Greatness: Matthew 14-20Sample

A while back, my niece proudly came in second in her cross-country race. All those early morning runs with her dad had really paid off. However, like her, I was left a bit disappointed when every single kid, regardless of where they finished, got the exact same participation medal. There was no special recognition for her effort.

There is something within me that finds Jesus’ parable in Matthew 20 unsettling. It cuts across my sense of fairness. Workers who toiled all day are paid the same as those who barely broke a sweat. If you’ve ever served faithfully, sacrificed deeply, or laboured quietly in God’s kingdom, this story might make you uncomfortable. Why should they get what I get? Because grace doesn’t operate by our rules.

At the heart of this parable is a rebuke to our transactional view of God. I work, therefore I deserve. But the landowner, representing the Father, insists on a different economy; one where reward is not earned, but given, where the last are first, where those who come in late or broken still receive the full reward. It’s not because of what they’ve done, but because of who God is. This is what grace is—undeserving and free.

Isaiah 55 breaks in with fresh clarity: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8, ESV). God’s mercy offends our sense of justice because it is scandalously generous. He gives to the undeserving, to the eleventh-hour labourer, to the one who has nothing but need. If we’re honest, that’s all of us.

The moment we forget that we, too, are recipients of undeserved grace, we begin to measure others by their effort rather than marvelling at God’s mercy. But the gospel humbles us. It reminds us that we are not employees earning wages, we are beloved children receiving a gift.

Today, ponder this: Where might a sense of pride or entitlement be robbing you of joy in God’s grace toward yourself or others?