“It’s not fair!” How many times have parents heard that wail from their children? If we are honest, as adults we frequently cry that out, as well. Children complain of how unfair it is when one of their siblings gets a privilege that they don’t also get, or neighborhood playmates can do something that they aren’t allowed to. Adults complain that it’s not fair when a co-worker gets a promotion or raise that they don’t get, or can afford a better house or car than they can.
If we aren’t careful, that complaint of “It’s not fair!” can creep into our spiritual lives, as well. Maybe we see the Lord blessing another Christian, and we look at our life, blind to our own blessings, and cry about how unfair it seems. Perhaps we look at a notorious sinner who finally, at the end of their life, accepts the Lord Jesus as their Savior. We look at the many years we’ve toiled for the Lord and compare it with their years of riotous living, and feel we deserve a better spot in heaven than they do. It is just such thoughts that our Lord addresses in the parable He told in today’s Gospel reading. Let’s take a look.
As our passage begins, Jesus describes an owner of a large vineyard. He needs a number of workers, as perhaps it is harvest time, so he goes to the marketplace early in the morning to hire some day laborers. As the day progresses he realizes he will need more workers if he is going to get the job done, so he goes back several times to hire more. He hired men at 6 am, 9 am, noon, and 3 pm. Now it is 5 pm and even though there is only one hour left in the workday, he hires another group. When it comes time to get their wages, the owner starts with the last group hired, and gives them a whole day’s pay. The ones hired first think they will get more, since they worked longer. However, they also get a day’s pay, which starts them complaining. “It’s not fair!” The owner says that is what they agreed to, so why are they complaining? It was the owner's privilege to extend the same generosity to all.
We can make the comparison of the vineyard owner and workers to the Lord and believers working for His kingdom. There are some Christians who came to faith in the Lord Jesus when they were young, many even as children, and have spent their whole lives living for Him. Some came to faith as young adults, and some in their middle ages. Then there are some who didn’t accept Jesus as Savior until their old age, and a few literally on their deathbeds.
There are some who look a little resentfully at those who come to faith at the end of their life, feeling that if they served their whole life for Jesus, maybe 50, 60, or 70 years for Him, they deserve a greater place. Some may feel that those who come to faith late in life should have to atone somehow for their life of sin, that it’s not fair that they could live sinfully, and then at the last minute accept Christ and get heaven.
In Jesus’ teaching, He showed that no matter how long the vineyard workers worked, each received a day’s wage. Similarly, anyone saved in their last days or hours of life, will enjoy the full blessings of heaven, along with those who were saved at an early age, and worked for God all their lives.
This parable is not about any rewards that one will receive in heaven, but is instead about salvation. Those who have labored long for Jesus will receive a reward (I Corinthians 3:10-15; II Corinthians 5:10). However, getting into heaven is not earned. Salvation is received by grace through faith, not through works (Ephesians 2:8-9). Grace cannot be earned or deserved. God is free to bestow His favor however He chooses. Jesus could have looked at the thief on the cross and told him that he had messed up for too long, and now it was too late. He didn’t, though. When that thief, with his dying breath, acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah, and asked Him to remember him, Jesus promised him a place in heaven (Luke 23:39-43). He had no opportunity to do any good works, yet he got into heaven as assuredly as any saint.
We need to be careful about when we cry out that it’s not fair. None of us deserve heaven. We never know who might accept Jesus in the last moments of life, and we may be surprised with who we may see in heaven. It is only through God’s love and mercy that we will find ourselves there, at whatever age we come to Christ.
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