"Seek the LORD while he may be found,
call him while he is near." (Isaiah 55:6)
“The LORD is near to all who call upon
him” (Psalms
145:18).
In these
days of less social contact, less intimacy with our fellow human beings, less
communal worship, and a seemingly greater distrust of one another, many of us long
to return to a feeling of closeness of God. The two Bible verses above tell us that if we
long to find Him, we must call upon Him.
God hasn’t disappeared; He doesn’t hide from us. He’s there, waiting for us to call upon Him;
to ask him to be a part of our lives: to be near to us.
Calling upon
Him isn’t just a few words, it’s a lifestyle. It’s a way of living which constantly invites
God into our hearts, ever nearer. We may
not always feel God’s presence as we call upon Him, but these verses assure us
that if we’re calling upon Him, He’ll be there.
This is hopefully something we won’t easily forget as we continue on our
journeys, wherever they may lead. And
it’s never too late to start calling upon Him!
In the
Gospel of Matthew, Jesus tells the parable about a landowner and the laborers
he hires to work in his vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). If Jesus was talking about hourly wages and
eight-hour days, we might find ourselves sympathizing with the ones who worked
all day and yet received the same wage as the ones who only worked one
hour. But the parable isn’t about that. It’s about the kingdom of heaven.
In the
parable, the landowner decides to pay the laborers who were hired last,
first. In his generosity, he pays them
the same amount that the ones who were hired first, which causes grumbling
among the latter group. But if we take
the “wage” as entrance into the kingdom, there’s no way for one person or group
of persons to get “more” of a wage! If
we get into heaven, by the grace of God, there’s nothing more to get. And even if we get away from thinking about
eternal life, how much more can one receive from God than unconditional love
culminating in the death and resurrection of Jesus?
But we human
beings are tempted to envy, and the desire for some higher status than the next
person. Read the complaint that the first laborers made to the landowner: “These
last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us…”
Over the better part of this year, when the country, along with
contending with Covid-19, is looking at race relations and the issue of real equality,
I’ve been struggling with trying to understand “White Privilege” and if I
‘enjoy’ its benefits. I can only use
speculation because honestly, I don’t subscribe to the idea of white privilege;
therefore, I find it hard to see any ‘benefit’. So one theory I propose is that some people
have what is called a “zero-sum game” mentality. This mentality often leads people to feel “If
you gain, then somehow I lose (“you have made them equal to us”).”
When it
comes to the kingdom of heaven, there is no zero-sum game. There is no limit to God’s love and God’s
promise of everlasting life! There is no
limit to the extent God will go to save God’s people! If you get to heaven before I do, that doesn’t
keep me from getting there. But, again,
we human beings put such a premium on status.
But there’s no superiority before God. As we read in the Old Testament (Isaiah
55:6-9), “God’s ways are above our ways, and God’s thoughts are
above our thoughts”. If we work for real justice and real peace,
everyone can win!
We have to
be willing to let go of envy and concern about status. We have to develop and maintain the same
generosity of spirit towards others that God has with us, and recognize that
another’s gain, especially when it comes to the demands of justice, doesn’t
constitute a loss on our part.
God is
calling us to work in the “vineyard,” with the promise of the kingdom. May we accept the call, and welcome others to
work with us.
No comments:
Post a Comment