Reflections - Fairness and God's Love

Jesus tells another parable in Matthew that hits on the tricky topic of fairness.  In this story, there is a farmer who needs workers in his vineyard so he goes out and hires workers. Throughout the day he hires more. At the end of the day he pays all the workers the same regardless of the time they worked and of course, there is disagreement.  

Read Mathew 20: 1-16

The farmer answered, “I gave you what I promised you. Are you upset because I am being generous to others?”

Boom. Yes, we are. 

We get upset when we think that others are getting things that they don't deserve. We don't like it when we think we deserve more than someone else. 

But here's the thing - when that thing we are getting in God's love - all bets are off. 
Jesus said that God is generous like that farmer. “The last will be first and the first will be last with God,” he said.

I am guessing Jesus told this story to help us understand God’s generous love so that we can show that love to others. 

But, of course, this idea of God's generous love is hard to understand.  One of the hardest things for me in my faith journey has been to reconcile the idea that if I believe that God loves me unconditionally - no matter what - Then I have to believe that God loves people like Donald Trump, people who do horrible things, and people that I think don't deserve it. But, I will continue working on that.