Episode Transcript
CONSECRATE
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
HEAR
Matthew 20:8–12 ESV
“And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’”
CONSIDER
Today is another one of our special Wake-Up Call Chris Tomlin sessions, so you will need to listen or watch to experience the second half of today's entry. The podcast link is above. The YouTube link is here. In the latter part of the entry, Chris and I will be talking through and sharing his brand new song, "Jesus Saves." On to Gospelling!
1. In today's text Jesus once again casts the vision of God's kingdom. He chooses a common scene, both ancient and present day, in agriculture environments all over the world. It's a picture of poor day-laborers. They turn up every morning super early and congregate in the town center. Local farmers come by and hire them for the day. They come again at nine, noon, three, and five and hire more workers. The rub comes when it's time to pay the workers. He begins by paying first the workers who worked least—only he pays them for a full day's work. The ones who worked all day complained despite being paid for a full day's work.
‘These who were hired last worked only one hour," they said, "and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day." (v. 12 NIV)
2. What's going on here? There are two kinds of people in the world: abundance people and scarcity people. Abundance people believe no matter how little there seems to be, there will always be more than enough. Scarcity people believe no matter how much there seems to be, there will never be enough. Scarcity people live in a world filled with judgment. Abundance people live in a world filled with mercy. Point is, scarcity people are so invested in scarcity they want scarcity for others. They live in a world of merciless exactitude and they call it fairness. What's stunning is how the scarcity people heap judgment on the abundant one (a.k.a. Jesus).
"Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" (v. 15 NIV)
Bottom line here. Abundance saves people. Scarcity kills people.
Is it any wonder the headline over the section of the text following this parable reads: "Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time."
3. One more thing. The scene progresses to two blind beggars on side of the road shouting to Jesus for mercy. Hear the voice of scarcity all around them: "The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, . . ." (v. 31 NIV).
Scarcity kills.
Now hear the voice of abundance: "Jesus stopped and called them. 'What do you want me to do for you?'” (v. 32 NIV).
Abundance saves.
You know the rest of the story.
Again, if you want the rest of the entry you will need to WATCH or LISTEN. (please add links under words)
PRAY
Lord Jesus, you are abundance. I live in a world built on scarcity. I want your kingdom of abundance. Deliver me from fear, from anxiety, from an exacting merciless calculus of fairness, and into your too-good-to-be-true-yet-true kingdom where there is always more than enough and mercy for anybody who can humble themselves enough to ask for it and receive. Praying in Jesus's name, amen.
