Lots of best friends

Jesus, help me accept when my friends have other friends! Amen.

"Heaven is like a farmer who hired people to work in his fields," Jesus said. "He hired some at 9 a.m., some at noon, more in the afternoon and more later. At the end of the day, the farmer paid them all the same amount. The ones who'd worked longer grumbled. 'I'm not cheating you!' the farmer said. 'I promised you a day's pay, and you're getting it. So what if I want to pay these people just as much? It's my money.'" Jesus added: "The first will be last, and the last will be first."

Some kids seem to change best friends all the time. Today, they'll sit with one friend on the school bus; but tomorrow, they might sit with another person and call her their "best friend"!

You might not like that, but Jesus probably wouldn't mind: We can guess He had a lot of best friends, because He believed in treating everyone equally. In this week's Gospel (Matthew 20:1-16), He talks about that.

To many kids, having a best friend is really important. You want one person to play sports or do homework with, and to be your partner on school trips. Other kids have lots of friends, playing with one after school on Monday and another on Tuesday.

If you're not sure whether someone wants you as their best friend, you might feel hurt. But the Gospel story tells us that God wants us to treat everyone like a friend, whether we met five years ago or yesterday.

The farmer in the story is really Jesus. When He "pays" people the same no matter when they started working for Him, it means that He's just as happy if someone gets close to Him now as He is happy with the people who followed Him their whole lives.

When your friends have other friends, Jesus would probably say that's okay. To Him, everyone's a best friend anyway!