Moment of Meditation: Judgment Not Fair (Matthew 20:10-15)

''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.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?' (Matthew 20:10-15)''

The laborers who arrived at the eleventh hour were given the denarius the master had agreed to pay them. Those who had toiled all day long thought they would get more. They had worked longer. They had to work during the hottest part of the day. But they received only the denarius they had agreed upon.

They grumbled and the master is upset. It's his money to do with what he pleases. He says, "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me?"

Jesus uses this parable as a picture of the kingdom of heaven. You are the laborer, called at whichever hour of life you were called in your Baptism. The denarius is your soul's salvation. It's the same salvation for those who were brought to the font as infants and those who were baptized in the hospital shortly after birth as it is for those who didn't obey God's command for Baptism until much later in life. It's the same salvation.

Those who were baptized as infants cannot and should not complain because God gives the same faith and salvation to us who were baptized later. Salvation is salvation. There is no distinction. God is generous enough to give those who come to Him late in life the same as those who have been His child from before they can remember. Isn't God wonderfully generous? Amen.