In the gospel parable, the workers protest—justifiably, it could be argued—against the owner of the vineyard for his unfairness.

I think the unfairness of the world was evident to me before I was out of grade school. Being confronted with great American ideals like “All men are created equal” made me want to punch John Locke’s lights out. You only had to glance around the recess yard to see all the folks who were clearly at a disadvantage for which time, wealth, and status would never compensate them.

“God’s kingdom is like an estate manager who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. They agreed on a wage of a dollar a day, and went to work.

The judge was surprised when he read the complaints. Before him sat four people who were the adult children of a recently deceased multimillionaire. The older two siblings were contesting the will—a very generous will, I might add. What was their gripe?

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that things happen by God’s Rolex not my Timex.” Those words were shared at a reunion between two coworkers long after they both gave up trying to set the course of their lives on a timetable.

When visiting Paris for the first time, I found one custom so different from here or other places I had visited that it made me genuinely uncomfortable: It was tipping.

The justice of God is above our ways. We appeal to that justice to bring us closer to God in Christ.

Our sins are nothing but a grain of sand alongside the great mountain of the mercy of God.