When those who had started about five o’clock came,
each received the usual daily wage.
Who do we want to be among these hired workers? Do we prefer to be those who get away with doing the least but still get the promised wage? Do we want, finally, to be a saint, but to put it off as long as possible? Do we say with Augustine, "Give me chastity and continence, but not yet"? We know that deathbed conversions are possible. We know that the good thief on the cross was promised to be with Jesus in paradise (see Luke 23:43), the same paradise as Paul, Peter, or any of the great saints of history.
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
It is in some sense natural to prefer to avoid the day's burden and the heat if possible. But what is the alternative?
‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’
There is real work in the vineyard. There is the heat of the day. But the alternative is idleness that is ultimately purposelessness. Those who are not working have not been chosen. They aren't simply sitting at home watching TV. They're wondering what their lives are supposed to be all about. They look for how they might put their skills to use, how they might find meaning, but with no one to hire them they do not find a satisfactory answer.
Can we learn to delight in the project of the landowner, to see ourselves as a part of the vineyard that produces the wine of joy for the nations? Do we realize that Christianity, though not without hardship, is the place where we find fulfillment, where we can live with purpose, and put our gifts to use? That we are invited to help produce this sacred wine is a far greater thing than the inevitable challenges that come with it.
The Lord longs to give us the promised wage. He will give it, not to those who have earned it, but to every heart that is willing to accept his invitation. Do we as Christians still live as though we are earning God's favor? Does this characterize our life of prayer? It is one reason it can be difficult to remain in silence before God. We feel the need to be productive, to do something. We have a hard time letting ourselves just 'waste' time with God. Yet learning to waste time with him, to spend time regardless of how we measure its utility, is important to our growth.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.
Paul gave us an example by his Christocentric attitude. He himself would have been happy to serve in vineyard however long he was called to serve. He would have been equally happy to immediately depart this life to be with Christ. He was able to see beyond his own preferences and to desire that Christ be magnified. He learned to find his own good, his own joy, in the goodness and joy of the landowner.
Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
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