Mat 20:8 | KingComments | STEP | 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?

‏ Matthew 20:8

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?