Thursday, 26 March The Messiah Reveals His Kingdom. Matthew 20:1–16
This parable is a direct continuation of the previous chapter. There should be no chapter division here at all. It’s worth going back and re-reading the last couple of verses of the previous chapter as the introduction to this one. Verse 16 of our reading shows this link clearly; Jesus repeats his words from 19:30 to press home his point.
But it actually goes back even further, to 19:27, to Peter’s self-centred question which we did not address at all in yesterday’s reflection: What’s in it for us? And haven’t we all asked that at some time?
How often do we hear Christianity recommended to unbelievers in self-centred terms. They are encouraged to ‘give their lives to Jesus’ because of the great benefits that they will receive. You'll go to heaven when you die! You’ll be healed of your diseases! You’ll get rich! You'll be happy! You'll have meaning and purpose in your life! Your problems will be solved!
There are perhaps varying degrees of truth associated with all of these reasons, but Jesus’ ministry shows an embarrassing lack of such enticements.
Here is the blunt reality: all of these are very poor reasons to come to Christ. When we couch the Gospel in these terms, we demean God and diminish the Gospel. All of these reasons are self-centred. They answer Peter’s question: What’s in it for us? But they don’t address Jesus’ concerns at all.
There is ultimately only one good reason to come to Jesus as the sinners and human beings that we are: He is the King; we are his underlings. He is Good; we are not. He has set the standard; we have broken it.
Kings do not wander about their kingdoms plaintively giving reasons why their subjects should honour and obey them. A King sits in one place – on his throne – and expects that all of the people in his realm will bow the knee. His subjects won't ask, What’s in it for me? They will simply ask, What do you want me to do now, Sir?
There are lots of soppy songs and pious Sunday School lessons about Jesus standing outside, knocking at the door of your heart, waiting for you to invite him in. Holman Hunt’s painting, The Light of the World, has a lot to answer for! Jesus Christ the King is not some mealy-mouthed, po-faced beggar standing outside in the cold, knocking at the door of our hearts, hoping you or I will invite him in and make friends with him because he will be so lonely without us in heaven.
In this parable of the wages paid to the workers in the vineyard, Jesus answers Peter’s self-centred question, What’s in it for me? Here is what Jesus effectively tells us:
You get the glorious privilege of living in my Kingdom. You get your sins forgiven, because you had better not forget that you were a sinner and that your sins were separating you from me and my Father. And what’s more, whether you like it or not, the villain who comes to me on his deathbed gets exactly the same privileges. In fact, the very first person who came to me at the hour of my death was a criminal, and I promised him exactly what I promise you.
What do we think now of Jesus’ response to Peter back in 19:28? I can't help but wonder if there wasn’t just a little bit of tongue-in-cheek in Jesus’ answer: Don’t worry, Peter. You and the others here will have solid gold thrones, and you'll get to judge the entire House of Israel. Oh, and by the way, everyone else who comes to me will get a hundred times as much. Plus they’ll get eternal life thrown in for free!
I'm very open to being told that I'm wrong, but I can't help but wonder whether Jesus’ very ‘worldly’ description of Peter and the disciples in heaven might not have been delivered with a smile and a broad wink: Come on, Peter. Be honest. You left behind some tangled nets and an old fishing boat. Don’t make out you left behind a thriving business empire about to make the Fortune 500 list. Abraham and Moses gave up far more than you ever did!
There’s going to be a lot more people coming into this Kingdom yet from places you’ve never even heard of, and many of them will give up far more than you have – and they’ll do so with a whole lot less evidence for their trust in me than you’ve had. You’ve heard me preach, and you’ve seen me do miracles. And soon you’re going to see me killed and rise from the dead!
They won't even have an original manuscript about me written by Matthew here, the ex-tax-collector whom you always poke fun at for scribbling down notes in his little notebook about what I do and say. They'll have to make do with a sticky-taped-together-fifteenth-time copy, translated out of the excellent Greek that Matthew will write this story in, into some local language that hasn’t even been invented yet.
What’s in it for you, Peter? Eternal life. And knowing me as your closest friend. What else do you want? This adventure is going to cost you your life, Peter. An early death – that’s what you’ll get out of it. But so it will be for many millions of others down the long years of hatred and persecution of my name. And most of them won't be educated or rich or high-born. Many will only be children, bless their dear little souls – but they will have tasted bread and wine and been dipped under water – just believing unto death on the strength of old stories and a continuous witness of history that I am the Christ – and a few words written down by Matthew here.
You are among the first, Peter. But don’t get too excited about that. There’s no first and last in my Kingdom. The ones who come later will receive just as much as the ones who come first.
What’s in it for us in the 21st century? For you and me? I've known a lot of Christians who've chucked it all in when they got disappointed with their church, or didn’t get the healing they wanted, or who discovered that they’d been reading the Bible wrongly for a long time. Somehow, they managed to miss the most important point.
To have Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. To have been given eternal life as a free gift, with no postage and handling costs. To be invited to the biggest Banquet Party the universe has ever seen – and to be entitled to share a little bit of that feast in anticipation every Sunday morning with others on the invitation list. To be given the Peace that absolutely passes any understanding and Hope that is a sure and certain expectation.
That’s what’s in it for me and you. And that’s why I'm in it. And not getting out of it. Not for anything!
Prayer: Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, for the free gift of your wonderful salvation, your daily and eternal presence, the constant communication with you. I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Help me not to be so stupid as to think that I deserve it more than someone else.
