An excerpt from Chapter 20.
Matthew 20 opens exactly where chapter 19 leaves off. Jesus has just said something that must have left the disciples scratching their heads:
“Many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.”
What does that even mean? Fortunately, Jesus doesn’t leave them guessing. He immediately tells a story.
In fact, Matthew begins the chapter with the word for, reminding us that what follows is an explanation of what Jesus has just said. The chapter break is convenient for us, but the conversation never stopped.
Jesus is still teaching about the surprising nature of God’s kingdom. The disciples, however, are still thinking like the rest of the world.
They’re measuring greatness. They’re wondering about rewards. They’re quietly comparing themselves to one another.
Meanwhile, Jesus is preparing them for Jerusalem, where everything they think they know about greatness is about to be turned upside down.
Grace Doesn’t Keep Score
Jesus tells the story of a landowner who hires workers throughout the day. The first group begins at sunrise. A fair wage is agreed upon, and everyone goes happily to work.
Three hours later the landowner hires more workers.
Then again at noon.
Again at three in the afternoon.
Finally, with only one hour left before quitting time, he finds still more people standing in the marketplace.
“Why have you been standing here all day?” he asks.
“Because no one has hired us.”
So he sends them into the vineyard as well.
The day ends. The foreman begins handing out wages.
And Jesus tells the story in a way that makes you almost brace yourself for what’s coming.
The workers hired at five o’clock—those who worked only a single hour—receive a full day’s wage. Imagine the excitement. Imagine the relief. Imagine the gratitude.
Then imagine the workers who had labored since sunrise watching all of this unfold.
You can almost hear the calculations beginning. “If they’re getting a full day’s wage… we’re going to receive much more.”
Then comes the chapter’s first great but.
“But each one of them also received a day’s wage.”
Suddenly joy gives way to comparison. Gratitude becomes grievance. What had felt generous now feels unfair.
But That’s Not Fair
The workers protest. “We’ve worked through the heat of the day!” “We’ve carried the heavier burden!” “How can they receive the same reward we do?”
It’s an understandable reaction. It’s also exactly the point.
The landowner gently reminds them, “Didn’t you agree to work for a day’s wage? I’ve kept my word.”
Then he asks a question that exposes the real issue. “Or are you envious because I am generous?”
That question reaches far beyond the vineyard. It reaches into our own hearts. How often do we compare God’s blessings in someone else’s life with what He’s doing in ours?
Why did they receive healing before I did?
Why did their marriage recover while mine ended?
Why did their child come home?
Why has God opened that door for them but not for me?
Comparison quietly steals gratitude. Grace becomes difficult to celebrate once we begin measuring what someone else has received.Jesus reminds us that God’s generosity isn’t something to resent. It’s something to rejoice in. Because one day His generosity toward us will seem just as undeserved.
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