The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Matthew 20:1.

What is God like? Jesus told a puzzling story about a vineyard-owner who urgently needed grape-pickers. He went to the 'town square' five times - from dawn until 5 p.m. - to hire day-labourers, but at the end of the day paid them all the same! No wonder those who worked through the noon-day heat complained.

Those workers lived a precarious existence. A denarius was barely enough to feed a family for a day. Pedro, a day-labourer I met in Fortaleza, north-east Brazil, could only get work every third day on the average. His wife Isabella made clothes on a basic sewing-machine lent by World Vision. But sometimes they had no food at night, and to stop their malnourished kids crying from hunger Isabella would feed them little balls of rolled-up moistened newspaper, sprinkled with sugar. These had almost no nutritional value, but at least the little family might get some sleep.

The vineyard-owner gave people work. So here's something we can say about God: he cares about people and jobs and food and hunger.

And you care today, Lord, too. Many feel worthless, because no one will give them work. Help us to do something for someone who is unemployed. And may our leaders be a little more compassionate, and creative, about solving this awful crisis. Amen.

CHRISTIAN ECONOMICS?

'Give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first...' Each of them received the usual daily wage. Matthew 20:8,10.

A left-wing socialist would like two things here: the complainer was called 'comrade' (the literal meaning of the Greek word); and the owner was committed to two basic workers' rights - the right to work, and the right to a reasonable wage. A British left-wing cleric, Dr Soper, makes precisely this point from this passage.

A shop-steward would appreciate the courage of the one who spoke up on behalf of the others - about wages being related to other differentials like length of time worked, an over-and-above award for 'noonday heat' etc.

Tories would side with the owner: he had to carry the risks of his investment in this enterprise. He was the boss, and should be free to pay anything he liked. (And they would be glad trade unions hadn't come into being yet). 'Economic rationalism', a laissez-faire market-system based on supply and demand was operating here. Economic history tells us this is the only proven way humans multiply wealth.

Lord, in this fallen world help me to be a little skeptical about left-wing, right-wing, or even 'wingless' solutions to human problems. Every economic system is flawed because greedy humans run them. Rather, teach me about compassion, without which I will never understand the struggles of both workers and bosses. Amen.

JUSTICE AND MERCY

When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came... each of them also received the usual daily wage. Matthew 20:9,10.

The workers who had slaved all day should have been at the front of the line. When they saw what the latecomers got they rubbed their hands with glee: it was their lucky day. They'd get more than they bargained for. But the conscientious ones got the same as the 'slackers'.

This is a parable about God. He deals with his creatures in terms of justice. He is always fair. Shall not the judge of all do right? We get what we deserve.

But God goes further. Those latecomers probably had families to feed too. They had suffered the despair of waiting all day - perhaps moving from place to place - and at 5 o'clock they were thinking they wouldn't eat that night. But the landowner was merciful, giving them work, then paying them enough to feed their family.

God's mercy extends beyond simple justice or fairness, giving us more than we deserve. And his mercy is 'everlasting' as many Psalms remind us. What a God!

Father, I don't deserve your mercy. Thank you for your invitation to work in the vineyard, and for rewarding me with more than I ever could have earned. Amen.

IT'S NOT FAIR!

They grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' Matthew 20:11,12.

You don't have to teach little children about fairness. We are born with an inbuilt sense of justice. When a sibling gets a larger slice of the cake, or a bigger piece of fruit, we hear the complaint, 'It's not fair!' Parents know that if one child cuts the thing in halves and the other chooses, the problem is sometimes solved.

Industrial bargaining is based on this principle. So is our legal system. When a president seems to have initiated some skullduggery and his henchmen go to gaol while he is pardoned, we sense something isn't right. When the rich pay a brilliant lawyer and get off scot-free for a crime for which the poor go to gaol, that's not fair.

But 'It's not fair!' is usually a selfish utterance. It means I'm being 'deferred against'. Would the complainers have muttered against landowner if the latecomers had got less?

Or would they have shared their wealth with them: now there's an interesting thought - for us in our world of haves and have-nots!

Lord, some people earn more - or less - for the same work everywhere in the world. May I be slower to compare my earnings with the rich, and feel gratitude when I think of the less fortunate. Thank you for providing for my needs. Amen.

REWARDS AREN'T ALL THE SAME

Take what belongs to you and go. Matthew 20:14.

Is this parable about rewards in heaven? Does it suggest that in heaven all are the same, in spite of how well or poorly we've lived here?

No, the biblical teaching about judgment is that rewards vary according to our good works (or lack of them). The King, says Jesus, will reward his subjects according to their treatment of himself when he needed help (Matthew 25: 31ff.). Paul teaches us that God will repay according to each one's deeds (Romans 2:6).

C S Lewis used to say that heaven is not a bribe: it offers nothing a mercenery soul would desire. 'It is safe to tell the pure in heart that they shall see God, for only the pure in heart want to.' Some rewards do not sully motives: you love someone, then want to marry them; you love poetry and want to read it; you love exercise so you run and leap and walk. Love, by definition, wants to enjoy its object.

May I love you Lord, and love you enough to serve you joyfully during this life, and earnestly desire to enjoy you forever. Amen.

THE FIRST AND THE LAST

The last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew 20:16.

So who are the 'first' and the 'last' in Jesus' story? Are the Jews first, because they came into God's vineyard earlier, but because they rejected God's Messiah will be 'last'? Maybe: this is a recurring theme in Jesus' teaching... The early disciples, as they preached this parable might have told their hearers that they, as 'latercomers' were privileged too... Does it refer to those who have been Christians for a long time versus those who make a deathbed repentance? Perhaps. Certainly there is a warning implied here against those who have been in the church long enough to have a sense of 'ownership' and who reject methods of communicating the gospel in word or song to reach younger people - a common problem with pre-TV conservatives versus post-TV 'babyboomers' and young people.

The deeper - and more general - issues have to do with 'service' and 'grace'. William Barclay summarizes it well in his commentary: God does not look at the amount of our service. So long as our service is all we have to give, all service ranks the same with God. And all God gives is of grace. We cannot earn what God gives us; we cannot deserve it; we cannot put God in our debt; what God gives to us is given out of the goodness of his heart, out of his grace; what God gives is not pay, but a gift; not a reward, but a grace.

Lord, may I serve you willingly and gladly, not counting either the cost or the reward, but from the motive of pure love. Amen.