My good friend Denny volunteered his son, an electrician, to repair Maggie’s kitchen light that has been flickering for three months and driving her bonkers. It took me three months to find an electrician, but Cory had the repair completed in 20 minutes. When Maggie asked how much, he kindly nodded no thanks that he was glad to help. A nice God moment.
However, let’s be honest there are times when Jesus is outrageous when he teaches that everybody gets to receive the treasure of the kingdom and the blessings of grace no matter how much they have done.
Denny is a farmer and this week he will be harvesting his corn crops with the help of his sons and neighbors. He asked me to come and take photos of the harvest. This reminds me of another farmer who needed some help at harvest time. So he goes to the labor pool to the marketplace where the labor is gathered and he hires people for a normal day’s wage which today would be about a $100. Later he needs some more help so he goes back and he hires some more people. He does this several times throughout the day all the way till almost sundown and there’s not one hint that he’s going to pay everybody the same amount.
The people who worked all day, the people who worked eight hours the people who worked four hours the people who worked only an hour. Some worked in the blazing sun all day got the exact same pay as Johnny come lately. It wasn’t only unfair, what’s worse is there is no explanation why and it just drives me crazy.
It reminded me way back to 9/11 and the years afterward when Osama Bin Laden became a household name and so it took a lot of guts that day when the man who was teaching the children decided to teach the kids about Jesus’s greatest commandment to love your neighbor as yourself. That’s always a tough lesson because a lot of us really don’t want to love but the man’s example was even harder Osama Bin Laden. He asked the kids that day in church the whole world hates this man do you think God loves him? Everyone in church squirmed in their seats thinking of sons and daughters overseas at war yet somehow I think the teacher understood best of all God sends His reign on the just and the unjust.
According to the Scripture God is kind to the wicked and even to the ungrateful. God can act however He wishes. He’s free to love however He desires whether we deserve it or not, whether we like it or approve it or not. God is God and we are not. Frankly Jesus sounds a little outrageous even offensive doesn’t he and you know what, “thank goodness.”
Thank goodness that God is not just a God who gives us what we deserve but is also a God of grace. Thank goodness that no matter how much we may think that we’ve somehow earned God’s blessings and gifts the fact remains that we don’t. No one in this world is perfect only God is and everyone of us has regularly missed the mark in our lives. We may think that somehow that we’ve earned God’s favor but as soon as anyone thinks she’s worthy it’s good to remember no matter how good you are there’s always someone better no matter how much you have done. There’s always someone who has done more. None of us matches the holiness and perfection of God.
I thought I gave a lot to God until I saw the widow hobble up to the offering plate and give her last coin to invest in the kingdom of God. I thought I worked pretty hard for God until I read about a fellow who led a group of two million whiny complainers through the wilderness for 40 years and then Moses didn’t get to enter the Promised land. I thought I knew what suffering was and until I looked at the body of Jesus my savior, My Lord hanging on the cross bleeding, asphyxiated being pulled apart all the way to death no matter how much you do there’s always someone who has done more. So I say thank goodness, thank goodness we don’t get what we deserve or what we have earned instead verse 12 tells us that we have all been made equal thank goodness that God offers the same grace to the faithful elderly lady who attended Mass every Sunday for 63 consecutive years as He does to the thief gasping for his last breath as he welcomes Christ just moments before dying on the cross right next to him the ultimate holy moment of all. Thank goodness.
Lord, I pray for all my Sonshine Frineds who are thankful to God for we deserve nothing but we have been given everything. Jesus is outrageous and for that I say, thank goodness.
