EARTHLY & HEAVENLY REWARDS ...The Rich Young Ruler and Laborers in the Vineyard

The Rich Young Ruler

Matthew 19:16-26 Mark 10:17-27 Luke 18: 18-27

There was a rich young ruler who came to Christ wanting to know how he could inherit eternal life. Christ asked him if he knew the commandments and if he was keeping them. 

The rich young ruler said yes then asked “what lack I yet?”  Christ said “yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou has, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.”  When the rich young ruler heard this “he went away sorrowful for he had great possessions.”

The rich young ruler was possibly a magistrate or a kind of Justice of the Peace.  He is a good man, from youth he had kept the commandments of God.  In one account it says that he came running up to Christ and knelt before him, indicating a sense of urgency and respect.  He appears to be submissive and has a willingness to be taught by Jesus.  It is clear that he believes in eternal life and he wants to attain it – a somewhat unusual goal for a man of such wealth and power and age. His humbleness shows through when he asks “what lack I yet?”

So what was the man lacking?  He could not give his whole heart and soul. He trusted in his riches. He could not let go of the world. He was trying to serve two masters: God and mammon. You can try for a while but in the end one will win over. 

Love of Money and ?

Christ then said to His disciples “...a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven ....it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.”

The JST  clarifies “And he said unto [the disciples], It is impossible for them who trust in riches, to enter into the kingdom of God; but he who forsaketh the things which are of this world, it is possible with God, that they should enter in.”

We can see that Christ is not saying a rich man cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven but actually someone who trusts in his wealth or has a love for money. 

Christ is not just talking about money here.  He is talking about anything that we have a love for and cannot give up.   

What is it for you or me? What do we possess that has such a hold on us to make us willing to walk away from eternal life?  

In today’s world it could be the hottest car, watching or playing sports, political power, the latest I phone, food, the best computer, video playing, Grand Theft Auto, R rated movies, cheating the system.  Maybe our good looks our talents or our intellect. The list is long these days as we have so much. We live in a consumer driven society.  Advertisements are constantly informing us of our “needs.”  It is not a sin to have but it is a sin when we love it more than we love God.

So what is it for you? What do you lack?

This last Conference Elder Lawrence gave a great talk on asking the Lord what we lack and then doing it.  “If we are humble and teachable, the Holy Ghost will prompt us to improve and lead us home, but we need to ask the Lord for directions along the way... We have to ask some difficult questions, like “What do I need to change?” “How can I improve?” “What weakness needs strengthening?”

If we truly want to inherit Eternal Life and live with Christ again we will ask what we lack then we will do it.

An excellent talk: What Lack I Yet? by Larry R Lawrence 

  

Do you want to learn more about the "camel's eye?  click here   Camel's eye 

The Laborers in the Vineyard 

 

In this parable the landowner hires laborers throughout the day.  Some work 12 hours, others 9, and some as little as only 1 hour, yet each are paid the same.

The hour the laborers were hired	How much the man agreed to pay	Hours worked	How much they were actually paid
Early	1c	12	1c
3rd	1c	9	1c
6th	1c	6	1c
9th	1c	3	1c
11th	1c	1	1c

When it came time to be paid the workers who had toiled since early morning wanted to be paid more. “And when they had received it, they murmured against the Goodman of the house, saying, these last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.”

The Goodman responded, “Friend, I do thee no wrong...didst not thou agree with me for a penny?...Take that thine is, and go thy way...”  Then he asked the murmurer’s two important questions “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?”  Or I like how Elder Holland says it: “Why should you be jealous because I choose to be kind?”

Do you think the Goodman had been fair and charitable with all who had worked in his vineyard?

What is fair or unfair?  We live in a society where we make laws and policies to address unfairness.  Kids especially cry out about ‘fairness.’  We work by the hour and are paid according to the hours we work.  Some are paid bonuses for the work they do. What are we to get from this parable?

The parable is about the Kingdom of God and those that have come to the gospel.  Some are born and raised in the church, coming from a long line of Mormons and others join in the last hour.

My husband’s family joined in the 1800’s. He has great great grandfathers that were missionaries for the gospel.  When my boys went on missions they were the 7^th generation to serve. One of the sons served in the same mission his great grandfather had served in a decade before. Today I have 2 grandchildren out on missions, they are the 8^th generation to serve.

My parents joined the church when I was a little girl.  My great grandmother was baptized a few months before she died.

Who will obtain the greater reward?  The member with the long lineage or the person who joined as an adult or the person who joined just before death?  How about those that died without the knowledge of the gospel but have joined on the other side?  

This parable tells us that all will gain the same reward. Elder Acebedo said: “Does my service of more than 25 years entitle me to a greater reward in heaven than a new convert who is faithful but who may give only a short period of service before passing beyond the veil? The Lord’s answer is no. To those who qualify for the celestial kingdom, the promise of the Father is that all who labor, no matter when each is called into the vineyard, will be “equal in power, and in might, and in dominion” (D&C 76:95). The Lord is a generous paymaster. He will surely pay “whatsoever is right.”

What else can we learn from this parable?   Beware of Pride

I grew up in a Mormon community.  Many of my schoolmates came from pioneer families.  Often I felt like they were better than me because I came from convert family and they from long generations of Mormons who had sacrificed to bring the gospel to the earth.

Hopefully we do not fall into the trap that we deserve a greater reward because we were called first or because we labored longer than someone else.  President Ezra Taft Benson cautioned us to beware of pride, for it “is essentially competitive in nature. … Some prideful people are not so concerned as to whether their wages meet their needs as they are that their wages are more than someone else’s. Their reward is being a cut above the rest. This is the enmity of pride.”

Beware of Envy

In life some have more money than others, some are more beautiful, some have better bodies, others receive special recognition, and some just have good fortune.  We need to not envy but instead be happy for those that have good fortune.  Elder Holland said: “May I plead with us not to be hurt—and certainly not to feel envious—when good fortune comes to another person? We are not diminished when someone else is added upon. We are not in a race against each other to see who is the wealthiest or the most talented or the most beautiful or even the most blessed. The race we are really in is the race against sin, and surely envy is one of the most universal of those...Furthermore, envy is a mistake that just keeps on giving...So be kind, and be grateful that God is kind. It is a happy way to live.”

Beware of Murmuring

Elder Henry F Acebedo said: “When the Lord calls, we should not worry about the pay. We should simply go to work and do our best. What does it matter who gets the credit? We should thank the Lord for the opportunity to work in His vineyard.”

We need to be careful that we are not murmuring against our leaders of the church, including our local leaders.  We also need to be careful we do not murmur about each other in our wards.  We know that a house divided against itself cannot stand.

Thank goodness for a fair Lord who will judge us on our hearts and not our time in the vineyard.  No matter where we are at we need to obey the commandments, serve with all our hearts, repent daily and each day try to step a little closer to be like Jesus Christ.  If we do we will enjoy the fellowship of Christ’s labor.

  

Two excellent talks:

 Parables of Jesus The Laborers by Henry F Acebedo 

The Laborers in the Vineyard by Jeffrey R Holland