God's generosity

Matthew 20 : 1- 16

...are you envious because I am generous?

Like the vineyard workers, I am daily paid, or to be more accurate, I am paid by the hour. That is the lot of 'locum' doctors. I work for other doctors, taking their place when they take time off. In one of the places where I worked regularly for several years, I was at the receiving end of my employer's generosity. I was paid for the full eight and a half hour day, even though there was a full hour I could take off for lunch. Things changed when the clinic was taken over by another doctor. I was paid the same amount but expected to stay through the lunch hour, only taking a short break in between patients to have my lunch.

Jesus tells the parable of the vineyard workers to underline the generosity of God. "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who...." As the story proceeds we see how the landowner operates. He provides work for many who without work would not be able to support their family. Moreover at the end of the workday he does something totally unexpected. He pays the same to the early workers as to the ones employed later. If we are honest with ourselves, we would react to this 'unfairness'. We are willing to work hard but then become calculative as well about the remuneration paid to others who have worked less! Isn't the generosity of God infuriating at times?

Not so. Not if we are on the receiving end. Haven't we been on the receiving end of God's generosity and mercy? We have short memories. Before we came to him, we had nothing, at least nothing that would last for all eternity. He has been exceedingly generous to each one of us who call him our Father. His generosity is not the kind that we could ever understand......for we could never earn what he has given us.

We serve our God out of love and gratitude, never out of mere duty or obligation, nor just to earn his blessings. The kingdom of heaven is like a very, very generous landowner.........who supplies all our needs.