Mat 20:1-16 | KingComments | STEP | The parable that the Lord pronounces here is in line with Peter’s demand for the reward for following Him. This is already apparent from the word “for” with which the parable begins. This is also shown by a comparison between the last verse of the previous chapter and of this chapter. In His answer to Peter, the Lord pointed out that many of the first will be the last, and the last the first ( ). He will explain this in this parable of the kingdom of heaven, which He then concludes in as follows: “So”, that is: in this way, “the last shall be first, and the first last. In this parable, the Lord establishes the principle of the grace and sovereignty of God towards those whom He calls. He also makes it clear that what He gives to those He sends into His vineyard depends on His grace and calling. The important point in this parable is the trust in the grace of the Lord of the vineyard and that that grace is the starting point for the treatment of those who go into the vineyard. It is a parable of the kingdom of heaven. This means that in the parable it is made clear how things operate in the kingdom of heaven. It is not a parable that shows how sinners are converted. This parable is about those who have a relationship with the Lord Jesus and are called to service by Him. In this, He acts sovereignly, as well as in rewarding the workers. He will acknowledge every service that is done and every sacrifice that is made for His cause without exception. At the same time, He will also maintain His own right to express that recognition as He wills. He has the right to give to those who may have done nothing according to us. The lord here is a lord of the house [landowner is also translated as householder (Darby Translation)], which also connects the idea of a house to the kingdom. This lord got up early and goes looking for workers for his vineyard. With the first batch of workers he negotiates. These workers enter the vineyard after an agreement has been made with them. The workers go to work in the vineyard for the agreed wage. The lord of the house can use even more workers. He sees people who have nothing to do. He goes to them to say that they too should go into the vineyard, with the promise that he will give them “whatever is right”. This group of workers goes into the vineyard without agreement, but in trust on the pledge of the lord. Then, for a third and fourth round, the lord goes outside again and acts in the same way. He is constantly calling people to work in his vineyard. Each time he goes outside. Even at eleven o’clock, when the day is almost over, the lord goes outside. Again he finds people who are doing nothing. Before he sends them into his vineyard, he asks why they have been unemployed all day long. His question shows that he knows their past. Their answer demonstrates passivity. They are not like Ruth who herself looks for work wherever she can find it and counts on the favor of the land owner ( ). Yet the Lord sends them into His vineyard. This last batch of workers enters the vineyard without any commitment.

‏ Matthew 20:1-16

Laborers for a Vineyard

The parable that the Lord pronounces here is in line with Peter’s demand for the reward for following Him. This is already apparent from the word “for” with which the parable begins. This is also shown by a comparison between the last verse of the previous chapter and Mt 20:16 of this chapter. In His answer to Peter, the Lord pointed out that many of the first will be the last, and the last the first (Mt 19:30). He will explain this in this parable of the kingdom of heaven, which He then concludes in Mt 20:16 as follows: “So”, that is: in this way, “the last shall be first, and the first last.

In this parable, the Lord establishes the principle of the grace and sovereignty of God towards those whom He calls. He also makes it clear that what He gives to those He sends into His vineyard depends on His grace and calling. The important point in this parable is the trust in the grace of the Lord of the vineyard and that that grace is the starting point for the treatment of those who go into the vineyard.

It is a parable of the kingdom of heaven. This means that in the parable it is made clear how things operate in the kingdom of heaven. It is not a parable that shows how sinners are converted. This parable is about those who have a relationship with the Lord Jesus and are called to service by Him. In this, He acts sovereignly, as well as in rewarding the workers. He will acknowledge every service that is done and every sacrifice that is made for His cause without exception. At the same time, He will also maintain His own right to express that recognition as He wills. He has the right to give to those who may have done nothing according to us.

The lord here is a lord of the house [landowner is also translated as householder (Darby Translation)], which also connects the idea of a house to the kingdom. This lord got up early and goes looking for workers for his vineyard. With the first batch of workers he negotiates. These workers enter the vineyard after an agreement has been made with them. The workers go to work in the vineyard for the agreed wage.

The lord of the house can use even more workers. He sees people who have nothing to do. He goes to them to say that they too should go into the vineyard, with the promise that he will give them “whatever is right”. This group of workers goes into the vineyard without agreement, but in trust on the pledge of the lord. Then, for a third and fourth round, the lord goes outside again and acts in the same way. He is constantly calling people to work in his vineyard. Each time he goes outside.

Even at eleven o’clock, when the day is almost over, the lord goes outside. Again he finds people who are doing nothing. Before he sends them into his vineyard, he asks why they have been unemployed all day long. His question shows that he knows their past. Their answer demonstrates passivity. They are not like Ruth who herself looks for work wherever she can find it and counts on the favor of the land owner (Rth 2:2). Yet the Lord sends them into His vineyard. This last batch of workers enters the vineyard without any commitment.

The Payout

The time for payment of the wage comes. With wisdom, the lord of the vineyard decides how the payment should be made. He tells his foreman that he must start paying out with the last. They get paid first. Then the others see it, especially those who first went into the vineyard. The actions of the lord will make public what is in their hearts. When the group of workers who last went into his vineyard is paid out, to their amazement each one of them receives a denarius. In his grace, the lord gives to those who have only worked one hour, the pay for a whole day’s work.

Finally, the first come. They have seen how those who have only worked one hour have been given a denarius. It seems only logical to them that they should then have twelve denarii. In the end, they worked a whole day of twelve hours, around the clock. They can count well. Let it be a bit less, but at least they count on more than one denarius. However, they get justly the agreed wage of a denarius.

When they see this, they express their displeasure. They feel they are being treated unfairly and complain to the lord of the house. They feel wronged. There they are put on an equal footing with those who have only worked for an hour, while they have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day. Their complaint relates to the conduct of the lord of the house. They find it unjust that the last are equated with them, while they have had to make much more effort.

Comments only come from the group that was paid out last and started first. None of the other groups, one of which also has endured the heat of the day, says anything about the pay-out to the first group that last started. They realize the grace in the pay-out. The comment comes – and that is the lesson – from people of the law that make God a debtor of man.

The lord replied to one of them. That might well be the very first man to enter the vineyard. He calls him “friend” and reminds him that he is not wronging him. He reminds this ‘friend’ of the agreement. If he pays him for what he himself has signed up for, what is wrong in his conduct? The worker may take his money and go. It has become his money, the lord calls it “yours”. He has really earned it and he can spend it the way he wants.

In his grace, the lord of the vineyard gave to the latter as much as to the former. The lord speaks of “this last man”, that is to say one person with whom he will mean the one who really entered the vineyard as the very last. What the lord has given to the last one is not the matter of the worker of the first hour, but the matter of the lord. Who is the worker telling the lord what to do with his money? Is the lord not free? Or is it rather so that the generousness shown to others reveals the enviousness of the heart of those who believe they have more rights?

The Lesson

The Lord Jesus teaches His disciples, for to them He spoke this parable from the previous section. There is the order: the first will be the last and the last will be the first (Mt 19:30) because it is about the failure of man. Here the order is the other way around: the last are the first and the first are the last, because this is about the sovereignty of God.

The lesson to be learned – and difficult to learn – is that the Lord does not leave any work unremunerated, but that He values simple faith in Him higher than the greatest effort made for Him. This is the faith that goes out for Him, even though the day has already passed, without thinking of wages, but because He sends out. The faith and love for Him as a motive for His service are more important to Him than the actual work that can be done.

True servants of Christ have drunk of His grace and are guided by the desire that He be glorified and their fellow men served. They are filled with what has been bestowed upon them by grace to serve such a Master, their Savior. This unprecedented privilege of serving Him would be completely lost if we were to negotiate it with Him.

That this happens in this parable of the kingdom of heaven means that we see the kingdom here in its widest sphere which also includes those who confess only in name to belong to the Lord, the nominal Christians. Working for the Lord from the motive to be rewarded in the future is misleading. But working for Him in the power of inner devotion for Who He is, puts the stamp of heaven on the service. The latter makes us conform to Him Whom we serve. Certainly the Lord promises a reward, but that is not the motive to serve. As we look at the Lord Jesus in His service, we learn how to serve.