St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 9, The Call of the Laborers: payment to last.

Our paragraph topic is:  (Parable of the laborers in the vineyard)
Part 12.  

The time has now come for reward.  All the laborers are called to receive their payment for their labors.  Some have worked from the beginning of the day through the heat and blaring sun.  Some have only worked an hour.  And the last that were called have hardly worked at all.  And now comes the time for reward, the time for payment, the time for the end of the contract.

Christ is telling this parable to his disciples and to those today who are reading his words.  There is a message.  There is a lesson.  There is enlightenment that comes with an inner understanding of the living word.  Who will understand?  Who will receive the message?  Who will be enlightened by the words that are given to us today, passed down through the centuries of written text.  The spirit will open the hearts of the chosen that they may see and understand.  "Now when they of the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius."

The eleventh hour has come.  The time for reckoning has come.  The time when all work ends.  The time for judgment comes.  What will you receive?  What will I receive?  Only the judge knows.  Only the house-holder knows.  We can imagine that we have done good deeds in our lives.  We have tried to follow the commandments.  We have done all that was given of us to do.  What will we receive? 

We do not know of that which has not been given us.  We only know that which has been promised to us by Christ's words.  He has promised that he will be with us even to the ends of the world.  He has promised that he has gone to make a place for us in his father's house that has many mansions.  He has promised that he will not leave us orphaned that we will have the advocate that will come to us, to help us, to guide us, to protect us along the way.  He has told us not to be anxious, for the Father know of our needs.  And he has told us that if we love him and keep his commandments that we will be in him just as he is in the Father.

A denarius is what they received, those who were last.  A denarius is what they received, those who started to work at the eleventh hour.  A denarius is what they received, those who found work after waiting so long in the market place without giving up hope that they would find work.  Are we still hopeful?  Are we still faithful that we too will be found?  Do we still desire to find our work at the eleventh hour or have we given up in our search?

The eleventh hour comes soon for some.  The eleventh hour comes without warning for others.  The eleventh hour seems like it will never come and some would take time into their own hands and make the eleventh hour appear for their own purposes.  What will you do when the eleventh hour comes?  Will you be prepared?  Will you be ready? 

Remain hopeful and you will find your way.  Continue searching and you will find that which is yours.  Seek that which is real and meaningful and not that which is temporary, meaningless, and unfulfilling.  If your search is real and genuine, you will discover the truth that is waiting for you.  It knocks waiting for you to answer.  The voice from within calls you to know him.  Your heart knows the truth.  Open the door and receive your reward.

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. 

St Matthew, Chapter 20, verse: 8a, The Call of the Laborers.

Our paragraph topic is:(Parable of the laborers in the vineyard) Part 10.

Evening approaches and it's time for the labor to end.  Christ continues to tell this parable of the laborers.  He wants his disciples to understand the parallel to real life that this story follows.  There are laborers.  There was work.  There is time to work and time to stop working.  And then there is pay for the labor that is expended.  This is the parallel that this story follows so far.  We have been talking about work and pay, entering into the kingdom and what needs to be done to enter in.

The message of the kingdom is the work.  The labor is getting the message out to the people.  How should that be accomplished?  There are many who need to hear the message.  There are many who are in want of the message.  There are many who can use the message to help them enter into the kingdom.  Who will carry it?  Who will be the messenger?  Who will show how to use the message and lead the way?  The work is waiting and the time for payment is near.  "But when evening had come , the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, 'Call the laborers, and pay them their wages.' "  

The time for payment is near.  The laborers have worked all day.  Some from the beginning, some from the middle of the day, some from the last quarter of the day, and some from the last hour of the day.  They all worked.  Some worked more, some worked less but they all worked.  Are we working?  Are we carrying the message?  Are we playing the part of the messenger assuring that the word gets out to those in need?  Are we lending a hand?  Are we feeding the poor when we see them?  Are we clothing the naked, helping the sick and dying?  Are we the vessel through which our Father is able to reach his children?

We were all created in his image and likeness.  We are all his children.  We are all spiritual beings not physical.  Can you see your brother/sister in a different way?  Can you accept them as you accept yourself even though they may not look like you on the outside, or smell like you?  Can you transform your vision to see the physical?  Can you transform your feelings to feel the presence of your spiritual brother or sister in another person?  Can you look deeper into the soul to see the light of life given you through the sacrifice of Christ? 

Our vision is tainted through the glasses of the world.  We see what the world wants us to see.  We see what we have been programed to see.  And yet it takes an inner knowledge of oneself to see beyond the physical.  It takes an inner acceptance and peace to know what is within ourselves and everyone else.  It takes an inner spark to be what Christ came to give us.  See the light of life that is within you and you will be able to see in others what is within you. 

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.