Reflective Bible Study

As we come closer to the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion in Matthew’s gospel, we come to a parable Jesus shares about a landowner hiring workers for his vineyard. Like many of Jesus’ other parables, this one is attributed to the kingdom of heaven.

However, as I have read this parable, I have always been amazed at the implications and things I learn from the details in this parable, and I’m sure that this time will be no exception. Let’s read what Jesus shared and then unpack some things we can learn from this teaching. Our parable and passage are found in Matthew’s gospel, chapter 20, and we will be reading from the New International Version of the Bible. Starting in verse 1, Jesus tells those present:

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When 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.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Whenever I read this parable, one portion of the parable bothers me when we compare it with how this parable is framed. At the start of this parable, Jesus frames this parable as being about the kingdom of heaven, and at the end of the parable, we find people who are being rewarded by this landowner who are grumbling against the landowner because they don’t feel they have been treated fairly.

This detail comparison strikes me as odd because regardless of what represents the kingdom of heaven in this parable, I find it challenging to picture people complaining about the unfairness this parable presents.

Don’t misunderstand me though. Looking around at people here on earth, including those in the church and those out of the church, I can easily picture a group of people accusing God of being unfair. However, it is harder for me to picture this happening in heaven.

However, while God, who I believe is represented by this landowner, is being accused of being unfair, is there anything actually unfair happening in this parable?

If we judge this parable through our human standards, we might be able to make a case that what the landowner does is unfair. After all, those who worked for fewer hours should receive less than those who worked for more hours, especially with all other variables being the same. If someone who came later in the day worked harder and produced more than someone who was present but not all that diligent, then a case could be made for paying the one who performed better for a shorter period of time the same, or worse for that matter, as someone who worked longer but who wasn’t as productive.

However, the details of this parable remove the accusation of the landowner being unfair. Those who began first thing in the morning agreed to being paid a fair day’s wage. After the day’s worth of work, they seem to have forgotten what they had agreed to. However, forgetting the details of an agreement doesn’t make the agreement any less binding and it doesn’t make what was agreed upon any less fair.

Those who worked a full day were paid what was fair for a full day’s worth of work. In contrast, those who started later get more than they deserved for their work. Those who started later get to experience generosity because they receive more than they would have normally earned for the time they spent working.

It is interesting when we take this idea and extend it into the spiritual realm. If we ignore for a moment that those who worked the longest complained, we can see an amazing spiritual parallel in what Jesus did for us.

Let’s take the day of work in the vineyard in this parable and translate it into a lifetime of service. When we look at our lifetime service record, the only one in history with a spotless record is Jesus. Jesus began way before we even knew anything about God and Jesus will continue long after memory of us has faded from those alive on this planet.

If anyone has served for a long time, it is Jesus. Anyone and everyone who serves God is someone who started after the start of the workday because when we were born, regardless of how smart we were or what family we were born into, we had no understanding of serving God.

This also means that when God pays us for our lifetime of service, He gives us more than we deserve. Instead of limiting the reward He has planned to give us and basing it on how well we served, God decides to reward us as though we served Him like Jesus served. We are given the rewards of perfect service when our service record is anything but perfect.

And the amazing thing about this understanding of this parable is in the last phrase Jesus shared in this parable. In verse 16, Jesus tells those present, “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

Jesus deserved to be rewarded for His life of service, but Jesus chose to be last and to place us first. Jesus is the only one with a spotless record of service, but instead of leaning on His perfect record, He decides to trade it with our imperfect record and take the punishment for our sins. I can understand those who are skeptical of a selfless God like this, but would a God of love act any other way?

Looking at the details of this parable, and how the landowner continues to seek out people to help in his vineyard, we can conclude that God is always looking for more people to help in His vineyard. While the workday is still in progress, it is never too late to accept God’s invitation to work with and for Him.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always open the challenges by saying, intentionally seek God first and place Him first in your life. Choose to accept Jesus’ gift of His service record in place of your own. Choose to accept God’s invitation to serve in His vineyard and discover what life is like with God.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to intentionally grow closer to God each day. Through prayer and Bible study, we are able to open our hearts to God and we are able to let Him enter our lives. Prayer and Bible study help us serve others better and these habits help us live the life God has called us to live.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or abandon where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Over the past several weeks of podcasts, we have been focusing in on a section of Luke’s gospel where Luke includes lots of Jesus’ teaching. For this episode, Luke shifts out of sharing big truths Jesus taught in order to share with us a powerful miracle that teaches us a powerful truth.

Let’s read about what happened and then look a little closer to discover some big things we can learn from this event.

Our passage for this episode is found in Luke’s gospel, chapter 17, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible. Starting in verse 11, Luke tells us:

¹¹ While He [referring to Jesus] was on the way to Jerusalem, He was passing between Samaria and Galilee. ¹² As He entered a village, ten leprous men who stood at a distance met Him; ¹³ and they raised their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!” ¹⁴ When He saw them, He said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were going, they were cleansed. ¹⁵ Now one of them, when he saw that he had been healed, turned back, glorifying God with a loud voice, ¹⁶ and he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan. ¹⁷ Then Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine—where are they? ¹⁸ Was no one found who returned to give glory to God, except this foreigner?” ¹⁹ And He said to him, “Stand up and go; your faith has made you well.”

Whenever I read this event, I always get the picture in my mind that the nine who didn’t return to thank Jesus must not have been very grateful. However, I then look closer at the details of this event and suspect that these other men simply had a different focus when they realized they were healed, and this other focus doesn’t mean they were not thankful, but that they didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize their healing.

However, before getting to what their focus may have been, as we read this passage and learned about this event, several details jump out that I believe are significant and worth paying attention to.

The first of these details is Jesus’ message to them. Jesus doesn’t promise them healing, He simply tells them to go and show themselves to the priests. There is an implication that they would be healed, but it really isn’t promised. After all, they could go and show themselves to the priests and receive the verdict that they still were unclean lepers.

Jesus’ message to these men is significant, because often times we might expect God to speak a direct message to us about our current situation, and instead, we receive instructions that don’t sound very related. It was this way with the Old Testament man known as Naaman, who had leprosy, and who was instructed to do something simple, and who almost missed out on being healed because the task given to him seemed too simple and too insignificant. To learn more about this story, you can find it in 2 Kings, chapter 5.

When we receive simple or seemingly unrelated instructions from God, we would be wise to trust that He knows best. If the instructions don’t contradict any law included in the Bible, we should be willing to follow the instructions because chances are we will see a positive result.

I wonder if Naaman was on the minds of these lepers as they heard Jesus’ instructions. Jesus’ instructions were simple and His instructions only made sense in a situation that assumed they were already healed. Because of these two reasons, these lepers likely immediately set out to see the priests.

This brings us to the second big portion of this event that stands out in my mind. Luke tells us in verse 14 that “as they were going, they were cleansed.” These lepers were not cleansed before they started on their trip to see the priests; they were cleansed after they began their trip.

Often times, when we want to see God moving and working in our lives, we need to be like these lepers and begin moving – specifically following the instructions we have been given. Only when we start moving will we likely discover the next steps to take after we have started. Often, like traveling through a fog, we cannot see the ultimate destination. Instead, we are only able to see the next few steps. We should trust that God has the end in mind and that He is leading our steps as we continue to step forward with Him!

While the men were going to see the priests, they were cleansed. The implication I read in this passage is that they were cleansed relatively quickly after their trip began. I suspect this because this man is easily able to find Jesus and give thanks to Him.

However, the passage says in verse 15 that this man “turned back”. This Samaritan turned back from going to see the priest because He wanted to thank his Healer. A case could be made that these men had not traveled very far, because Jesus expects to see nine more people with this man giving praise and thanks.

The obvious answer to Jesus’ question about where the other nine men were is that they were following through with the instructions Jesus had given them. They were going to see the priests to get an official “all clean” verdict.

In some ways, we could flip this situation around and say that this Samaritan leper risked losing his healing because he deviated from following the instructions Jesus gave.

However, giving thanks and glory to God is never outside of God’s will. Jesus honored the gratitude and praise this Samaritan gave and Jesus tells him that his faith had made him well. This was the faith that left to see the priests, and the faith that likely directed Him to return to his journey to see the priests after thanking Jesus personally.

I am certain that the other nine men who were healed were thankful and that they praised God. Perhaps they finished their trip to see the priests before coming and thanking Jesus personally, or perhaps they praised God for Jesus and this miracle without returning. It is also possible they wanted to find Jesus after having seen the priests, but they were unable to locate Him.

Whatever the reason for these other men not returning, I am certain that it wasn’t because they were not grateful. Instead, I am certain they wanted to solidify the healing their faith in Jesus and God had blessed them with.

This leads us to one last big truth we can learn from this event: When we do nice things for others, sometimes we will be thanked directly for what we have done, but other times, we might not receive gratitude from those we helped. Whether we receive thanks or not, we should continue to help others because this is what God does.

We best reflect God and His character when we help others. Sometimes our help will be rewarded with gratitude, other times, our help will appear to fall on ungrateful people. However, God has called us to be a blessing to the world around us and regardless of whether we receive thanks for what we do in this life, God will reward those who blessed others in His name regardless of whether they received gratitude before.

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to give God thanks and gratitude for all the ways He has blessed you with. If you haven’t done so recently, simply say “Thank You” to God for what He has brought into your life. Having a grateful attitude is one of the best decisions we can make in our lives with God!

Also, continue to pray and study the Bible for yourself to learn and grow closer to God each day. Through the pages of the Bible, discover a God who loves you more than you can ever imagine, and discover how we can open our hearts and let Him into our lives!

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or neglect where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!