Reflection

One of the most expensive department stores holds a sale and shoppers form a queue. The most ardent bargain hunters bring sleeping bags and queue overnight. Other shoppers arrive five minutes before the sale. When the store finally opens the doors the queue surges forward in a frenzy. Shoppers ‘push in’ from every direction greedy for the bargains. Does this make us cross? Of course it does and rightly so. The people who arrived first should get the bargains first. Most of us would agree that that is only fair. The problem comes when we try to use this same sense of ‘justice’ in earning a place in God’s Kingdom.  Surprise surprise! Gaining God’s grace is not like queuing for bargains, neither has it got anything to do with how many more hours we have worked in a vineyard, nor has it got anything to do with measuring how many years we have served as disciples.