We expect God to "play fair." Behind this expectation there is the thought that there is some over-arching code of justice to which God Himself must conform. That would mean there is something greater than God. Something that you can appeal to defend yourself from Him. Fairness or justice becomes a weapon to be used against God in the futile attempt to limit the freedom of His grace.

Justice is to apportion to each what he or she rightly deserves. You get exactly what is coming to you, not an ounce more and not an ounce less. You divide the candy bar precisely in the middle so that she child gets the exact, same amount. A day's pay for a day's work.

In the workplace, that is a completely right and valid expectation. Compensation ought to correspond with the work that is performed. But don't carry that expectation into your life with God. There it becomes a fatal way of reasoning. Jesus' parable is not about human justice, the stuff that unions and labor negotiations are about. His parable is not about economics but about the lavish grace of God that is never something that you earn or deserve. No, the parable is about the kingdom of heaven and that kingdom's Lord, God Himself.

The Lord Jesus Christ is Himself the landowner. He is the One who calls workers into His vineyard. Jesus tells the parable to illustrate what He had just said to Peter in the verse that comes just before today's Gospel: "But many that are first will be last, and the last first." Peter had over-heard our Lord's conversation with the rich young ruler. You remember the story of that young man who comes to Jesus and says, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus pointed him back to the commandments- do not murder, do not steal, do not commit adultery and so on. The man replies "been there, done that." Jesus says to him, "you lack one thing...go sell what you have and give it to the poor and come and follow me." The man went away disappointed because he was wealthy. Then Jesus speaks about how hard it is for a rich man to be saved, harder than getting a camel through the eye of a needle. Peter speaks up, as if to remind Jesus of what he and his fellow disciples had done, "Lo, we have left everything and followed you. What then shall we have?" Jesus then tells the disciples of how blessed they shall be in His heavenly kingdom, but then He adds "But many that are first will be last and, and the last first."

The first - those who are relying on their works, their piety, their progress in sanctification - are going to topple. Those who know who know that they are last--who know that their sin has disqualified them from any claim on God--will be first. Jesus is here speaking of justification by grace through faith apart from the works of the law. That excludes fairness and breaks any attempt to squeeze God into the mold of human justice.

"It's not fair" is the cry of the child on the playground. To bring this self-centered attitude into the realm of our life with God is more than arrogant - it is downright damnable.

Would you really want God to play fair with you? Do you really want God to give you what you deserve? Do you really believe that God owes you something? If God were to give you what you deserve, you would have only damnation and hell. God demands perfection. Sin makes you imperfect and incapable of achieving perfection. You miss the target. Whether you miss it by an inch or a mile doesn't really matter. A person who attempts to jump over a deep canyon might miss the other edge by only an inch or two but the end result is the same as the person who misses the ledge by a foot. Whether you miss it by an inch or a couple of feet you end up at the bottom. So it is with us sinners. We fall short of the glory of God. Close might count in pitching horseshoes, but not when it comes to salvation.

How foolish then to slip into the language of fairness to feed the self-pity as though God were cheating you. How utterly insulting towards God - to charge Him with being unfair. Jesus' words in verse 15 stops every mouth that would dare suggest that God be subject to our notions of fairness and justice: "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 the last will be first, and the first last." There is no law that is above God. There is no higher principle to which He must submit. That would make Him less than God. He is the Lord and He is the source of all things.

Out of the fullness of His love, He elected to deal with you not by the standards of justice and by the perimeters of fairness, but out of His fatherly and divine grace without any merit or worthiness in you. The Apostle Paul puts it like this "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not of your own doing, it is the gift of God-not because of works, lest any man should boast." Or again in the Epistle to the Romans, Paul writes these words by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: "But God showed his love for us in while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, how much more that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life."

Jesus came to save sinners. We see that in the way that He extended His kingdom to people who had wasted their lives-to the tax collector and the prostitute, to the dying thief on the cross while the scribes and the Pharisees like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son whined, "It's not fair! "The last will be first, and the first last."

If you insist on fairness, then fairness is what God will give you. If you insist on getting what you deserve, then that is what you shall have. But beware, what you deserve is damnation.

God gives sinners what they don't deserve and could never earn. He gives us Jesus, His own sinless Son who lived a perfect life of obedience in our place and died as our substitute so that we might have everything that He deserved- all the gifts of sonship, life and salvation in His Father's everlasting kingdom. God gives us something that exceeds fairness and surpasses justice. He gives us His grace, His undeserved favor in our Savior Jesus Christ whose body and blood are given us today as the testament of the forgiveness of sins. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.