the same way. Help me always to be generous and forgiving. Amen
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