Scripture Daily

Context No. 4264 of 4322 · Matthew

Context · Reflection

Matthew 20:13-19: in context

13“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” 17As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, 18“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, 19and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”

At the end of the parable of the vineyard workers, the owner responds to those who grumbled that latecomers received the same wage as those who had worked all day. Friend, he says, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what is mine? Or do you begrudge my generosity? The workers who had received exactly what was fair resented the owner's generosity to others.

What stands out is the searching question: is your eye evil because I am good? The grumblers were not treated unjustly; they got what they agreed to. Their problem was that they envied the generosity shown to others, resenting grace given to those they thought less deserving. Their eye was evil, not because they were cheated, but because they could not bear to see others freely blessed.

We can fall into the same trap: resenting God's generosity to others, especially to those we think less deserving than ourselves, the latecomer, the prodigal, the undeserving. But God's grace to others takes nothing from us; we receive all he has promised. To begrudge the grace God shows to others is to have an evil eye toward his goodness. The gracious heart rejoices when others are freely blessed.

Do I ever begrudge God's generosity to others, especially to those I think less deserving, resenting grace shown to the latecomer or the undeserving, or do I rejoice when others are freely blessed, knowing God's goodness to them takes nothing from what he has given me?

Sources