One, two, three o’clock, four o’clock, rock
Five, six, seven o’clock, eight o’clock, rock
Nine, ten, eleven o’clock, twelve o’clock, rock
We’re gonna rock around the clock tonight

Jesus is really rockin the great reversal of Kingdom of God thinking and behaving versus what and how the current world thinks is “fair” to his followers in this parable.  Jesus, the Rock of our salvation, wants us all to clearly understand what Kingdom of God thinking looks and acts like so we believers will begin to approach life living in this way.  It is indeed a great reversal of thinking for his disciples—and later for us. 

Lord, we ask that you cleanse our hearts, renew, and transform our minds, feed our souls, and restore the joy of your salvation that Kingdom of God thinking provides. In Your Name, by your Power working within us, Amen

Matthew 20, The Message

A Story About Workers

20 ^1-2 “God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

^3-5 “Later, about nine o’clock, the manager saw some other men hanging around the town square unemployed. He told them to go to work in his vineyard and he would pay them a fair wage. They went.

^5-6 “He did the same thing at noon, and again at three o’clock. At five o’clock he went back and found still others standing around. He said, ‘Why are you standing around all day doing nothing?’

⁷ “They said, ‘Because no one hired us.’

“He told them to go to work in his vineyard.

⁸ “When the day’s work was over, the owner of the vineyard instructed his foreman, ‘Call the workers in and pay them their wages. Start with the last hired and go on to the first.’

^9-12 “Those hired at five o’clock came up and were each given a dollar. When those who were hired first saw that, they assumed they would get far more. But they got the same, each of them one dollar. Taking the dollar, they groused angrily to the manager, ‘These last workers put in only one easy hour, and you just made them equal to us, who slaved all day under a scorching sun.’

^13-15 “He replied to the one speaking for the rest, ‘Friend, I haven’t been unfair. We agreed on the wage of a dollar, didn’t we? So take it and go. I decided to give to the one who came last the same as you. Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’

¹⁶ “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

It does not matter how long but that we believe in our Savior.  It does not matter when we began to serve our Lord but how we serve with hearts of gratitude for “hiring” (calling), offering (inviting) us a better life, and rewarding us by saving us and including us as part of His Kingdom family!

One of two thieves on either side of Jesus as He is being crucified turned his mocking to begging when he was about to die.  He turned to Jesus for repentance.  Jesus forgave him and said, “truly, you will be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:43) That’s how the great reversal of thinking works.  God decides what is “fair”—we do not.

God is infinitely beyond human thinking.  God is the Original Love that knows no boundaries.  His love is unchanging.  His love is for us, not against us.  His love causes Him to grieve when he watches us fall into the traps of evil that cause harm to us.

God’s mercy and grace also goes beyond what humans think is deserved and gives as gifts of “fairness”.  What is fair and right to God is that NO ONE perish but that all be saved from their sins.  “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16 The gift of grace is there, ready for us to receive as we believe.  His mercies are new and fresh each morning as we hold up both hands to grasp and retrieve them.  God is good.  God is so, so, good.

The Great Reversal of Kingdom of God thinking and behaving is magnificently taught and demonstrated by our Perfect Example, Jesus Christ, the Rock of our Salvation.  (Philippians 2)

God knew we would not be perfect as we navigate this world, so he provided Perfect Forgiveness—Jesus, His Son.  God provides the only Way out of the punishment we deserve for all our sins.  That Way is Jesus who embodied Truth.  By believing Truth, we are reconciled and reconnected to God who is love.  We are given Life eternal which begins the moment we believe and repent of our sins, not matter what age or how “late” in life we begin to believe. 

No one deserves it but our merciful God gives it—that is His nature and preference for God is love.  (1 John 4)  To know God is to know real love.

To God be the Glory!

Lord,

Thank you, thank you, thank you! I will rejoice and be glad all day long and into the night for you are my salvation, my strength, and my song!  I will rejoice with the angels in heaven when another soul comes to you!  No matter when they come to you; we have learned not to judge or complain that they waited until the last hour of their lives.  We pray that no one perishes!  Thank you for reversing our thinking!  Help us to live what you teach!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen