Matthew 20:1-16
The owner of the vineyard speaking: Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? (v. 15) I’m not sure why this verse struck me, but I made it personal, as if I were the person asking the question. And immediately I came up with the answer, “No!”. I am not … allowed to do what I choose …! First, the key phrase is …what belongs to me. Because none of what we have “belongs” to us. We are stewards of what God has given us. Many Sundays at the offering we say: “All things come of Thee, O LORD, and of Thine own have we given Thee.” (quoting I Chronicles 29:11) And that needs to be our perspective. Second, no, we should not take the position that “we are allowed to do what we choose”. I daresay that much of what is difficult in our lives is the result of bad choices that we have made. We cannot on our own know what’s best for us – Adam and Eve proved that in the Garden. In addition, as stewards we have a responsibility for what has been given to us. We should engage in serious prayer as to how we choose to spend our $$. So even though this verse 15 is the owner of the vineyard (God) speaking, out of context it also speaks to us.
See also: August 11 / Matt. 20:1-16
Reading Matthew today, Jesus offers the Kingdom of Heaven, even to those who seek it at the 11th hour. Absolution to even the murderer headed to the gallows; now that is a gracious God. Reminds me of something my horse-trainer brother once said, “We all seek Jesus when we are inside the 16th pole.” Meaning, even though we have turned our back on Him our whole lives, we can turn to Him at the end of our lives.
I appreciate your comments about stewardship, and I don’t disagree, but I hope that we all recognize that such is not the point of this parable. And we should be especially careful when the “out of context” point you are making actually depends on disagreeing with Jesus! (That is, Jesus clearly intends for us all to acknowledge that the vineyard owner does have the right to do what he wants with what he has.)