God, Good, and Goodwill (Guest Speaker: Andrew Franklin)
Matthew 20:1-15
Andrew Franklin enjoys thinking about how to express philosophy and spiritual journeys using algebra and calculus metaphors. Happily despite that, friends still like to sit around and talk with him and this is actually his favorite thing. He’s new to the Pacific Northwest, having spent the previous 22 years in Kentucky, so he understandably enjoys the tearful beauty of everything. He also has a terrific girlfriend.
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard Matthew 20:1-15 NIV (ish)
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’
“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’”
Queries:
Do I see abundance and generosity as a threat? Have I ever seen others view generosity as a threat?
How will I best respond (instead of reacting) to others being threatened by generosity?
How do I create a practice of discerning good that will adapt and progressively modify my autopilot so I become the change for good I want to see in the world?
Are there people I know that I could help with their practice of abundance thinking?