Job 26-29 all belong to Job. He rambles through a number of different phases of his appeal to being righteous. He tells us he is righteous. He tells us the unrighteous don’t prosper, which is generally true, even though Job has made us aware in previous chapters that the unrighteous do sometimes prosper. Finally, he recalls the times when God blessed him, when people respected him, when his life was extremely good. As we read through these four chapters, we see the evidence of Job’s righteousness. He does not seem like a man who is hiding sin. He does not seem like a man who would fail to admit his faults. As we’ll see tomorrow, Job’s summary of his situation continues, and, indeed, we’ll come to the end of Job’s defense of himself.
As we return to Matthew 20, we read again Jesus’ Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard. The parable recounts a vineyard owner who hired day laborers throughout a particular work day starting early in the morning, and then hiring people every few hours throughout the day. The last workers were hired one hour before the end of the day. The first workers hired had agreed to work for a denarius, which was a day’s wage. The rest of the workers were told the land owner would pay them what was right. When the landowner paid the workers, he started with the ones he hired last, and he paid them a denarius. In fact, he paid each of the workers a denarius. When those who were hired first, and who had agreed to work for a denarius came for their pay, they received a denarius. They were upset at this, even though it was what they agreed to be paid. The landowner asked them why they were upset? Didn’t he have the right to be generous to the other workers. After all, it was his money. The point of the parable is each of us are the Lord’s workers. Some of us have worked for Him a long time. Others haven’t even been “hired” yet. That is some haven’t even trusted Jesus as Savior and Lord at this point. Those who wait until the last moment before Jesus’ return will still be saved. They will still be “paid” the same, that is they will enjoy eternity with Jesus. What’s the point of this parable for us? We are to be grateful to God for our inclusion in His Kingdom, andwe are to welcome those who make it in at the last minute. After all, none of us earned our salvation anyway. Jesus’ blood shed on the cross paid our entrance. Our “wages” are more than fair, given that each of us deserves to endure eternity in hell. We must always remember not to let our human sense of justice to overturn God’s great grace, mercy and generosity.
Next, Jesus tells the disciples once again that He is going to be arrested, tried, found guilty, and crucified, but that afterwards He will rise again. Their response? James and John’s mother comes and says, “When you come into your Kingdom, will you let my sons sit on your right and left?” It was like asking if they could be the Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense. When the other ten disciples heard about this they were extremely upset. We don’t know why, but it was probably because they wished they would have thought of asking. Jesus settled the group down by reminding them the greatest in the Kingdom of God are not those who lord their positions over others, but those who serve the most.
Finally, Jesus heals a couple of blind men based on their faith. It is always a helpful matter for us to examine such healings and ask, “Whose faith?” That is whose faith brought about the healing? Jesus tells the blind men it was their faith. We know that on other occasions it was the faith of a friend who brought about the healing, as when the four men brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus to be healed and seeing “their” faith He healed the man. At other times no mention of faith is made, meaning Jesus simply healed the people. When we need healing in our lives, we pray in faith. We call on others to pray for us. We rely on the goodness of Jesus. Then we trust the outcome. Jesus reminded us the thief, that is the devil, comes to kill, steal, and destroy, but He came to bring us life in all its abundance. Good health is certainly part of that abundance. We don’t always get it when we pray for it, but that is the direction we pray, knowing God’s goodness is on our side.