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This devotion pairs with this weekend’s Lutheran Hour sermon, which can be found at lhm.org.
[Jesus said] “… many who are first will be last, and the last first. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. And he went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’ So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden in the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So [Jesus said] the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 19:30-20:16 / NKJV)
The problem with those first workers is that they got caught up, like we often do, in the comparison game. They saw life like a high jump—a high bar to clear. And if you don’t clear it, then you’re eliminated from the competition. Pastor Justin Rossow, in his book, Escaping the Assembly Line , explains how followers of Jesus have been set free from this comparison game. We get to see life not as a high bar, but as a treasure in a clay jar. Instead of seeing ourselves and others as competitors, we get to see each person as a hand-crafted, incomparably unique creation of God, no two alike, each with our own unfolding story with Jesus, each shaped by His cross and resurrection, each in His capable hands, made to be filled with the same treasure of God’s Spirit and called to specific work in His vineyard. As the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, help me escape the comparison game and to see Your treasure in others and also in me. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Rev. Dr. Michael Zeigler, Speaker of The Lutheran Hour.
Reflection Questions:
- Who are the people you tend to compare yourself with? Why them?
- It’s been said that “comparison is the thief of joy”—how has this been true for you?
- How does seeing others as clay jars filled with God’s treasure help you appreciate them more?
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