Lent (#5): Gold Remains Hidden and Takes Some Finding

This week's post is from the Week 4 - Tuesday writing from N.T. Wright's Lent for Everyone - Matthew. In this reading the author comments on Matthew 20:1-16, the story Jesus tells about the workers who show up late in the day and gets paid the same amount as those who worked all day.

Wright applies this story on three levels: 1) Jesus reminds his followers that God is sovereign over his kingdom and no one can claim a special place because they've worked hard or given up a lot or have been with him from the start. 2) Jesus' story reminds the Jews that it has always been God's plan to humble the exalted and exalt the humbled; that although Israel is special in God's heart, the gospel and the kingdom are for all people, Jews and Gentiles. God is without partiality and won't favor one over the other.

The third level at which Wright applies this story has to do with our daily life of faith, and he says the following:

"Our western 'celebrity' culture favors those who manage to push themselves to the front, whether it's the people with the most obvious talents or the stars with the sharpest agents. Sadly, that can spill over into the life of the church: famous preachers and leaders get attention and the 'ordinary' Christian becomes a passive spectator. We need, again and again, to learn that there are no such people as 'ordinary' Christians. In the 'renewal of all things' which Jesus spoke about (19:28), all sorts of people will stand out as the real heroes and heroines of faith, though nobody has ever heard of them before. They will be the ones who, whether for five minutes or fifty years, served God with total and glad obedience, giving themselves completely to holiness, prayer and works of love and mercy. Such people are the pure gold of the church. But, as so often, gold remains hidden and takes some finding."

"Gracious Lord, help us to be humble enough to take whatever place we are given, and zealous enough to work wholeheartedly for your glory where and when you call us."