Matthew 20:1-16 (NIV) The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.
6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The Parable is about the people whom GOD called to serve Him before the end comes. First, GOD called Israel to observe His statutes and serve in His Vineyard. Jews were the first called into the propagation of His Kingdom, and many of them should come at the call; but, at length, the Gentiles were also included to serve the LORD. This is because GOD is not only the Almighty GOD but also GOD who is the Compassionate and Gracious God, Abounding in love and faithfulness. (Exodus 34:6). Based on the content of the parable, it is implied that all who are called to serve, no matter how long or how hard they work during their lifetime, will receive the same basic reward: Eternal Life. The one who believe will receive His Graciousness. And no one can question GOD about His Mercy and Grace. He said to Moses in Exodus 33:19, “ I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”
Mercy and Grace is not about what the receiver had done, it is not earned, but it is based on the generosity of the Giver. Remember Dimas, the thief on the cross whose life of service was limited to a moment of repentance and confession of faith in Jesus Christ? He received the same reward of eternal life as St. Peter, who was first called to serve Jesus (Luke 23:39-43, Matthew 4:19). Of course, Scripture also teaches that there are different rewards in Heaven for different services, but the ultimate reward is Eternal Life, and it will be given to all equally, on the basis of God’s grace in Christ Jesus not on what people have accomplished.
In the Parable of Two Sons to work in their Father’s Vineyard, ( Matthew 21:32), Jesus asked the chief priests and elders of Jewish people whom the Father will favor between the two sons. Of course they answered it right when they chose the son who obeyed his Father. But after they answered, Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe Him.”
It is so clear that the saying ‘The Last will be First, and the First will be Last’ means; The last called who believed right away and obeyed the Gospel of Christ will be the first to enter the Kingdom of GOD, and the first called who did not believe right away the Gospel of Jesus will be last in the Kingdom of GOD.
As Isaiah 55:8-9 says,
8“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
We should be reminded that GOD is above all, and Jesus is the Righteous One, And yet before His coming Wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10), while He is Compassionate and Gracious, while HE is considering everyone to come and believe and serve Him through the Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we should act quickly to accept His offer before it becomes too late for us. AMEN
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