Offensive Grace

Most of us learn very early in life a simple rule: you get what you earn. If you work harder, you deserve more. If you show up earlier, you should be paid more. If you sacrifice more, you ought to be rewarded accordingly. That principle governs almost everything in our lives. It governs our jobs, our schools, our farms and businesses, our reputations, and even, if we are honest, how we instinctively think God should operate.

And because that rule is so deeply ingrained in us, Jesus’s parable this morning does not merely surprise us. It offends us. A landowner hired laborers throughout the day. Some are hired at dawn, some mid-morning, some in the afternoon, and some with barely an hour of work left. At the end of the day, he pays them all the same wage. And Jesus does not tell this story to illustrate injustice. He tells it to describe the kingdom of heaven.

And that is the problem. Because this parable exposes the fact that we often want God’s kingdom to operate like the kingdoms of this world. And when it does not, when grace is given freely and equally, something in us begins to grumble.