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?
