To feel the power of...
Illustration
To feel the power of this parable of the workers in the vineyard, it is important to put on a completely different pair of glasses. Not far from the church I serve are pockets of great poverty. Hispanic men stand in groups on the street corners, hoping someone will come by and give them a day's work. If they don't get work, their families don't eat. Imagine that you are a desperate father. At home are hungry children. You've been there all day and no one has hired you. You're almost ready to turn and go home empty-handed, when finally someone comes by and hires you. Then at the end of the day, he pays you the full day's wage. It's not difficult to imagine the joy and gratitude this father feels. Perhaps one of the reasons that the last shall be first is because of that joy and deep, deep gratefulness. Those who are smug and self-righteous because they always have a full day's work and resent those to whom God is gracious are the very ones who find themselves last in the Kingdom of God.
-- Owen-Gemoets
-- Owen-Gemoets