Parable of the Bakers

Read: Matthew 20:9-16

Bright and early in the morning, Kira flew into Grandma’s kitchen with a grin on her face while her cousins were still sleeping upstairs. Grandma had just finished setting out bags of flour and sugar and loads of cookie cutters. This could only mean one thing—Grandma’s delicious sugar cookies.

“Oh, Kira, thank goodness you’re here!” Grandma exclaimed. “We have to make twenty boxes of cookies for the church fundraiser tomorrow. If you help, you can bring a dozen home tonight to enjoy.”

“I’m in!” Kira cried.

After an hour of working, Sophie came downstairs and spotted the cookies. “Can I help?” she asked.

“Join the fun!” Grandma replied.

Another hour passed and Jackson ran in with his nose in the air. “I smell cookies!” he cried.

“Roll up your sleeves!” Grandma said with a laugh.

Finally, just as they were rolling out the last bit of dough, Kevin wandered in yawning. Without even asking, he grabbed a cookie cutter and got to work.

When all the cookies were iced and boxed, Grandma gave each grandchild a dozen cookies. But Kira frowned.

“Grandma, I worked the longest,” she said. “Kevin barely did anything. Why does he get the same number of cookies as me?”

“Be quiet!” Kevin shushed.

“Kira, we agreed to a dozen cookies as compensation, right?” Grandma asked, crossing her arms. Kira nodded. “So why are you upset?”

“It’s not fair!” Kira cried.

“Maybe not,” Grandma said. “But is Jesus’s love based on fairness?”

“Ooh, this is like the parable of the workers!” Sophie said.

Grandma winked. “Exactly. That parable illustrates how at any stage of life, we have the chance to receive Jesus’s love and forgiveness. That might not seem fair to us who have been saved longer, but we have no right to complain when it wasn’t fair to begin with that Jesus died on the cross for our sins. We serve a generous and merciful God.”

“I’m glad I have a generous God and a generous grandma,” Kira said with a smile as she bit into a cookie.

–Hannah Chung

How about you? Has someone’s generosity ever seemed unfair to you? Perhaps your sibling got a present on your birthday or your teacher allowed another student to turn homework in late. Just remember that if you trust in Jesus, you are the recipient of the ultimate act of generosity—His gift of unconditional love and forgiveness. As you recognize His love in your life, consider how you can be generous to others too.

Today's Key Verse: For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. 1 Peter 3:18 (NIV)

Today's Key Thought: God is generous