evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wage, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ Those who had gone to work at the eleventh hour came up, and were each given a silver coin. When it was the turn of the first, they thought they would receive more. But they, too, received one silver coin. On receiving it, they began to grumble against the landowner.They said, ‘These last, hardly worked an hour; yet, you have treated them the same as us, who have endured the heavy work of the day and the heat.’ The owner said to one of them, ‘Friend, I have not been unjust to you. Did we not agree on one silver coin per day? So, take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last the same as I give to you. Don’t I have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Why are you envious when I am kind?’So will it be: the last will be first, the first will be last.”
Reflections
“Go and work in my vineyard.”Are we not brought into this world with a purpose? If we ob serve the different lifeforms of the Earthhuman community, each performs a distinctly important function that is not only beneficial to itself but also to others. If it does not function according to its na ture, it disintegrates; it atrophies.Countless of people go through their life without clear sense of purpose and direction. These are people who do things for the sake of doing them, or for the practical reason of earning a living. They do not question whether the things they do reflect their full potential and giftedness, or not.Two aims of the task/mission God assigns to us: (1) the fulfill ment of the self; and (2) the flou rishing and fulfillment of the Earth’s community of life. When we do not carry out this task by utilizing the skills and giftedness bestowed on us, we fall short of what we have been created. By not working on our full potential and by denigra ting ourselves, we shortchange God, our Maker. Moreover, we are meant to be faithful to this task and bring it to completion, so that in the end we become worthy of the eternal reward.
© Copyright Bible Diary 2019
