Matthew 20 Devotional

Grace That Ignores the Ledger

“Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’”Matthew 20:15 (BSB)

Jesus tells of a landowner who hires workers at daybreak, agreeing on a denarius for the day. He keeps going back to the marketplace, until the last group is hired with only an hour left (20:1-7). At evening everyone receives the same full wage, starting with the last (20:8-9). The first hired expected more, and they grumble that the latecomers have been made equal to them (20:10-12). The landowner answers that he has cheated no one. He wants to give the last the same, and asks whether they resent his generosity (20:13-15).

Jesus draws the point himself: those who are last will end up first, and the first last (20:16). The kingdom does not run on a ledger of hours worked. A few verses later he shows how far his own giving will go, since he came to serve, giving his life to ransom many (20:28). If you find yourself measuring your reward against someone else's, you can set the ledger down and be glad of a generous God.

To think about: Whose blessing have you been quietly measuring against your own, and how could God's generosity free you to be glad for them?