Bible Challenge Day 23

Exodus 7-9, Psalm 19, Matthew 20

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard has always bothered me a little bit.  I think it's because I've tried to read it from an economic standpoint.  If I was a laborer who worked in the hot sun all day and someone who only did an hour's work received the same pay as me, I'd be upset.  But Jesus clearly isn't talking about economics.  If working in the vineyard means doing God's work here on earth, then everyone should get the same pay:  God's salvation.  There is great hope here in this passage.  Sometimes I don't really know what God wants me to do.  I think I've written before about the difficulty in hearing God's call.  There is comfort in knowing that the landowner constantly looks for more workers in his vineyard.  In Texas you often find large groups of men standing outside places like the Home Depot or Lowe's waiting for work.  People often speak poorly of these daily laborers, but I think it is noble that these men, many of whom are new to this country and are living in a place where they don't speak the language and are faced with the real possibility of being forcefully removed, actively seek work to support themselves and their families.  They aren't asking for handouts.  They are asking for work.  Any work.  Hard work.  I feel that way myself.  I need guidance to know where to labor in God's vineyard.  And He's coming to get me.  To get all of us.  Many are already toiling in the vineyard, but they shouldn't be bitter.  They should take comfort in knowing that more help is coming.  God constantly recruits new members to labor in his fields.  And when the time to reap the crops, to pick the grapes, to make the wine comes, we will all share equally and fully in God's love.  Now that's an economic theory I can cling to!  (But if I work all day in a field for anyone other than God, I'd better be payed well...I'm just sayin'.)