Matthew 20:1-16 Don't Covent Anything of Your Neighbor

“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

Reading the parable of the vine yard owner, many of us can identify with the first laborers hired. So often it seems in the work force, many who had few sacrifices made gains that took us back breaking labor to have. The point of this lesson by Jesus is to be satisfied with what he has given us and not to look with a desiring eye at what He has given others. Our response is a mix between jealousy and greed, neither of which are traits of those who come to the Kingdom of Heaven. Instead of envy, rejoice with your neighbor so that your Father in heaven will be satisfied with you..

Daily Prayer: Father, you have given to me generously. Thank you. Most of all, You gave Your only Son, so that through my faith in him, I will inherit eternal life. Apart from this, I can ask no more. In Jesus name I pray Amen.