Reflections

Queuing for Heaven

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.

Once again we are reminded that things that count for so much in this world are turned upside down in God’s world. We are taught not to think we are worth more as Christians than those who have found Christianity late in life. If we have lived life as God asks from the outset then we should simply count  ourselves as lucky. For others, life’s paths may have taken more difficult and painful twists

The employer in today’s parable pays his employers exactly the same amount regardless of the time they arrived at the     vineyard. Jesus is telling us that there are no ‘partial benefits’ in God’s kingdom. If we have earned a place in heaven we have earned a place, there won’t be some places better than others. God’s love is God’s love. We are each promised the same measure of his grace

“… So the last will be first and the first will be last.” We would be foolish to expect some kind of pecking order at heaven’s gates. We would be even more foolish to expect some kind of organised queuing system or loyalty cards for the longest  serving. Those who arrive late should certainly not be regarded as somehow cheating the system. We must recognise God’s generosity in giving a level field for all and emulate it. We must be happy for the latecomers, especially if we have played a part in attracting them by our shining example!