Complaints

Complaints

Matthew 20:9-15, NIV

The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12“These who were hired last worked only one hour,” they said, “and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.” 13But he answered one of them, “I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”

Setting the Scene

Two things happen as the workers are paid. The last workers hired receive their wages and express delight over the unexpected windfall. They get a full portion even though they joined the crew at the end of the day. Meanwhile, those in the earlier crews begin to refigure their pay upward. In the kingdom of earth, that makes perfect sense. It’s only fair. It doesn’t matter what the earlier agreement was—things have changed.

As each crew receives the same payment, things are subdued until the last group realizes they are getting only what they had agreed to that morning. They “expected to receive more.” If the landowner is foolish enough to pay a full day’s wages for an hour of work, he ought to be fair enough to increase the wages for everyone else. This would be expected in the kingdom of earth. But not in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is what this story is all about!

It’s interesting that the grumbling workers are not only upset about the amount of the pay, they are also angry because the landowner “made them equal to us.” For them, this is unacceptable equality. In the fallen kingdom of this world, fairness usually means “more for me.”

In the Kingdom of Heaven, as it should be on earth, the landowner keeps his word. He gives what he promised. In the case of God the landowner, the gift is eternal life. How could anyone expect more than everything?

Getting Personal

What examples have you observed of this tendency to translate a worldly sliding scale into our expectations of eternal life?

How do you respond to the idea that God has the same unimaginably great gift in store for each of us that simply could not be improved?

When we allow this parable to inform our thoughts about heaven, we may find ourselves in the position of the man who said he expected to have three initial experiences upon arrival in heaven: first, amazement at who is there; second, amazement at who isn’t there; and third, profound amazement that he is there!

Talking to God

Ask the Lord to help you stay away from sinful comparisons with other believers, or from assuming greater importance than any other believer. Focus on the joyful expectation of the glories of heaven and of being with the Lord forever, which is your gift of eternal life.