Generosity Begrudged? (Matthew 20:15)

 


Friday, 31 October, 2025


Psalm 83

2 Kings 11:1-16

Matthew 20:1-16


Observance: Martin Luther (d. 1546) and other Continental Reformers


Generosity Begrudged? (Matthew 20:15)


Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?


In this parable we get a vastly different idea of what Jesus means when he says “the last will be first”. Yesterday we heard about the apostles sitting in judgement on thrones because of how much they gave up in this life. Today we hear a parable about the last workers to be hired being given their reward before anyone else.


It is not so much a contradiction as it is a deepening of what Jesus is telling us. Not only will those who give up all in this life will gain more in the next (and everything they need here besides), but God is impartial in his generosity to the faithful saints of every age.


It is perhaps an encouragement to us, two thousand years later, with a whole host of different challenges to the faith before us. St Peter didn’t have to worry about mobile phones, or raising teenage girls who watch Hollywood movies. But now, as then, there are still the fundamentals of what it means to be a follower of Jesus: self-sacrificial living for the benefit of others, a whole-hearted devotion to loving the Lord, and being a vessel of that love to the world around us.


Whatever differences between Christians now and Christians then, or between Christians here and Christians there, God is impartial in his generosity. We need not be envious of anyone for the love God shows them: he is showing each of us just as much love as he is showing every other one of his children. So the first will be last, and the last first.


What opportunities particular to your life circumstances is God giving you to be his light in the world? How can you celebrate other Christians for their witness with a generous heart?


Generous God, your love is as impartial as it is vast: give us a heart to rejoice in every revelation of your love, no matter to whom you bestow it.

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