Kingdom values. Matthew 20.

The parable in today's reading is pretty transparent, isn't it? Our discussion last week might have left the impression that parables are always difficult to understand, and that they always need to be explained. Jesus said this, "You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend." This parable reminds us that it may not be the parable itself, but the lesson of the parable that we won't understand. Let's see how that works in the case of this parable.

Jesus tells us that this parable is about one of the values of the Kingdom. The Kingdom operates according to God's choice, and His choice is to reward everyone who works in the Kingdom without regard to length of service, or position, or type of work. Because I'm using the word work, don't mistake this for our earning something. The only step needed on our part is to decide who's Kingdom we're going to work in, not the work itself. That's really the point. It's God's merciful and gracious choice to reward everyone, not the work we do.

What might incomprehensible to a listener, hearing but not understanding, is that this truth is contrary to how we think life works or how it should work. The world says, "We earn our keep. The more valuable the work, or the longer we do it, the greater the reward. Work hard, get ahead." (And the lesson of the parable isn't that these are values we should discard. Jesus also talks about rewards from our labor.) But God also says, "In my Kingdom, 'I want to give to this last man the same as I gave to you. Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?'"

Our joy is to serve Him. His joy is to be gracious beyond all expectations. If you hear this lesson but can only think of the world's viewpoint that the Kingdom values don't make sense, then you are listening without understanding. To put it in contemporary language, Jesus tells you something that is the opposite of how you've always thought, and you respond by thinking, "What? Just what?"

This lesson isn't told in a vacuum. Remember from our discussion about story parables that they are intended to provoke a response. This story comes at the end of Jesus' teaching about hierarchy in the Kingdom after John and James have asked (through their mother according to Matthew) to sit at Jesus' side in His Kingdom. Perhaps they thought they had some special claim to those positions because of length of service or the work they had performed. Perhaps all the disciples who then jumped into the argument were upset, not because this request was just wrong, but because they might have wanted those positions too.

Jesus then tells them that they shouldn't view the Kingdom like the rest of the world, and illustrates that teaching with this parable. The unstated ending is, "Guys do you get it now? God makes the choices about reward. Why in the world would you be unhappy that others get the reward you were also promised? Isn't it just a tremendous result to receive the reward? And not to worry about how generous God is?"

Lord, let me always have ears that hear and eyes that see.