An important lesson in understanding the beauty of grace

The manager of a construction company was once asked about issues he was having with the workers. He said there were many but that the main one was ‘entitlement’. They were focused not on what they could give but on what they can get. We see something similar in these passages as we look at the apostle Peter.

Peter’s question to Jesus was ‘we have left everything and followed you. What then will there be for us?’ Jesus’ response was firstly to affirm Peter’s question but warns him by saying ‘many who were first will be last and the last first’.  The implications of this are explained in Chapter 20. The workers who came last to the vineyard and only worked for part of the day were paid first and received the same amount as had been promised, when they were hired, to those who had worked hard all day.

The point of all this is that through what Jesus Christ has accomplished on the cross every disciple has received an abundance of good things in their salvation from sin. It is not about comparisons with others or what I do but about God’s rich grace. The disciples, especially Peter, needed to be warned about the danger of seeking ownership of God’s vineyard instead of resting humbly and contentedly in their privileged position of being the workers.