“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?’ ” Matthew 20:8-15
“But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” Luke 4:25:27
One of the overriding themes of Scripture is that God is sovereign and does as He pleases. He gives mercy and compassion to whomever He wills (Romans 9:15). In the parable above the owner gave the same wage to those working the full day as to the ones working only one hour. This may seem unfair to us but God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8). The owner was fair to the ones working the entire day as he gave them what was agreed to. The fact that he gave the same wage to the ones working one hour, by his grace, should not have filled the former with fury but rejoicing at their master’s charity. All of the men needed that equivalent of a days wage and the owner realized this. But more importantly, the owner did not have to justify what he did as he was the owner and it was his wage to pay and neither does God have to justify how he rewards His creation.
In the Luke passage God recounts two Old Testament stories that again illustrate the sovereignty of God. Elijah was sent to only the one widow to aid her in the famine and Elisha to cleanse the one leper and not others. Again, God acts sovereignly to accomplish His plans and what seems unfair to us is only God’s grace/mercy being demonstrated to those who do not deserve it. Further, these were Gentiles, women and lepers getting special grace, considered the bottom of the social ladder. Let us always remember, God is the potter and we are the clay. “Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?” (Romans 9:21).
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