Parable of the Labormen

Today I read Matthew 20. I have often wondered about this chapter and the parable that the Savior opens up with. He starts this chapter with the parable of the labor men in the vineyard. The natural man in me which desires the world to be fair, agrees with the laborers in this parable that the lord of the vineyard did that which was wrong. I don’t know why I should feel that way since I am well aware that the world is not fair. Not only that, the lord of the vineyard did exactly as he promised each of the laborers. It is not up to the laborer how much he will be paid for his labors once it has been agreed upon. He only has a say in the matter of saying yes he will work for that amount of time for that amount of pay. That is simple economics. But like I said before, the natural man in me can’t help but feel if I were one of the men who worked the entire day and received the same wage as a man who only worked an hour, I think I would be upset. And if I were one who only worked an hour and received an entire day’s wage, I think I would be embarrassed.

The really strange thing to me about this parable though, is that it is meant to highlight that no matter when a person joins the kingdom of God, their reward will be the same. That is how I have always heard it explained and how I have always interpreted it. And when it is viewed in that context, I am perfectly fine with it. I have no problem with someone who lived a life of sin and debauchery, finding the missionaries in the last year of their life and completely repenting and becoming converted to the Lord receiving the same reward as me who lived my whole life serving Him. I don’t have a problem with that at all. For some reason, I only have an issue with it when it is in the context of money. I wonder why that is? It could be because I realize that even though the person has now become converted, he/she still has to work on changing their personality and becoming the type of person who would want to be around the Savior and God. There is no such thing as a death bed confession as we have talked about before now. I truthfully don’t know if that is the reason or not, but I do know that it does not bother me in the least that a person’s eternal reward has no bearing on when they performed the sacred ordinances and became converted and started serving Him.

The other part of this chapter that struck me as interesting was when Jesus speaks to the mother of James and John, or the mother of Zebedee’s children as the scriptures state. She asks Jesus if her sons can sit at His right hand and on His left hand in the kingdom of Heaven. He responds back that she does not know what she is asking and that in order to grant such an honor, they would have to drink of the same cup that He shall drink of, as well as be baptized after the manner of His baptism. They respond in the affirmative that they will indeed do these things and Jesus agrees with them that they will. I’m not exactly sure what we are to take away from this though? We know that as His Apostles, these two men did indeed suffer greatly in His name, and I believe James was even martyred for His sake and we know that John did not taste of death but rather chose to stay on the earth to bring souls unto Him until His second coming. So I am not sure what exactly He means by this statement to James and John.

However, it did lead into the discussion with the rest of the Apostles that we mentioned a few days ago. Jesus tells His Apostles that if any of them would be the chief among the rest, that man would be the servant of all the rest. He goes on to give Himself as an example of what He is referring to. He states that the Son of Man did not come to be ministered unto, but rather to minister unto mankind and to give His life as a ransom for all mankind. Jesus could have chosen any life He wanted. He could have been born as a prince for a throne that was not deposed by a foreign nation. He could have come as the military commander the Jews longed for to throw off their oppressors and create a kingdom on this earth that would never be overthrown. However, He chose instead to be born in a stable, with animals and a midwife for His only witness besides His own mother and step-father. His first attendees were shepherds that were watching their flocks on a nearby hill. He chose a life of service to His fellow man.

If that is the role and life He chose for Himself, shouldn’t we look at our own life as well and see where we stand and what we can be doing better? The noblest thing we can do in this life is to serve our fellow man. I firmly believe that. Parents do it every time they have a new baby. The baby relies on them for everything, it cannot take care of itself in the slightest. That is why it is so easy to love a baby, because service begets love, like we talked about in yesterday’s post. If you need another reason to lose yourself in service, think on this: if we are trying to become like Jesus, shouldn’t try in our earthly life to emulate how He lived His? It makes sense to me. Until tomorrow.