God's Grace Isn't Fair, and That's a Good Thing

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? “Come on, David. That’s not fair.” But flip back a page in your Bible and notice how that plunder was described in verse 20: “This is David’s plunder.” Before that in verses 18 and 19: “David recovered everything…” “David brought everything back...”

David isn’t stealing from his hardworking men. It’s his plunder. He can do with it as he please, and he graciously offers to share it equally with all of his men. Not just the ones who followed him into battle.

Maybe David was just feeling extra generous that day? Let’s take a look at one of Jesus’ parables:

“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 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 are you envious because I am generous?’” (Matthew 20:1-15).

When we read this, it seems like our knee-jerk reaction is to be indignant. The workers who were only there an hour or so got the same payment as the ones who worked all day in the heat? That’s not fair, right? Let’s take a look at where we fall in these stories.

Photo credit: Pexels/Tim Mossholder

Jesus is painting a wonderful picture of God’s grace here, but instead of enjoying the beauty of this freely given gift, we, like the morning workers, feel unsatisfied. We may even feel ripped off. “What, is that it?”

Why do we feel this way? Because we are putting ourselves in the shoes of the hardest workers. We see ourselves as the soldiers on the front lines with David, and we see ourselves as the workers who rose before dawn and worked until their fingers were raw. But, no matter how hard we work here on earth – whether in our jobs, our families or our ministries – that’s not who we are. And it’s not, I think, where Jesus intends for us to place ourselves in this story.

How much better do these two stories feel if you put yourself in the shoes of the others? How blessed, relieved, and joyfully unworthy would you feel if you were the solider who stayed behind, but still was given equal reward? How unmeasurably thankful if you were the worker who waited around all day, only to work for just a bit – but was given a wage vastly more than you were expecting?

That is what God’s grace looks like to us. We can’t earn our way into Heaven, no matter how hard we try. One slip up, one sinful thought or voice raised in anger, and you’re disqualified. God knows this about us, but He still graciously offers us the credit that His Son bought. Jesus did all the work, not us. But still our sins are forgiven, through nothing that we could have done.

Going back to my original example of a group project in school, it’s like you were the kid who never showed up to class, never even knew there was a project, and did zero work towards it. But still you were given an A+ and a scholarship to the best college in the country.

And that comparison falls so woefully short of the reward we are given in Christ. The two stories above are meant to help us glimpse all that God has done for us; but the gift of eternal life is more than David could ever give his men, and more than any boss could ever give to her workers. When you think of that heavenly reward, that path away from death, there is no space in our hearts and minds for dissatisfaction. We could never feel ripped off by what God has offered, because what could possibly be greater? What in all of human history was bought with a higher price?

God’s grace is not fair. And that is of the upmost importance to us.

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Bethany Pyle is the editor for Bible Study Tools.com and the design editor for Crosscards.com. She has a background in journalism and a degree in English from Christopher Newport University. When not editing for Salem, she enjoys good fiction and better coffee.