The Generous Love of God

This weekend's Gospel reading includes Jesus' story about a man who hires people throughout the day to work in his vineyard and at the end pays everyone the same wage. When those who have been working all day realize they are getting the same as the people who only worked for about an hour, they are not happy. They think they are worth more. And who would blame them? We would probably feel the same way if we were in that situation.

So what is Jesus' point? When we look at the immediate context, Peter has just said to Jesus, "We have left everything to follow You. What then will there be for us?" Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for My sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." (Matthew 19:27–30)

There's a warning there: Don't think too highly about yourself. In other words, if one starts thinking in terms of what God owes him or her compared to someone else based on all the things done for God the focus is on the person rather on the generous God who freely gives the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. Thus at the end of the story, Jesus says the owner of the vineyard says to the disgruntled workers, "Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" (Matthew 20:15)

When we celebrate the generous love of God, we want to be generous people and share His love with as many as possible. It's not about what we do for God and what He should be giving us. Rather, it's about what He does for us and what, in response to His love, we want to do for Him.