The Eye of Good and Evil
Matthew 20:14-16
(the parable of the vineyard workers continues) And he (the vineyard master) responding to one of them said, “Friend, I was not unjust to you. Did you not agree with me of a denarius? Is it not permitted to me to do what I wish in regards to those of mine? Why are your eyes evil that I am good?” Thus it will be, the last ones first and the first ones last.
The Eye of Good and Evil
One-on-one agreements with the vineyard master, the creator of the universe, no less, is a brave step. Making deals with other people, in some contexts, can wither away, get broken, or maybe forgotten, but when God is involved, a covenant is a covenant.
For example, ‘what God has welded together let no person separate it.’ A marriage vow is a covenant between five people: the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, the man, and the woman. But disappointing statistics show that this sacred covenant gets broken more easily than pie crust. Why? Because of evil eyes.
Eyes start to wander after a while, when the covenant becomes stale and starts to collect dust, the memory of that wonderful day, stretching out of focus. If the Father is the only one who is good, so Jesus says, what's to be done? Who can stand? Well, that is a different covenant.
Jesus defined what a disciple is, one who produces much fruit (John 15:8). And Paul defined what that fruit is, goodness, being listed among the nine (Galatians 5:22-23). But a handshake with the covenant is first required in order to produce this spirit fruit. Where's the dotted line for the interested buyer to sign on?
Covenant is not a casual word for curious tire-kickers. The old covenant was sacred, but became very legalistic, doing the right things to stay right with God. Self-righteousness stepped in to decide what was right in one’s own eyes, evil or otherwise. The new law, the new covenant, isn't an outward expression of an inward faith; the new covenant Jesus brought was and still is an inward agreement for outward expressions, a gentlemen's handshake with the heart to produce spirit fruit for Jesus. He called it, new wine.
The new wine that burst the old wineskin was 20 liters of heart-circumcising commands, too much for a couple tablets of shalls and shall nots. The sermon tour through Galilee was like a warmup band for the main feature, sending out the old and ringing in the new. Livelihoods dependent upon former glory days of old rushed in with evil eyes to stop that wine from flowing. Blood ran instead, to seal the covenant deal, that the one able to rise from the dead was able enough to lay down the new law. The Empirical victory shout of good news (gospel), morphed into a messianic victory proclamation of even better news: Hear ye, hear ye, the resurrection of Jesus proves the Divinity of His 20 commands-one greater than Moses has come (Hebrews 3:1-3)
