Posted on 12/26/2011 9:42:08 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The key part of the story of the prodigal son is that we should instead consider the mindset of the third son who never lost site of his place in the father's household.
If you are there when the bridegroom appears, you will meet him. If you are not, you will not. It does not matter if you arrived early and waited all day, or at the last minute. As long as you are there at the moment He arrives the reward is the same.
The key part of the story of the prodigal son is that it is far better to lose everything, be foolish and then find God than it is to hold onto material possessions and never find God. That is why the tax-collectors and prostitutes will find God before the legalistic religious followers.
I was going to disagree until you talked about improving yourself, your skills, etc. As a consultant in the earth sciences, I could charge more if I learned more and got involved in more difficult ventures. However - not too many of these types of studies are performed - because they are so expensive! (Hence I don’t feel that it is worth it to learn them, etc.)
So rather than charge more because of my increased skills, I try to do the stuff I know the best that I can so as to keep my clients happy (and coming back), and getting the word out to new clients and hopefully more jobs. But still at the same rate - but with more customers I guess I am getting paid “more”.
But - the customer is the one that sets my price. (If I’m too expensive they’ll find someone else.)
BTW - the “how much am I worth” thing reminds me of when I first started working for my old man at his business. He said “Well, I would offer to pay you what you are worth - but I don’t think you would work for that little. So how does $2.50 an hour sound?” Of course that sounded great for a 12 year old kid in the early ‘70’s!!
BTW - that parable is a great one. It seems so unfair, etc. when as a child one is taught that one needs to play fair, share the cake evenly, etc. I was much too old when I realized that life is NOT fair. (I made sure my kids’ knew it - it their first “life” lesson!)
But the parable turns the idea of “fairness” into an idea of keeping one’s word, not comparing yourself to someone else, not coveting other people’s things or success, etc. And I think your idea of naming your own worth is the first time I’ve thought of it that way - and a good point. (Although I’m not sure the worker had any say in the wage in the parable?) But - it may have been a case of the landowner seeing his deadline (sunset?) coming and the amount still to be harvested that made the workers later in the day more worth it to him.
Actually the men who were standing around idle had actually earned unemployment benefits that the owner paid into the system, because they were his ex-employees, now new re-hires- and everybody knows if you are not working you can collect unemployment benefits. In those days the govt did not pay but the employer did. haha.
yeah, anyone who complains about what their very first day of work pays them is an idiot. Its what you get paid the thousandth day and five thousandth day that matters.
The parable has nothing to do with our profession, rather our reward in heaven.
Consider this.
I often argue with those who are “works based” vs those who are “grace based”.
They seem to have a “problem” with the idea that a dying sinner can repent at the last minute (like the thief on the cross) and receive the same reward (salvation) as one who spent their life in the service of God.
The parable of the vineyard workers should NOT be thought of as an example of how to conduct negotiation of a job!
The risk a sinner runs (in not hearing God and repenting) until the last minute is that it becomes more and more unlikely as time goes on.....
In the parable of the prodigal son, the “older brother” who has been working int the fields and is jealous is Israel in the last days, while the younger brother living in the pig-pen is typical of the Gentile nations, who find a way back into God’s grace.
It’s one of the most profound parables in the bible, IMO.
There are those who labor spiritually because that is their relationship with God. But in doing so, Christ shines through them in that way reaches others, who then turn towards the light before it is too late. Those doing this work do not turn these latecomers to the light - God does. But if they hadn’t been doing God’s work, they would not be able to provide a vessel for Christ to shine through. In addition, the shining of that light purifies them as well.
So perhaps those who worked the longest needed the most amount of time - in other words, they arrived first, but didn’t truly accept the light until the end. Perhaps their pride stood in the way of their final surrender to Grace, and took time to wear down. Whereas those who arrived last, and then turned towards the light completely, were influenced by the light that shone through those laboring all day, and so at last turned completely in humility towards the light.
The process of spiritual purification has been pondered and studied for millenia, by sages and saints alike. To treat any aspect of this most profound process superficially is a grave mistake, and I think Jesus was pointing that out with this story. In effect he was saying to those who came early, “you think that just because you showed up first, and worked so long, that meant you were advanced?” I imagine him saying this with a gentle smile.
It is often taught that if Hitler confessed Christ as Lord in the bunker, he too could receive a reward in Heaven. That sticks in people's craw, but we don't make the rules. That is also the reason we are warned against judging. We CAN judge sin, but we cannot judge the sinner. Homosexuality is sin, but the homosexual can be saved. This "contract" is written in blood and cannot be broken. There is no "plan B".
To those of us who have gone Galt what were earn is irrelevant.
It doesn't say how many workers showed up at the crack of dawn the next day.
People are still making their way to work in that vineyard even today, folks.
Having lived a heathen life for 35 years and gotten saved relatively later in life, I have run into that "Prodigal brother attitude" from some I have fellowshipped with over the years - slight resentment under the surface because I get the same reward even though I sowed a ton of wild oats while they were living quiet, pious lives in the service of the King.
The parable of the vineyard workers helps me to stake my rightful place among the elect and not feel "less than".
Thank you Jesus.
The last shall be first and the fist last, as in the thief on the cross.
Your spiritual relationship with Christ is no business of mine, it is just up to him and you, and that is illustrated in the parable.
So is the relationship between an employer and an employee, it is no one else,s business, this was understood by every one so Jesus used it as an example.
As far as worth is concerned i am like most people, if some one tells me that they will pay me what i am worth, i hope they are not really serious as i have to have more than that to meet my expenses.
So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
The point is that the workers that were hired last were not worth what they got, but Jesus was not talking about the vine yard, he was talking about the kingdom of heaven so it is not based on works but of grace.
what is funny is that the idea you were having “fun” is exactly backward. Most people have a lot of regrets from their wild years. I am sure the prodigal son did not enjoy eating pig’s food, but did enjoy the wine, women and song.
As to the elect comment — God is not willing that ANY should perish —2 Peter 3:9. However, there is free will — so, like the thief on the cross, they have a decision to make. We are elect in the sense that God KNOWS in “our” advance before we decide if we will be his....How does he know this? Because he is the “I AM” who exists in the past, present and future at the same time. God is a big God. He created time, and this universe, and holds it together.(Col 1:17). So he can see tomorrow like you and I can see our surroundings.
Calvinism and Legalism are the two greatest enemies of the spread of the Gospel. Neither are in the bible, although some take verses and construct an argument.
Good comment about Hitler.
Could Judas have been saved?
What did Jesus call Judas when he came to betray him? (answer: friend).
It's not what you are worth, it's what the job costs to get done. Someone could be "worth" a bundle in an alternative capacity, yet overpaid at a penny in the available position.
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