Mat 20:32 What do you want me to do for you?

This is the concluding statement in a chapter that focuses on what God does for us. It began with the analogy of the land owner who paid the same wage to everyone, regardless of how long they had worked. Christ then addressed how his apostles would be rewarded in heaven. It then ends with Christ asking this question of two blind men who were begging for help as he passed while the rest of the crowd tried to silence them.

The central message has been that God alone is in a position to decide what we deserve. God is free to be generous. We cannot do anything to repay him for his gifts. We are all blind, asking for sight. We all think we know what is "fair," but we are simply not in a position to judge our own reward. All Christ can say is that those who give the most (and take the least) will get the most.

What is Christ describing as the universal rule here? Under the universal rule, those who give the most, get the most. The best servant becomes the best rewarded. This was a revolutionary way to see the world in Christ's time when the powerful simply took from others. However, Christ was teaching something else. The first rule is that we are all free to agree what is fair. The second rule is that people should be able to spend their money as they please as long as they honor their agreements. The final rule is that those who make the biggest contribution will get the biggest rewards.