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THE NORTHERN KENTUCKY SEARCHER VOLUME 1, NUMBER 36, OCTOBER 7, 2001 LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD In Matthew 20:1 - 16, Jesus presented the following parable, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, You too go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing; and he said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day long? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them, You too go into the vineyard. And when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first. And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; and they also received each one a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day. But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous? Thus the last shall be first, and the first last." The particulars of the parable are these: the owner of a vineyard went out to find workers early in the morning. He found some, talked with them, and struck an agreement. The day's wage would be a denarius, a Roman coin worth about 20 cents that was the regular rate of pay for a day laborer. In Palestine a man was hired at dawn and paid at sunset. The early morning hours pass and the owner goes again to the market place in search of additional workers. He finds some at the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours. The Jews divided the daytime into twelve equal parts. The length of the hour depended upon the length of the day. The third hour would be approximately 9 am, the sixth hour about noon, the ninth would be mid-afternoon, and the eleventh hour would be about 5 pm. We should note that as the owner hires different workers throughout the day, no agreement is reached concerning pay. He simply says, "Whatever is right I will give you." These men evidently only wanted a chance to work and they committed themselves to the goodness of the owner. The Law of Moses stated in Lev. 19:13, "You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of a hired man are not to remain with you all night until morning." Deut. 24;15, says, "You shall give him his wages on his day before the sun sets, for he is poor and sets his heart on it; so that he may not cry against you to the Lord and it become sin in you." So in the evening the laborers were called in and given their wages, beginning with those who were the last hired. They were generously treated, paid in full according to what those in the early hours had agreed to. And so it went with all the rest, payment in full although they had worked only a partial day. Then it came time to pay the workers first hired, those who had labored the entire day. These, having seen what the others were paid, expected to receive more. They were paid the same amount and responded with anger, saying, "These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day." The owner responded with, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" There are those who connect this parable with the rich young ruler and believe it to be teaching that many who are first in the eyes of the world with wealth and fame, will be least in heaven because of failure to use their gifts and opportunities. This parable teaches that both the first and the last were saved alike - so it cannot be interpreted in this fashion. Others view the "first" and the "last" as referring to those who were first to believe in and obey the Lord. They make a difference between the Apostles and other early disciples versus Christians of later ages. However, the fundamental principle of this parable is that salvation is the free gift of God and we cannot dictate to Him how He is to give it. God keeps His promises. Each who labors faithfully according to his opportunities will be graciously rewarded of God. If the first turns out to be last and the last turns out to be first, this is God's business and not ours. In the kingdom of heaven equality is the rule. The work performed by the disciples of the Lord, any disciple, is transcended by a reward equal for all, even though it is obvious that the work - and the time engaged in it - will vary from individual to individual. When a person becomes a Christian, he or she does not receive a carefully calculated portion of forgiveness, reconciliation, peace, joy, happiness, and the assurance of heaven based upon how much time he has to labor in the kingdom. I have baptized people in their teens all the way up through their 70's. It is a joy to know that each one of them, if they remain faithful in their service, no matter how long that service might be, will be rewarded equally and that we will be together in heaven. A point needs to be made concerning this parable. The "eleventh hour men" cannot be used to represent people who have rejected the Lord all of their lives and then give Him the last few minutes in what has come to be called "deathbed confessions". When the owner went into the marketplace, he did not find men who had refused earlier invitations to work, he found "others" who had not yet had the opportunity. The "eleventh hour" individuals of the parable represent those who respond when they have the opportunity and then do the best they can for the remainder of their lives. I am thankful that I am not the judge, but I do know that the Lord was not teaching people to ignore Him and reject Him their whole lives only to hop on board as the breath is leaving their bodies and expect to be rewarded. Greg Litmer
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