What’s the Point of Discipleship?

20 August 2025  Matthew 20:1-16  Dr. David C. Campbell

“Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” Matthew 20:16

The very first thing the disciples argued about was which one of them was the greatest.

Six times in the gospels this topic came up (Matthew 18:1-5, Matthew 19:16-30, Matthew 20:1-16, Mark 9:33-37, Luke 9:46-47, and Luke 22:24-27). All six times Jesus gave different versions of the same answer: “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” The disciples’ understanding of greatness was upside down – they had themselves on top. Jesus told them repeatedly that others needed to be on top, not them.

“Get this through your heads,” Jesus said. “Your job is to announce and enact the generosity of God.”

The stumbling block for the disciples was that they thought this generosity was unfair. It interfered with the greatness they thought they were entitled to. Jesus said to them again and again, “You are not entitled to any greatness. Only I am, and I am among you as one who serves” (cf. Luke 22:27). “Your job is to do what I do – announce and enact the generosity of God.”

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard relates just how radical that generosity is. Even if you put off deciding for Jesus to the very end, to even your last few breaths, you get the same heaven that is promised to every saint, every apostle, every teacher, every martyr. Even if your only act of witness in this life is your confession of faith, that is enough. Disciples may grumble, as the laborers in the parable did, that the latecomers should get less than those who bear the heat and burden of discipleship over the course of years or lifetimes. To them Jesus says the same thing he said at the start: “You signed up to announce and enact the generosity of God. This is that generosity – the last shall be first.”

Another similar grumbler in the gospels was the Older Brother in the Parable of the Prodigal Son: “Look, all these years I served you, and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feat on with my friends. But when your son returns, who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fatted calf” (Luke 15:29-30). What’s the point in being a disciple if people who wait until the 11^th hour get the same as disciples do, maybe even more? The father replied to his grumbling eldest son, “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours” (15:31). “What’s the point?” we ask. Years of discipleship mean that for years we have lived close to the One who is the meaning of life. Years of discipleship mean we don’t have to wonder what the meaning and purpose of our lives is. It means we are spared many of the burdens of uncertainty, shame, and guilt. It means we have a supportive community around us all the time providing comfort, guidance, and care. It means we can receive the grace of God, the life of God regularly, daily if we want. Everything He has, everything He is, is ours already.

What’s the point? It is a question that practically answers itself.

“Get this through your heads,” Jesus said. “Your job is to announce and enact the generosity of God.” We can do that because we have received that generosity in extravagant abundance already. And maybe that settles the question about the One who is greatest.