Workers in a Vineyard

June 11, 2025 | Read and think about Matthew 20:1-16

A good way to think about this parable is to ask, simply, what is there to notice in the words of Jesus?

This parable has a simple structure, nothing fancy.

• There is a situation described.

  
  

• Then a significant and unexpected event.

  
  

• And a response to this event.

  
  

• And a reply to the response.

What I notice about the situation is the persistence of the vineyard owner. To go out five times looking for workers to reward is quite persistent, and it's encouraging to the meaning of the parable.

The significant event is the owner's decision to pay each worker the same.

The response of each set of workers can be inferred, but the parable tells the response given by those who worked the longest. They compared themselves to others who spent hardly any time doing the work of the owner, and they were indignant as they grumbled over the unfair treatment.

The reply by the owner was basically to say, this was my call; I provided you what you expected. Am I not free to provide the same to those who started later?

The key to the parable is that in God's eternal economy, it was all the same whether they worked for 10 hours or 1 hour.

The Lost Sheep and the Unforgiving Debtor

June 10, 2025 | Read and Think About Matthew 18:10-35

In this passage, Jesus tells two parables - one about a wandering, lost sheep who has become split off from the herd, and the other about a man who was forgiven a great debt, only to do the exact opposite to another who begged and pleaded for mercy. That Matthew recorded these close to each other offers an additional clue about their meaning.

In the first parable, I wondered why the shepherd allowed the sheep to wander off in the first place. If the shepherd is meant to symbolize God, why would a Good Shepherd fail to notice his wandering sheep? It is because the sheep symbolizes a person created by God, who has free will. The importance of the parable is not the wandering off, but the response of the Shepherd to His lost sheep. The parable ends with Jesus telling His listeners of the incredible lengths the Shepherd went to in order to find this lost sheep, and of the exceeding joy over the success of this rescue!

In the second parable, the huge debt of the first servant symbolizes his many sins, for which he is in great need of forgiveness. The fact that the parable is about sin is indicated by Peter's question that opens the parable: "How many times am I to forgive one who sins against me?" The ending of the parable shows how seriously God takes this business of forgiveness. It is not just the vertical aspect - God forgiving His people of their sins. There also is a crucial horizontal aspect to forgiveness.

In this case, the servant who was forgiven millions brooded over the tiny debt of one hundred. It says he went out and found this fellow servant who owed him this tiny debt. The Greek word for "found" is "heurisko." Elsewhere, Matthew uses the same word to convey how the wise men sought and "found" Jesus after his birth (Matthew 2:8). And Jesus used the same word in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 7:7-8 to say that those who seek shall "heurisko" (find) the good gifts of God. Whatever the end purpose, the word means to search out and find something - or someone.

This unforgiving servant went out looking for a brother to lash out against and punish. The master's rhetorical question captures Jesus' point:

• "Shouldn't you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?"

It's good to let that question sink in.

I also wondered why these two parables were paired up. Can the incensed reaction of the master be further understood by the parable of the lost sheep? I think it can be. The reaction is certainly based on the imbalance of one being forgiven so much yet hardening his heart over something so trivial. But also, from God's perspective, what if that second servant happens to be one of His wandering, lost sheep? With such an unforgiving spirit, the first servant might be impeding the work of the Shepherd in going out to look for and rescue the second servant, this wandering soul.

We never want our actions and attitudes to run counter to the work God is doing in the lives of our fellows. Even if we don't like someone, we are called to love others and to want the same thing God wants for them.

The 'Is Like' Parables -Part 3

June 8 | Read and Think about Matthew 13:24-29, 36-43, and 47-52

While the kingdom of Heaven is not a location on a map, the ‘Is Like’ parables show us it does have several dimensions.

We have seen how the kingdom of Heaven attracts those who hear the Lord’s words and consider its value, as one would value a treasure or a fine pearl (part 2). We’ve also seen how the kingdom of Heaven is supposed to expand in our lives and in the world, through the combined work of the Holy Spirit and of Jesus’ own followers (part 1).

Now, in today’s passages, we see an eternal dimension of the kingdom of Heaven.

From the first passage, the parable of the wheat and the weeds, the reality is that not all will be saved.  A judgment is to occur when the wheat and the weeds will be separated out.

Those who are like the wheat (made righteous in Jesus Christ) will be in Heaven, verse 43, while those like the weeds will perish and suffer, verse 42.

The second parable for today (the fishing net) follows the same track. Notice the similarity between verses 49–50 and verse 41.

The verses say that we, as humans, are not to judge. It is not our place to judge, and it frees us to concentrate on other things.

This is why Paul, after being beaten and put in the stocks, did not judge his persecutor. Instead, we read in Acts 16.22-34 about Paul urging the jailer to not end his life, and saying, “believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” 

That same night, Paul sowed the seeds of salvation in the man‘s life and his family‘s, baptizing all of them for the forgiveness of their sins.

Paul was not to judge the jailer, but rather to love him. This is our calling, too.