Gene’s Daily Scriptural Postings

Finishing with God: Matthew 20:1-16

Focus Passage: Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV)

Later on during Jesus’ ministry, He shared a parable about workers being hired to work in a vineyard, and the key ideas in this parable relate to God’s generosity, and everyone who worked receiving an equal level of pay. These two ideas are clearly visible in the Parable of the Vineyard Workers, but I believe there is another subtle truth hidden just under the surface of this parable that is powerful for all of us to remember.

In this parable, we learn about a number of groups of people who started working for the vineyard owner at various points during the day. Some of those who were hired worked all day, while others only worked for the last hour of the day. At the end of the day, everyone is paid equally as if they had worked for the full day.

When we read this parable, the big truth that Jesus shared is that it doesn’t matter when you started working, but it does matter that you finished out the day working.

Just under the surface of what is directly said in this parable is the idea that only those who were present at the end of the day were paid. This means that if someone started working at the beginning of the day, but then left at 2pm in the afternoon, they wouldn’t receive anything – because they were not present to be paid.

If this parable symbolizes how followers of Jesus are working for God during their lives here on earth, then this subtle truth is that it doesn’t matter when we start working; what matters is thatwe start working before the end of our day (i.e. life), and that we keep working until the end of our day.

God is incredibly generous with how He has chosen to reward us, but it is up to us to be present when He is rewarding those who worked for Him. A life that started with God but ended far from Him is not rewarded like a life that started far from God and ended close to Him.The direction of our lives matter, and this parable emphasizes that it is important for us to end our lives with God. Since we don’t know when our lives will end, it is up to us to live each day from this point forward with God, so that when our day of work is up, we will have ended it with Him.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!