The question of the day is "What is the point in doing good works if even evil people will be saved?" Reminds me of the story Jesus said about a landowner and some hired workers. There was a landowner who hired workers early in the morning to work his vineyard for a denarius. Then he hired other workers in mid morning. Then again at noon he hired more workers, then again in the afternoon and lastly he hired more workrs even at the last hour. Its obvious in the story that the landowner has compassion for the workers because he asks them why are you not working and their answer was no one has hired us. The landowner hired the workers out of compassion for them. When the work day was over he paid him each the same pay, a denarius. The workers who had been there all day grumbled at what they thought was unfair, but the landowner stated that because it was his land and his money, the decision on wages was clearly his to make and in the end he accused them of being envious of his generosity.
This fee arrangement, if viewed literally, would make anyone upset. But when viewed with the understanding that God is the landowner and he is full of compassion, we come to different understanding.
And though our first instinct is to complain of the unfairness of it, the truth is, this is God's creation and eternal existence to offer, not ours. He is bigger than we can even imagine. Why do we limit Him to only that which is fair in our minds. When we think about it, our minds themselves are limited and cannot fully imagine God or understand his existence. I mean, Israelite priests died when they enterred the holy of holies or viewed the contents of the arc of the covenant. Can we fully capture God? I believe the existence of Jesus is our only hope and view of who God is. I want justice for evil doers as well, but wouldn't that mean that I too must pay a just fee for my sins?
The current question of the day is "do evil doers, who even on their last breath accept Christ, receive the same grace, forgiveness and promise of heaven as he who accepted Christ and lived a full life with him?" According to Jesus, yes. They both receive the same reward, the same pay. But the moral of the story goes beyond that. I believe the moral of the story is more to do about the grumbling about God's grace and Jesus is quick to say that those grumblers will be last in the kingdom. Even being last has its own meaning. Some say it means they will not receive the same reward as those who are first but the story has already established that they will all receive the same award. I believe the meaning of "last" is actually that they will not fully uncover all God's grace has to offer.
As I write this, I'm also reminded of the Jonah story - not the whole whale swallowing part but the part in the end when Jonah gets mad when God offers grace to the Ninevites (the evil doers of his day).
But why do we get mad? I believe we get mad because we think higher of ourselves than we should.
Our first responsibility is to recognize that God is bigger. His justice and grace are bigger than our own theology of what is fair and what is good. One of my practices when fighting my pride, is to think of someone better than me. For example, when I start to think highly of myself and the good things I have done in life, I quickly remind myself that I am no Mother Theresa. I review her life in my head and think about her sacrifices and immediately conclude that I am not good compared to her measure goodness. How much faster will we get back to reality if we compare ourselves to God's goodness?
Lets not limit God's mercy to others, less we limit our own. He chooses grace for us and the workers next to us regardless of their time and effort spent in work. Let's not grumble at God's grace to others.
(a take on Matthew 20:1-16)
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