His Mercy Knows No Bounds
Matthew 20:1-16
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into the vineyard. About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right’ so they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first. ‘ The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Jesus wants everyone to know his love and grace. He wants us to all be healed of the sin sickness which we all have fallen victim to. So, Jesus shows mercy. This parable illustrates that Jesus is willing to give his mercy and love regardless of the circumstances under which we come to him. He treats us all equally when it comes to his love and mercy. I have actually had people tell me that they don’t believe in deathbed conversions. When they say this they are actually saying that they don’t want someone to be saved on their deathbed. I have heard comments like this one: “Why should that person be given the gift of eternal life on their deathbed and I have served the Lord all my life and I’ll get the same gift of eternal life. That isn’t fair.” When it comes to our salvation fairness is not the issue. Fairness is not the issue because none of us truly deserve the free gift of forgiveness and eternal life but through Jesus we still receive his mercy. Jesus’ mercy knows no bounds and instead of worrying about whether it is fair or not we should just give thanks for it.
This week, instead of taking a hard look at the scripture verse by verse we are going to look at a different scripture selection each day that focuses on God’s mercy in Jesus Christ.
