February 21, 2025
Hired Help - Part 5
Matthew 20:15-16
02/21/2025
15 ``Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what
belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?''
16 So the last will be first, and the first last.
(ESV)
Saint Matthew recorded Jesus' words: ``For the kingdom of
heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the
morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.'' God's ways are not
our ways. We compare ourselves to others, not content to accept
the gracious gifts given to us by God.
The kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of grace, where God the
Father sent His only-begotten Son to redeem and deliver us from
the power of the devil, to give us the gift of the forgiveness of
sins which leads to everlasting life. The Holy Spirit calls us
to faith in Christ Jesus through the proclaimed Word and the
sacraments which were given to the Church by Jesus.
As you and I compare ourselves to others, we demand that God
act according to our rules. Yet He told those who grumbled,
```Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?
Or do you begrudge my generosity?' So the last will be first,
and the first last.''
We give thanks and praise to God that He treats us with
grace and mercy, not according to our works. He desires that all
people be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Come into the vineyard of God's Church to hear of His love,
grace, and mercy. Each Sunday morning we gather at Trinity
Lutheran Church to learn more of this gift which we do not earn,
but which we receive at God's invitation.
May our Lord grant that we hear His call to enter the
vineyard, to be found as one who trusts only in Jesus Christ for
redemption from sin and death. Amen.