The Parable In Young & Dangerous

Surprise, surprise! The bible can be found in a gangster movie! The pastor’s rebellious daughter in Young & Dangerous III has quite a point there. When questioned by her father on when she will change her ways, she quoted the Parable Of The Workers In The Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). It goes like this.

A landowner “went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.” The landowner “agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day.”

The landowner went out at the 3rd hour (9am), and hired more laborers. Again, he went out at the 6th hour (12pm) and hired more laborers. He made another recruitment drive at the 9th hour (3pm) to hire more laborers. At the 11th hour (5pm), he made his last employment, with only 1 working hour to go for the day.

At the end of the day, all the laborers were called in. All the laborers received the same payment, which is 1 denarius.

In the movie, the pastor’s rebellious daughter reasoned, “Why should I try to be good now, when I can turn good later at the 11th hour of my life? After all, the reward is still the same.” Poor pastor. He had to resort to the nearest convenience store to buy a book about parenting.
Let’s deal with the issue one by one. Starting with the outcry of injustice from the laborers.

First of all, the landowner did the laborers no wrong. The landowner reasoned, “Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” This was the deal that the laborers agreed with when they started working. So they can’t complain.

This scenario is very similar to the “deal” we accepted when we decided to follow Christ. We know full well that following Jesus will mean having to carry our cross. We know full well that we will face hardship until the final hour of our life. But yet, we accepted the agreement and entered a covenantal relationship with God. We cannot complain for having to endure hardship longer just because we started to follow Christ earlier. The deal was made clear from the very beginning.

Now, coming to the pastor’s daughter. She shows strong reasoning on her point. But she forgets the most important factor prior to following Christ – genuine repentance.

If someone can come up to you and say, “I will come back to God when I have reached my 11th hour”, then the authenticity of his planned repentance is under question. A person cannot “plan” his repentance. If repentance is real, its response should be immediate and instantaneous. Not planned, plotted, or extrapolated.

If a person “plans” to repent only at the 11th hour, essentially he is saying, “I want to be good in the end. But first, I want to be bad while I can” In other words, he is basically saying, “I want to be righteous to go to heaven, but I also want to live a life of sin without having to go to hell.” Isn’t that contradictory?

One cannot “plan” to be a sinner, then “plan” to convert into a saint later on in life. If the person is no stranger to the concept of sin and righteousness, delaying repentance is open rebellion. Performing an act of repentance after that period of delay is plain pretense. How can you tell God that you want to be sinful now, and follow Him on the 11th hour just so you can go to heaven? You are not truly repentant of your sins. You are only hoping to ride on a free ticket to heaven. The artificiality of your intentions will be made bare before the Lord.

God is no fool, He cannot be mocked. Nobody can cheat his way into heaven. Nobody can have the best of both worlds. Planning to repent on the 11th hour of life is not only foolish. It is the riskiest thing to do with one’s soul. Only God knows those who are his.

Young & Dangerous IV, anyone?