Message from Augie

There are many reasons that we don’t show up or get involved in doing God’s work.  There is, however, always plenty wok to be done.

In grade school or high school were you evEr the one person to get picked last for a sporting game?  UNFORTUNATELY, THOSE WHO DON’T GET PICKED ALSO DON’T GET A CHANCE TO PRACTICE, ESPECIALLY IF THEY ARE INEXPERIENCED OR LACK ACCESS TO PRACTIVE FIELDS OR DON’T HAVE SOMEONE TO TEACH THEM.  Nobody expects them to improve.  They don’t expect to improve themselves.  So they just give up!

So perhaps the real question  about the workers in Jesus’ parable is why they’re left hanging around in the first place.  In their own words, “No one has hired us.”  Perhaps they are lazy.  Or perhaps they’re inexperienced.  Nearsighted.  Injured.  Aged.  Different.  How many of those workers waited the sidelines of that marketplace every day, praying to be chosen and knowing they probably wouldn’t?

Nevertheless, there’s work to do, and the landowner search the marketplace again and again, putting the willing to work.   Who is this person?  Well, the landowner really isn’t a person if you read carefully.  The landowner is the kingdom itself.  The kingdom of heaven, says, Jesus, is like a landowner,  The kingdom seeks the willing, again and again, and puts them to work.  The unchosen workers in this parable are still in the market place.  They haven’t given up and go home.  They are still out there today, overlooked for hiring or leadership or promotion, when there’s so much to do in hospitals, war zones, churches, and every area of unrest or injustice.  They are everywhere, confronting the rest of us in our abundance, because God’s kingdom is generous.  It’s present when seeing someone else “ being made  equal to us’  is a cause not for grumbling but for celebration..  So go ahead.  Be the landowner.

SO THE QUESTION:  WHERE IN YOUR LIFE MIGHT A “BE A LANDOWNER” APPROACH AND ILLUMINATE GOD’S GENEROSITY AND HEALING?