Matthew 20

Jesus tells a parable. Parables are short stories with a big point. The point is always about how the Kingdom of Heaven works. To put it another way, parables are about how life looks when God is in charge of our lives.

 

The kicker in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is that we expect more if we work more. God views life differently. God is so excited to get any of his children to turn back to him and enter into a loving relationship with him that he gives them as much as people who have been with him a long time. In other words, tenure is not rewarded with God. Trust is rewarded no matter how long or short. And when God gives, he gives everything. He does not hold back.  How often to we get upset over the attention paid to a new member of church or work or even the family? God says that there is more than enough love to go around. He also might be saying that he expects a bit more maturity out of a tenured servant of God. God is generous. Period.

 

Jesus' mission is winding down and he is heading for what he must expect will lead to his death. The mother of two of Jesus' best friends asks Jesus to award places of honor to her sons. Jesus reminds her that a place "honor" with him is a place of sacrifice and, possibly, death. He encourages them to just follow God. God will take care of them. The other 10 apostles get indignant. Jesus points out that nobody is getting it. Honor comes from service to others on behalf of God. Honor comes from empowering people and not from having power over people. Will the disciples (or we) ever get it? Control-freaks are never about God's business, even if it looks holy.

 

Maybe in a ironic healing just after the aforementioned conversation, Jesus heals two blind men who ask for help.