Highlighted New Testament Bible

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Thursday, May 21, 2015

St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 8b, The Call of the Laborers: payment from first to last.

Our paragraph topic is:(Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 11. 

We all can relate to this parable because it speaks of working and labor.  We live in a society where we work to provide for ourselves.  Long past has the time gone where we were farmers.  Long past has the time gone where we lived on the land and grew our own food.  We were simple people then.  We are complex people now.  We have choices.  We have chances.  We can be who we want to be.  

This was the same opportunity that the parable speaks of in ancient times.  They came to the market place to work.  They came to the market place to find work.  They came to the market place to earn wages so that they could provide for themselves.  They came to the market place because the market place provided a better opportunity than work on the farm.  They came to the market place because they wanted to get paid.  And as Christ spoke of the owner who told his steward to pay them all:  "Beginning from the last even to the first." 

So we can conclude that all were paid.  The agreement was to work for a denarius and the payment is for a denarius.  All will receive their payment, from the very first who agreed to work to the very last who agreed to work in the vineyard.  And this is the results that Christ wants his disciples to understand about the parable, you work for the kingdom and you will be compensated by the owner of the kingdom.  He will pay.  He will abide by his agreement.  He is reliable, honest, trustworthy, and true to his promise.  He is unlike others who may cheat you.  He is unlike others who may not be reliable.  He is unlike others who may steal from you or run out on you and not pay.  The owner of the vineyard is true to his agreement.

For the agreement is the contract.  The agreement is the bond.  The agreement is the glue that makes it all work.  If there was no agreement then it would all not work.  But it is that agreement that brings the two parties together and provides some form of exchange that satisfies both.  The question is are we satisfied?  Are we in harmony with what we want from the agreement?  Are we certain that the other party in the agreement is trustworthy?  Will the other party provide all that is agreed to?  Will the other party truthfully complete the agreement?  Will the other party lie to complete the agreement?

We live in a world of untruths.  We live in a world that is filled with many shades of grey.  We live in a world where it is acceptable to change the agreement after it has been made or to offer an agreement that is untrue.  We are children.  We are sheep.  We are innocent people seeking to know the truth of who we are.  We seek to be all that we are, to see all that we can see, to know all that there is to know, to experience all that is given us to perceive.  And we do and accept all that is given us that we may reach those goals.  The world is untrue.  The world is a lie.  The world is a deceit.  How can we see through the tainted lenses?

Christ, our lord and savior, came that we would know the truth.  He came that we would have an example.  He came that we would have an open door to see through.  Yet many would only believe that there is no door, that there is no savior, that there is only what we can see, feel, taste, touch and know through our physical senses.  And that puts us at the crossroads of life.  Which direction do we take?  Do we seek the physical or do we believe in the spiritual?  Some would say that there is no evidence to demonstrate the spiritual.  And yet here we are in the flesh, spiritual beings in a physical body. 

Flesh cannot perceive what is meant to be believed.  Flesh cannot see what is meant to be known from within.  Flesh cannot know what is only open to those who will open the door to their heart and receive the gift of life given us by Christ.  Knowledge will not bring it.  Works will not pay for it.  Gifts cannot buy it.  Only desire to open the door to the heart will bring forth the love that Christ has for those who seek to know him.  Come!  Receive your pay, even from the last to the first.  Christ will rejoice in you and you will have peace in him.

Read the sign of the times! Read the Highlighted New Testament Bible and lift the scales from your eyes that you may see, that you may know, that you may find the truth of who you are in Christ. Read it as though you would read a good book, from cover to cover, and see for yourself. Do not study it in parts reading one passage and then skipping to another, but read it for understanding. Read it for knowledge. Read it for faith. Read it that your eyes may be opened, that your ears may hear, that your heart may be filled with the light of Christ. The Holy Spirit awaits you. Christ seeks to know you.  Open the door and let him in.