God Doesn't Always Make Sense

Do you struggle with things not making sense? Of course you do, we all do. We all have an internal moral compass or fairness meter that sounds off when things are not as they should be. For the most part I can accept things not making sense in the world. The world is skewed and after a while I have come to accept it - it’s wacky and getting wackier every day. However, when things don’t make sense to me in the Bible, I like to take time to make sense of it. One such time for me was a parable found in the gospel of Matthew with a simple story that Jesus told to depict what the kingdom of heaven is like. This story has always bothered me because it feels unfair; on the surface it doesn’t make sense. Take a moment and read it in Matthew 20:1-15. 

 Jesus begins with “For the kingdom of heaven is like...” and then he goes on to tell of a landowner who works to fill his vineyard with workers, agreeing to pay each of them a denarius (a typical amount for one days wages in that time). The landowner is on the hunt for workers, which he finds throughout the day, even late into the afternoon. People who have been standing around all day are suddenly put to work. The one common denominator for these hired hands, regardless of when they began their workday, was their pay. All were paid one denarius. 

I empathize with the sweaty, disgruntled workers coming off a full day of sun scorched backbreaking work being paid the same wage as those who worked an hour in the cool of the late afternoon. The amount is not in question, the fairness is. The landowner’s response (he doesn’t give a sensible explanation) must have been hard to swallow and equally hard to argue with. After all, he fulfilled the contract. His obligation was to pay each worker a denarius, exactly what he promised and by the way, each worker agreed to ahead of time. Everything was clear and out in the open. Even the distribution of payment was plain to see - personally if I was the landowner I would have been more discrete in passing out the payment to avoid a riot. Not this landowner, though. He even ordered the last workers hired on to be the first workers paid which all but ensured the other workers would see the inequity. 

Odd behavior by the landowner, though. What possessed him to overpay for the work rendered by the late workers? I think of how much he could have saved by cutting the amount for the later workers. Surely they would have worked for less given the first group agreed to work a full day for a denarius. He was either really bad at math or had a reason for his overpayment.

The last thing the landowner says to the disgruntled worker turned spokesman is, “I’m not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (Matthew 20:13-15). 

I find it almost comical that the ones who were overpaid are not complaining, nor are they offering to share their pay. I doubt that even crossed their minds. Just like it never occurred to the disgruntled workers to be happy for their fellow workers for the windfall they received. Two very different perspectives depending on where you fall on the hiring timetable.

I can’t forget that the whole point of Jesus’ story is stated right up front… a glimpse into what the kingdom of heaven is like. So how is this story like the kingdom of heaven? 

I see the kingdom of heaven as being worth the work. Ultimately Jesus has done the work on the cross and we don’t earn our salvation, yet there is still work to do (stay with me here, even if that doesn’t quite make sense yet). The entry point to our salvation, when one is born again, happens at various times and places and the late comers to salvation are not sent to a place that is less than heaven. The most obvious example of a late comer is the thief on the cross. He put his trust in Christ and seemingly did very little to earn a place with Jesus in paradise, yet Jesus welcomed his faith and secured his eternal position in those final moments. To me this simple vineyard story is meant to realign my thinking. I naturally want to focus on what’s “fair,” while Jesus is demonstrating a higher level of thinking altogether. Jesus is showing us God’s overwhelming generosity by offering all who would put their faith in him a place in his kingdom, regardless of when we make this decision. 

On the day when I enter into his heavenly kingdom, this story will have prepared me. There will be many late arrivers and I hope to marvel at God’s generosity, not because they were late to the game and therefore didn’t do much to earn their entry, but that any of us are found in paradise at all. I doubt that anyone, at the sight of our Savior who bears the scars of his ultimate sacrifice to bring us home, will be doing anything other than marveling at his generosity. 

I love sharing this story to the prisoners I meet with. It fills these late comers with an amazing hope that eclipses all of our petty comparisons. They see that there is space in the kingdom story for them also - regardless of when they came to trust Jesus or what baggage they bring along. He paid the price for everyone and it’s never too late.