Learning the Jesus Way of LifeSample

Grace Isn’t Fair

Pray: Jesus, give me the faith to go where you go, do what you do, trust what you say, and love how you love. Today, I commit to following you. Amen.

This chapter opens up with a story about the confrontational nature of grace and concludes with a display of Jesus’ grace in the healing of two blind men. In between is a messy moment with James, John, and their mom. The big picture of it all points to the radical nature of grace.

Grace is the unearned favor of God. If it doesn’t feel a little bit offensive, especially to the parts of you that are overly confident in your own goodness, you probably haven’t experienced grace yet. It’s something we can’t earn, don’t deserve, and that is given freely according to God’s good pleasure. Remember all the way back to the Sermon on the Mount? God’s kingdom is built on a bedrock of blessing, a foundation of favor, and the people who He calls blessed are often the people we’d least expect.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. Matthew 20:1–2 NIV

Four more times throughout the day, this landowner goes to find workers for his vineyard—at 9:00am, noon, 3:00pm, and 5:00pm. Back then, the work day was sunup to sundown. So, when the sun set, the landowner called everyone in from the fields to pay them for the day’s labor. He started with the guys who came to work last, the 5:00pm crew, and he paid them a denarius. The men who had been working since sunrise got pretty excited because they expected to receive more. But when it was their turn, they also received a denarius.

Not surprisingly, they were pretty upset! They complained to the landowner about their unfair treatment, but his response cuts right to the heart of the issue.

“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’” Matthew 20:13–15 NIV

Have you ever been envious because someone else was given something you had to work for? Maybe you have been saving up for something for a while, and someone else you know—maybe a sibling or a friend—was just given that exact thing as a gift. Maybe you worked super hard on an assignment or a project, but because someone else slacked off, the teacher or boss decided to extend the deadline.

In those moments, what’s happening doesn’t feel fair because it isn’t fair. In those moments, someone is receiving grace.

What does it say about us and our hearts that we feel tension about this? We wish things were fair, unless we’re the ones on the receiving end of grace. Because when we’re the ones being given a gift we don’t deserve or didn’t earn, we celebrate. But, when it’s someone else, we question if it’s okay or complain that the “real world” doesn’t work that way.

More often than not, we’re right. Because the world we live in doesn’t operate according to the grace of God. The kingdoms we construct are typically built on a foundation of earning and proving, on getting what we deserve and doing whatever it takes to get ahead.

But the kingdom of heaven is very different than the kingdoms of this world, and that’s the whole point of this story. God’s kingdom is built on a bedrock of blessing and upheld by God’s own nature. And the way God describes Himself is with the words “compassionate” and “gracious.” This is who God is, and the ethic of a kingdom flows from the essence of its king.

Our King has always been about the business of elevating the least, lifting the lowest, and seeking the lost. King Jesus concludes His story with the line: “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matthew 20:16 NIV).

It’s no coincidence that on the heels of this story—just three verses later (after Jesus again predicts His own death)—James, John, and their mom come to Jesus with a seemingly shocking request. They ask to be given positions of honor in Jesus’ kingdom, to sit at His right and left when He is crowned king.

On one hand, this ask is crazy! What are they thinking? Don’t they realize how much of an honor they have already been given? These fishermen were chosen by the greatest rabbi to ever walk the earth. They have witnessed Jesus perform miracles. They have been given power and authority to heal the sick and cast out demons. Every day they walk beside Jesus, they are standing in positions of honor. But still they want more?

On the other hand, this scene is all too familiar. How often do our prayers sound like their request? We have been treated with the greatest dignity imaginable by the Creator of the universe, who came to us and died to save us. We have been brought from death to life, healed from the disease of sin, and set free from slavery to our distorted desires. Everyday we get to walk in step with the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead. What an honor! Yet still, we are unsatisfied. We keep asking for more.

We bargain with Jesus for a more comfortable life. “I’ll do this for You, if You do this for me.” Instead of trusting what He says, we trust in what we can see. We try to find the secret words or the correct formula to hack the system and get what we want. But that’s not how God’s kingdom works. His grace cannot be earned. His favor cannot be forced. His goodness is not up for grabs to the highest bidder.

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:25–28 NIV

While the world operates on the principle of “might makes right,” this is not so in the Jesus way of life. To be truly great, we follow the example of our great King, who did not come to be served, but to serve and sacrifice Himself for us.

Application: If grace doesn’t confront your heart or make you a little uncomfortable, you probably haven’t found real grace yet. Grace occupies the space where God’s kindness meets our weakness. The most tangible example of God’s grace and generosity toward us is the sacrifice of Jesus. Where else have you experienced grace in your life? Where have you witnessed the scandalous nature of grace in the life of someone else? Have you ever offered grace in a way that was counter to the way this world works? Spend some time reflecting on these questions today, thanking God for His grace toward you, and looking for ways to let grace confront the parts of your heart that don’t yet look like Jesus.