The Scandal of Grace ©

(Matthew 20:1-16)

Let's start with a question.

Q. Have you ever felt like you’ve been shortchanged?

Maybe you worked late to get a job completed on time, and watched someone else get the credit.

Maybe you did the right thing yet watched someone else get rewarded for doing the wrong thing.

Maybe you have been faithful for years, and then someone walks in at the last minute and gets the same blessing that you’ve worked so hard for all your life.

If you’ve ever felt like that, this parable is for you.

But be warned, this parable will comfort you and it will CONFRONT you. It will lift you up, and it will step all over your toes!

Because here Jesus tells a story that isn't just about fairness. It is about something far more dangerous and far more beautiful. It’s about the scandal of grace!

Let's look at the text.

Jesus says,

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard”

Now, in the ancient world, day labourers would gather in the marketplace. They would stand there from dawn, waiting for someone to hire them. If no one did, then their families didn’t eat, it was that simple.

So the landowner goes out at 6 a.m. and hires a group of workers. He agrees to pay them a denarius, which was a fair day's wage.

Then he goes back out again at 9 a.m. and hires more workers, saying,

"I will pay you whatever is right."

He goes back out at noon, then at 3 p.m. and again at 5 p.m. just one hour before quitting time. He finds men still standing there and asks,

"Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing?"

They answer, "Because no one has hired us."

He says, "Go and work in my vineyard."


But when it comes to payment time, the story takes a bit of a turn.

For at the end of the day, the landowner tells his foreman to call the workers and pay them their wages, adding the instruction:

beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

So the men who worked one hour come forward. And the landowner pays them a full denarius! Now imagine the excitement building in the crowd.

The men who worked only one hour get a full day's pay. So surely the men who worked twelve hours will get more! But when the first workers come forward, they also receive one denarius. The exact same amount.

And they’re furious. They grumble against the landowner. ‘

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’

And this the landowner responds with words that cut to the heart:

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

The first hired found Offence in Grace

Now, we need to feel the full weight of this story.

Because those first workers weren’t cheated. They got exactly what they agreed to. Their anger wasn’t about injustice. It was about comparison.

Because they were fine with their wage until they saw someone else get paid the same money for less work.

And the truth that Jesus is exposing is that:

Comparison is the thief of gratitude.

Comparing what I got to what you got robs us of joy!

The first workers didn’t lose anything. But they felt robbed because someone else received grace.

And this is the scandal. This is the offence. This is what makes grace so hard for religious people to swallow.

Grace is only good news until it is given to someone we think doesn’t deserve it.

Let’s put this story into context

Remember who Jesus is talking to. At the end of chapter 19, Peter had just said to Jesus,

"We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?"

Peter wanted to know about the payout. He wanted to know that his sacrifice would be worth it. He wanted assurance that he would be rewarded more than others.

And so, in response Jesus, tells this parable. And at the end of it he says the line that ties it all together:

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

This parable is a direct challenge to the mindset that says,

"I have earned more for God than others."

The theology at the heart of this parable that Jesus is teaching is radical. He’s teaching us that

In the kingdom of God, grace isn’t a wage. It’s a gift.

If God paid us what we deserved, none of us would receive a thing.

The Bible says in Romans 3:23,

"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."

And in Romans 6:23, we read,

"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Did you catch that?

Wages are earned. Gifts are received.

The landowner didn’t pay the late workers based on their hours. He paid them based on his generosity. And that's exactly how God deals with us.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says,

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith; and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God; not by works, so that no one can boast."

We can’t earn grace. If we could, it wouldn’t be grace!

In the economy of heaven, the currency is not effort. It’s mercy.


The Warning for the Religious

So now, let me speak to those who have been following Jesus for a long time. Because this parable contains a warning for us!

It’s possible to serve God for years and yet develop a heart of entitlement. It’s possible to start with gratitude and end with grumbling.

The first workers began the day grateful to have a job. But they ended the day bitter because someone else got blessed.

Here Jesus is asking us: Are you serving God because you love him, or because you’re keeping score?

Do you believe that your years of faithfulness should earn you something more?

Do you feel a twinge of resentment when someone who's lived recklessly walks into the kingdom and receives the same grace as you?

If so, you’re standing in the shoes of the first workers. And the landowner is speaking to you:

"Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Are you envious because I am generous?"

You know, we can’t enjoy the grace we’ve received if we resent the grace that’s given to others.

There’s Good News for the Latecomer

Maybe you are like the worker hired at 5 p.m.

Maybe you feel like you have wasted your life.

Maybe you think you have arrived too late.

Maybe you believe you have made too many mistakes to be useful to God.

Maybe you have been standing in the marketplace of life, watching others get called, watching others serve, watching others experience purpose, and you have been thinking, "No one wants me. It is too late for me." Having been made to feel worthless Isn't nice.

If that’s you, then you need to know that:

The landowner is still hiring,,,, He’s still hiring!

It doesn’t matter if you have one day left. It doesn’t matter if you have one hour left. It doesn’t matter if you have only one breath left. He’s still hiring

God isn’t limited by our timeline. He’s not restricted by our past. He’s not counting our hours. But He is extending his grace.

It is never too late to be called. It is never too late to be used. It is never too late to receive grace and be born again.

Because the Cross is at the Centre of God’s grace

This parable finds its ultimate fulfilment on the cross, where Jesus hung between two thieves.
One thief had lived a life of rebellion. He had wasted his years. He had nothing to offer. He was a 5 p.m. worker if there ever was one. But in his final moments, he turned to Jesus and said,

"Remember me when you come into your kingdom."

And Jesus replied,

"Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise."

One hour of faith. And grace for all eternity received. Would you not accept Jesus’s gift?

The thief on the cross received the same salvation as the apostle Paul. The same forgiveness as Peter. The same eternal life that every other soul who has called on Jesus’s name ever since has received.

But if that bothers you, you haven’t yet understood the gospel. Because the gospel isn’t fair. And thank God it’s not.

If God were fair, we would all be lost. If God gave us what we deserved, none of us could stand.

But God isn’t fair. God is gracious. And that’s the only reason any of us have hope because

The cross is the place where fairness died, and grace was born.

So how do we apply Jesus’s teaching to our lives today?

Firstly, we need to examine our hearts and ask ourselves: Am I serving God out of love or out of entitlement? Do I celebrate when others receive grace, or do I secretly resent it?

Secondly, we need to release our comparisons. Stop measuring our lives against someone else's. God is not comparing us to them, and wer shouldn’t either. Our calling is not their calling. Our race is not their race.

Thirdly, receive grace for yourself. If you have been carrying guilt or shame, believing you have disqualified yourself, lay it down. The landowner is generous. The cross is enough. Your past does not define you.

Fourthly, extend grace to others. If God has been generous to you, be generous to others. Celebrate the latecomer. Welcome the prodigal instead of scorning them Rejoice when the last become first, can you do that?

And so to close,

Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who was generous. He paid the late workers the same as the early ones. Not because they earned it, but because he was good.

And that’s the God we serve.

He’s not fair. He‘s gracious.

He doesn’t give us what we deserve. He gives us what we need.

And he is still hiring. He is still calling. He is still extending the invitation.

The question is not whether you have earned your place. The question is whether you will receive the gift.

The last will be first, and the first will be last.

And that, is the scandal of grace. Amen.

Have a super week, and God bless,

Trev.