Being ‘All In’

Have you ever considered yourself more deserving than someone else? Maybe just a little better, more sincere, more talented, more productive, simply worth more? Have you ever thought that come Heaven your place should be an upgrade over others?

In the Parable of the Just Reward Jesus tells about a master hiring and sending laborers into his vineyard to work. Some are hired early in the morning, some three hours later, some six later, some nine later and some an hour before the end of the day. When the master begins to pay, the last hired receives a full wage; the earlier hires think they deserve more and grumble when they don’t get what they think they are entitled to:

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?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” ¹

Rewards as given by the LORD are not given out on the laborer’s expectation but on the generosity of the Master. This is followed by the Parable of Faithfulness where a nobleman taking a journey to a far country calls his servants together and delivers to each a mina² for use while he is away. The other players are the citizens of his kingdom who don’t work for him but live under the benefits of his nobility. When the nobleman returns to his kingdom, he calls each servant to give account for their business on his behalf. The ten servants have varying profitability—one has gained ten, another five and so forth. Each is given the commendation:

And he said to him, ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.’ And the second came, saying, ‘Lord, your mina has made five minas.’ And he said to him, ‘And you are to be over five cities.’ ³  

But the last servant is a different outcome. While he professed to serve the nobleman, he didn’t understand his master’s character or the value of what had been entrusted to him:

Then another came, saying, ‘Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and reap what you did not sow.’ He said to him, ‘I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?’ And he said to those who stood by, ‘Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ ⁴ 

The parable is about the Kingdom of God and God’s values. This last servant lived passively, not serving the nobleman. But he wasn’t the only one denying the nobleman for there were the citizens. They lived life in the benefits of his kingdom yet they refused his rule. It does not go well for them either:

But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’… But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me.’” And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ⁵

The Kingdom of God is not a proximity kingdom but rather a relational kingdom. Being near is not enough. The LORD has a divine standard that is outside our expectations of value for faithfulness is on an equal par with fruitfulness. In Luke 21, Jesus again amazes those closest to Him when they notice the giving of offerings at the Temple in Jerusalem:

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” ⁶

We might expect two small copper coins to be of little value to God but not so. Her faithfulness to give all to God puts her right in there with the ten minas, the five minas and the ‘Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over…’. God sees faithfulness, the use of what we have for His purposes, above quantity or appearances.

Shall we be ‘All In’ with the faithful servants and the poor widow?