You Made Them Equal to Us (Tu Li Hai Trattati Come Noi)

Matthew 20:1-16 tells una parabola, a parable, of a landowner who hired different men to work in his fields throughout the day. It ends with the teaching that the last (ultimi) will be first (primi), and the first last.

It's a truth that I've accepted because the Word of God says it, but I confess I didn't fully understand it. At least not until I read it as part of my daily Bible reading… in Italian! It's amazing how much of your understanding opens up just by reading in Italian day by day. And this time, it wasn't because of the words used in the Italian version. It was just because my understanding of the language is growing and I'm able to see more while reading in Italian because I don't have to work as hard to understand what the Italian is saying. I can just focus more on what God's word is saying and receiving insight and revelation from Him.

In this story, some workers are hired at the very beginning of the day and others at different times throughout the day, even at the eleventh hour, l'undicesima ora. Yet at the end of the day, they were all paid the same.

This bothered the workers who started at the beginning because they felt they should have been paid more than those who worked fewer hours. But the landowner reminded them that they received what he agreed to pay them. And also that it was his right to do whatever he wanted with what was his. Did his goodness bother them because there was something impure in their own hearts?

Now I've always rejoiced over the last part where God says that the last shall be first. But the truth is, that I kind of understand where the early workers were coming from. If you've worked long and hard at something, why should someone come in at the last minute and receive just as much? Is that really fair?

But what I came to realize this time is that the late starters represent those whom God chooses to bestow His favor upon and bring them into places where they have not taken the usual (and much longer) path to get to.

And here's the ironic thing. I am one of those believing God to elevate and bring me into places that take years of experience and learning to get to, without having to go through that long process. So I realized  that my similar attitude to the early starters wasn't lining up to what I was believing God for. I had to repent and ask God to cleanse my heart or else I would become my own hindrance to receiving God's favor and supernatural elevation. If I didn't think it was right for others, how and why should I expect God to do it for me?

I get it now. I really get it. And to think, I got it while reading in Italiano. Thanks be to God, who can open up His Word to us anyway He chooses.