In the parable of the laborers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16), Jesus tells of a landowner who hires workers throughout the day—some at dawn, some at noon, some just before sunset—and then pays each the same wage. To our modern sensibilities, this feels unjust. Shouldn’t those who bore the heat of the day earn more? Isn’t fairness the bedrock of justice?
But this parable isn’t about wages. It’s about grace.
We are the workers. Some of us have labored long in the vineyard of faith, others have arrived late, breathless and broken. And yet the landowner—God—pours out the same mercy, the same love, the same eternal invitation to all. It is scandalous. It is beautiful.
From our vantage point, life is riddled with inequity. We see suffering that seems undeserved, blessings that seem misplaced. But our vision is narrow. What we perceive is but a sliver of God’s vast canvas. We do not know the full story, the hidden wounds, the quiet sacrifices, the divine timing.
“My ways are not your ways,” says the Lord (Isaiah 55:8). And so we are invited—not to understand fully, but to trust deeply. To ask “why” not with clenched fists, but with open hands. Not in rebellion, but in reverent wonder.
Let us be humble enough to rejoice when grace is given—whether to us or to another. For in the end, the vineyard belongs to God. And the wage is not earned, but gifted.
Smitten With Goodness 