Fair is what you pay on a bus

I have four brothers. I feel that saying we caused a lot of trouble is redundant. It was uncommon that when one of us did something wrong we all lost the same privilege for a time. When this happened I would always say to my parents, "thats not fair !" To this my dad would always vehemently respond "fair is what you pay on a bus!" Words will never adequately describe how much I hated when he said that. 

This nostalgic phrase crashes into my memory as I consider the parable of the laborers in Matthew 20. In this parable read about those who don't understand the role they play in Gods Kingdom. The greatest lesson we learn from this parable is that it is not important how long an individual works in the Lord's vineyard, its important that they worked. This idea teaches us that God is a just God, and he judges each of us relative to the knowledge and opportunities we had in this life. Certainly some of us worked longer longer than others but to esteem ourselves above those who worked for a lesser time is to misunderstand God's plan for his children. Christ himself said, the first shall be the last, and the last shall be first. 

The fact that the laborers who worked all day felt that they should be compensated at a higher rate than those who had only worked for half the day or only an hour. The master responds to these murmurings, in effect, "fair is what you pay on a bus." As the Lords servants we don't get to decide what is or is not fair. Our role is to faithfully fulfill the covenant that we made with God at Baptism. We are incapable to determine the just reward of those around us. 

As I further consider this parable I note that each laborer received a penny for their labor. This illustrates the idea that we are all working toward the same goal that is of equal worth. We are all striving to return to the presence of the Father in the Celestial Kingdom. This idea eliminates any competition that may exist amongst the saints. 

While I continue to do my best work within the Lords vineyard I will always remain grateful that I was called early in the day perform this labor.  I know this will never make me better than those who were called later in life, and I know that this labor has and will continue bring me close to my God.