Death Bed Baptism

In Matthew 20: 1-16 a vineyard owner goes out into the market day labor pool and hires day laborers. All day long he keeps going and hiring new workers to go along with those already hired. At the end of the day, everyone gets the same wage. The workers who worked all day long think they should get more.

I wonder if the person who has a death bed conversion is baptized and dies, is going to get the same or better than I will get in heaven? I spend my whole life "earning" a spot. Is heaven earned? Is it a reward? Are there gradations based upon my effort? If so, I have forgotten that it is a gift, not something owed to me. As a gift, can I rejoice that someone else gets through the gates?

Each worker in the gospel needs the usual daily wage, to survive through to the next day for food and other necessities. If you don't work, then you have to resort to begging. No safety net in those days. But the all day workers could not rejoice at the good fortune of the one hour worker. The all day workers had raised expectations, that would limit what the vineyard owner could do. I am often taken aback at how people limit God's goodness, by their sense of what is "fair" and just, as if God had to follow some human rules. The all day workers are envious, while the one hour workers are grateful, and rejoice. What is your feeling about the pay scale here?