Jealous Much?
Matthew 20:1
For the kingdom of heaven is similar to a person head of the family, who went out early in the morning together with workers let out for hire into his vineyard. And in agreement of the working for a daily denarius, sent them into the vineyard.
Apostolos, translated to English means, one who is sent. What is the lesson, that working as an apostle isn’t glamorous? A daily denarius couldn’t fetch more than a liter of olive oil. God’s workers aren’t worth more than a few olives? To God, they are worth much more.
Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” There’s an understatement if there ever was one. God’s kingdom clashes against the devil’s worldly kingdom in Battlestar Galactica style. Like the lazar-beam sabers of Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader, the mere collision of the two kingdoms is a cosmic force that should send jolts of electric reminders, zaps, if you will, as reminders that the one kingdom cannot co-exist with the other, should, being the key factor.
What’s the difference? God’s kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, has a dress code, for starters. The order isn’t particular, but the particulars bring order to the kingdom. Bible writers together helped to form the code. Just to list a few:
1 John 2:15 Do not value the world or the things of the world.
Philippians 2:3 …doing nothing vainglorious (vanity)
1 Samuel 16:7 People look at the outward appearance; God evaluates the heart.
Philippians 2:5 Take the mind of Christ who emptied Himself to become nothing.
John 6:63 Flesh profits nothing.
1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily training is barely useful.
1 Timothy 6:10 The root of all badness is affection for silver.
1 Peter 1:16 You will be holy as I am holy.
Peter’s words should ring throughout the universe the way the papal heralds do when a new pope is elected. Holiness, to be separate from the world’s common condition and its egocentric, prideful, fleshly ways has been asphyxiated, snuffed out and drowned out by ecclesial exercise, studious efforts that turn to fatbrain, and, probably most of all, jealousy – wanting what the world has.
A short trip down Samuel’s memory lane might jog the sorted details loose from the plaster mold they’ve been in, reminding what happened when God’s holy people became jealous of the world around them (1 Samuel chapter 8):
There was a rumbling in the heavens, the violent sabers colliding and clashing between holiness and worldliness. The people refused to listen to Samuel, and they said, “There will be a king over us that we may also be like all the nations, that our king may judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.” God said to Samuel, “Go give them their king…They have not rejected you but they have rejected Me from being their king.”
God was not defeated; the people defeated themselves because they were jealous for what the world had and wanted it for themselves. They were willing to trade in their spiritual integrity to get it. They weren’t attracting the nations to God; God’s people were conforming to the nations around them.
Spiritual integrity has been and always will be a prospectus in which to advertise to the nations for Jesus. So the question is, how come the nations aren’t jealous of God’s people?
