In Christ’s parable of the laborers, those who worked longer and harder are paid the same as those who hardly worked at all. How is that fair? They bore the heat and burden of the day. Why wouldn’t they receive more pay? Because the parable is not about receiving what is fair. It’s about Christ going to the cross to redeem even the greatest of sinners and saying “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” It’s about Christ interrupting the stoning of a woman caught in the very act of adultery, and saying, “Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” It’s about an undeserving thief asking for mercy, and Christ responding, “Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.”
But are we really that different? “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”, and even the good we do is mixed with sin. Yet, God graciously forgives all our sins for the sake of his Son, no matter how much or how little we’ve worked in his kingdom.
But the self-righteous cry, “Why is God being gracious to others when they haven’t done half of what I’ve done?” They see themselves as faithful and deserving, and they want what they think is fair. But if we really want what is fair, the law says: “The wages of sin is death.”
Salvation is not about receiving what is fair. Salvation is the undeserved, unearned, completely free gift of God’s grace. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
- Pastor Wyatt Rosebrock