The Big Picture
The ballerina danced with grace. The sports star graced us with his presence. The teacher gave the class a grace period to finish the assignment. We use the word grace a lot and for a lot of things. The Bible uses the word a lot too, but it expresses a different idea than the examples above. Grace is God’s kindness toward those who don’t deserve his kindness. God’s grace, then, is a generous gift. It is like getting an unexpected present for Christmas after you have been naughty from January to December!
So, let’s think of some examples of grace throughout the Biggest Story. When God called a nobody named Abraham to come to the promised land and receive God’s blessing, that’s grace. When God forgave King David’s awful sins, that’s grace. When Jesus called the tax collector Matthew to follow him, that’s grace. When the father in Jesus’s parable of the prodigal son welcomed his son home, forgave all his sins, and threw a big party to celebrate his son’s return, that’s grace. That’s amazing grace! In today’s lesson we learn more about God’s amazing grace. It’s another parable, one usually called the parable of the laborers (or workers) in the vineyard. By God’s grace, let’s listen!