🙏 Parables of the Bible — Unit 11: Grace and Comparison

Orientation

Two parables in this unit have something surprising in common. In one, a religious man stands in the temple and thanks God that he is not like the tax collector standing nearby. In the other, workers who labored all day look at the men hired at the last hour and grumble that the owner has made them equal. In both stories the trouble begins the moment someone starts comparing himself with someone else.

In Unit 9 we met the elder brother, who compared his years of service with his brother's wasted life and refused to go in to the feast. In Unit 10 we met a servant who forgot the size of his own debt. Here we meet two more relatives of the elder brother: the Pharisee who denied he needed grace, and the early workers who resented grace given to others. Both parables teach the same lesson from different directions. Grace cannot be measured on a scale beside other people. It can only be received with empty hands.

I. The Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9–14)

Luke tells us exactly why Jesus told this parable: "to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others" (18:9). Two men went up to the temple to pray. The Pharisee "prayed thus with himself": "God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess" (18:11–12). He was not a hypocrite in the ordinary sense. The law required only one annual fast, and he fasted twice a week. He tithed everything, even beyond what the law required. But his prayer was really about himself. He mentioned God once and himself five times, and he used the tax collector as a measuring stick to make himself look good.

"And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me a sinner!'" (18:13). Tax collectors worked for the Romans and were often dishonest; the Jewish people considered them traitors. This man made no excuses and offered no list of good deeds. The word he used for "be merciful" is connected to the Greek word for the mercy seat, the place where the blood of atonement was sprinkled. He was asking God to deal with his sin the only way sin can be dealt with: by atonement.

What is prayer? The Pharisee's words were addressed to God, but Luke says he "prayed thus with himself," and some translations render it "stood by himself." Either way, his prayer never really left the ground. He was talking about himself to himself. The tax collector's prayer was the shortest in the story, only seven words in English, and it went straight to heaven.

The setting may make the tax collector's prayer even more powerful. Twice each day, in the morning and at mid-afternoon, a lamb was sacrificed at the temple as an atonement for the people, and crowds gathered to pray as the incense was offered (see Luke 1:8–10). Many interpreters believe Jesus pictures the two men praying at one of these services. If so, as the blood of the sacrifice was being offered, the tax collector looked at the altar, beat his breast, and asked God to be propitiated toward him through that sacrifice. The Pharisee stood at the same service and never noticed that he needed it.

Luke places this parable just before the story of the little children brought to Jesus, where He said, "Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it" (Luke 18:17). A child comes with empty hands, bringing nothing but need. The tax collector came that way; the Pharisee came with his hands full of credentials.

Then came Jesus' shocking verdict: "I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted" (18:14). Salvation does not depend on what I am or on what I do, but on what God has done for me. The apostle Paul had better credentials than any Pharisee, yet he counted them all as loss "that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ" (Philippians 3:8–9).

II. The Laborers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1–16)

This parable answers a question Peter asked. After the rich young ruler went away sad, Peter said, "See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?" (Matthew 19:27). Jesus promised that everyone who sacrifices for Him will be rewarded. Then He told a story that ends with the same saying that comes just before it: "the last will be first, and the first last" (19:30; 20:16).

A landowner went to the marketplace early in the morning, where day laborers gathered hoping to be hired. The Jewish working day ran from about six in the morning to six in the evening. The grape harvest was a race against the autumn rains, and every available worker was needed. He hired men at dawn and agreed to pay them a denarius, a normal day's wage. At nine, at noon, and at three he hired more, saying, "Whatever is right I will give you." At five o'clock, the eleventh hour, he found others standing idle. "Why have you been standing here idle all day?" "Because no one hired us." He sent them into the vineyard too. At evening he paid everyone, starting with the last, and each received a full denarius. When the first workers received the same, they grumbled: "These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day" (20:12). The owner answered, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius?... Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?" (20:13–15).

A few cautions help us read this parable well. It is not a lesson in how to run a business or set fair wages; no employer on earth would stay in business paying this way, and there is even a touch of humor in how improbable the story is. It is also not a statement that everyone receives exactly the same thing in eternity, since other passages speak of rewards that differ according to faithfulness (1 Corinthians 3:12–15). The parable has one sharp point: God's generosity is His own to give, and no one who has received it has any right to resent it when it falls on someone else.

The phrase "the eleventh hour" has passed into many languages as a way of saying "at the last possible moment." The clearest biblical example is the thief on the cross. He had no years of service to offer and no time left to earn anything. He simply said, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom," and Jesus answered, "Today you will be with Me in Paradise" (Luke 23:42–43). Whatever else the parable teaches, it assures every late-comer that the door of grace is open until the end of the day.

Interpreters understand the parable in two main ways, and both are worth teaching. Many read it as a picture of God's grace in salvation: the tax collectors, sinners, and Gentiles who came late into the kingdom receive the same gift as those who served God for a lifetime, just like the thief on the cross. Others, noting that the parable answers Peter's question about what the disciples would receive, read it as teaching the right attitude in serving God: no one works for salvation, and we should not serve with a contract in hand, asking, "What will I get?" Both readings agree that God is generous beyond what anyone deserves, and that those who resent His generosity have misunderstood it.

Three lessons follow. First, trust God's generosity. The early workers bargained and got exactly what they bargained for. The later workers had no contract; they simply trusted the owner to do what was right. We do not need a contract with God. How would you like to get what you deserve? If we got what we deserve, we would have no blessing on earth, no salvation in death, and no reward in heaven.

Second, beware of watching other workers. The grumblers were content with a denarius until they saw what others received. Peter had compared himself with the rich young ruler. After the resurrection, when Jesus told Peter to follow Him, Peter pointed at John and asked, "Lord, what about this man?" Jesus answered, "If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me" (John 21:21–22). A man driving in Chicago once became so absorbed in watching a careless driver in the next lane that he nearly caused an accident himself. When we keep our eyes on other Christians, we will always find reasons to complain. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Third, expect surprises at the judgment. "The last will be first, and the first last." Some who are first in their own eyes will be last in God's. Imagine a famous church leader who dined with presidents and was quoted in the newspapers arriving in heaven expecting a great reward. Before him, God honors a woman who was crippled for years but faithful in prayer, and a shy, uneducated school janitor who could never teach a class but was always in his pew, tithed his small wages, visited the sick, and handed out tracts at the jail. The leader who sought his own glory discovers that he has already received his reward (Matthew 6:2). Some will be shocked at God's generosity; others will be shocked at how little they receive.

III. Why Comparison Kills Grace

Paul warned the Corinthians about people who, "measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise" (2 Corinthians 10:12). Comparison always has two results. If we compare ourselves with someone who seems worse, we become proud, like the Pharisee. If we compare our reward with someone who seems less deserving, we become resentful, like the early workers. Either way, we stop looking at God.

Many writers on the Christian life have observed that pride is essentially competitive. It takes little pleasure in having something good; its pleasure comes from having more of it than someone else. The Pharisee's goodness gave him no joy unless the tax collector was standing there to prove how good he was. The early workers were content with a denarius until they learned the last workers got one too. Grace destroys this whole way of thinking, because grace is never earned, and what is never earned can never be compared.

The cure is to fix our eyes on God and on our own need. The tax collector did not look sideways at the Pharisee; he did not even look up. He looked at his own heart and at God's mercy. When Jesus told Peter, "What is that to you? You follow Me," He was giving the cure for comparison in five words. And Paul, who had more reason than anyone to boast, said instead, "By the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:10).

IV. Preaching Grace and Comparison

The Pharisee and the tax collector can be preached as "Two Men Praying": the man who prayed about himself, and the man who prayed for mercy, ending with Jesus' verdict that the humble one went home justified. Salvation does not rest on what I am or on what I do, but on what God has done for me. The laborers can be preached with three lessons: trust God's generosity, beware of watching other workers, and expect surprises at the judgment. The two parables can also be preached together as a sermon on comparison: comparison with those who seem worse makes us proud, comparison with those who seem less deserving makes us resentful, and only a steady look at God and our own need leaves room for grace.

Closing

Two men went up to pray, and only one came home justified. Some workers labored all day, and others only an hour, and all received the same gift. In God's kingdom no one is paid what he deserves, and that is the best news in the world. If we got what we deserve, we would have nothing. The Pharisee stood tall and went home empty. The tax collector would not lift his eyes, and he went home forgiven. May we stop comparing, stop bargaining, and come to God as that tax collector came, with empty hands and a simple prayer: "God, be merciful to me a sinner."

— Dr. Wayne Cook
Chapala Theological Seminary

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