"30 But many who are first will be last; and the last, first. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
In Romans 6:23, Paul writes "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." God's insurmountable grace is not just a pardon from sin, it is the enabling gift not to continue to sin to live for Christ, for the sake of others, so they may also obtain grace through salvation in Jesus Christ. As we'll see in today's passage, God's grace shows no partiality, regardless of how sinful or corrupt they might be. Therefore, I believe grace is scandalous. If we're being honest, grace is not only challenging, but it's even disturbing, because its not the way we normally do things. Instinctively, we want people to get what we feel they deserve, rather than what they desperately need.
"When evening came, 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.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 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, 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?’ So the last shall be first, and the first last."
In this parable, immediately following His encounter with the rich young ruler, Jesus illustrates to His disciples, His intended application on the subject of eternal life and the kingdom of heaven. I believe we can all learn a great deal from this profound lesson today. God specializes in saving unworthy people, unworthy not worthless, no one is beyond saving.
Let's look at verse 30, "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first."
We don’t really know where the phrase "the first will be last; and the last, first" came from, it may have been a common statement in Jesus' time. Although there isn't any known evidence of it being used in any other writings. We do know that Jesus used it on several occasions in His teaching.
Now let’s look at verses 1 and 2, "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard." In Jesus' day, this would have been a pretty typical scene, in the first century, there were places where day laborers gathered to look for work. These workers were usually unskilled and were typically near the bottom of the social economic scale. They went from job to job, which lasted no more than a day. In reality, they were not far above being beggars, because they had no guarantee of work beyond the job they were doing that day.
Working in a vineyard at harvest time in Palestine was not easy as temperatures often reached 100 degrees or higher. The vineyard was the most valuable property, and required the greatest amount of labor, because the grapes had to be picked quickly before the cold weather set in. During the winter months, the temperatures can reach zero or below and are known to see the most rainfall. Harvest time was a hectic and demanding time of year because the cold and rain would destroy everything. Every available man had to be hired, and quite frankly, the promise of a denarius would have been quite generous and would have meant a great deal to these workers. The workday lasted 12 hours, starting at 6:00 am and ended at 6:00 pm.
It's not known whether the workers were preparing an existing vineyard, by pruning the old vines to increase production, or preparing the land for a new vineyard, digging and removing stones from the ground or harvesting the grapes. However, all of it was demanding work and required a considerable amount of labor since vineyards were generally planted on sloping hillsides. A denarius was the pay of a Roman soldier, which was not the normal day worker pay, so the workers would have readily agreed to lucrative offer for a days pay for a days work, because they had to work in order to eat and feed their family. Day laborers would gather early in the morning around the marketplace, and there they would wait there for someone to come and hire them.
Verses 3 and 4, "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went." So, at 9am, the landowner returns to the marketplace to hire more workers, because he realizes it’s going to take more workers than he’s currently got. It's worth mentioning that Jesus says when the landowner returned to the marketplace, he "saw others standing idle in the market place." They were idle because they were still unemployed, no one had hired them, not because they were willfully idle. But this landowner returns because he needs more help, he finds some men, "and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went." If these workers would have been there in the morning, they would have known what he had paid the earlier ones he hired. Much like today, word travels fast, so they would have glad to receive the same offer. Since the days going quickly and he needed more help, this was not the time to negotiate.
In the following verses, verses 5-7, as the day is passing and it's getting later, he realizes he is still in need of more workers. "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 around; 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 go into the vineyard too.’" You can be sure that these men were really glad to have gotten this opportunity to work this late in the day, they've been standing there all day and no on has hired them. As we mentioned before, they had to work in order to eat and feed their family. At this point, they've been waiting all day, now they’ll take whatever they can get. So you can just imagine how willing they were to work, because by now they’re desperate. Even if it's just an hours worth of work, when your desperate, something is better than nothing, right?
Now, we come to verses 8-9, "When evening came, 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.’ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius." I believe this is where we really get to the meaning of the proverb, this is where the proverb and the parable meet, "beginning with the last group to the first.’" I mean, it's really become obvious now. In today's standards, it's "first come, first serve," right? But that's not the case here, Jesus says he starts with the ones who worked the least amount of time. And paid them a whole day’s wage for one hour! Obviously, the way things are done in heaven are not the way things are done here on earth, those who were last received the same wonderful generosity as those who were first, that's the point.
We can imagine that the workers who had been working all day must have thought to themselves, "If they got paid a denarius for only one hour, just imagine what we're going to get!" You can almost feel their excitement, of course they'd get more because they had done more, right? Then, as we come to verse 10, "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius." When that didn’t happen, imagine their disappointment. They could not contain themselves, at this point that the parable takes a dramatic turn.
Look at verses 11-12, "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.’" Though Jesus does not say it, the implication is clear, all of the workers were paid a denarius. When they received the same amount, their hopes were dashed. The word grumble is in the imperfect tense, which means that they didn't just complain once, but were in a constant state of grumbling. I'm sure most of us can sympathize with these workers, I mean 12 hours in the scorching heat of the day with few or no breaks. Now the joy and excitement turns into anger and frustration, they were upset that the landowner had made the other workers equal to them. Now, they're determined not to leave until they received satisfaction from the landowner. Hoping that their complaining would get them more. This was a crushing blow.
I love the landowner's response, his reply in verse 13 is absolutely marvelous. "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?" The term "friend" is actually a rebuke, its the "hetaíros," it suggests someone looked upon as a friend, but is actually an imposter acting for self-gain. "I am doing you no wrong," suggests "didn't I pay you what we had agreed upon, the amount that you agreed upon?" And, when we look back at verse 2, we know the answer is, yes, they did agree to a days work for a denarius.
So, while they were still standing there, with the coin in their hand, the landowner says in verse 14, "Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you." Both sides had lived up to their end of the bargain. What the landowner chose to do with his own money was nobody's business. In fact, if he had wanted to, the landowner could have given half of his wealth to one of the workers, and he would not have been unjust, many would have admired him for his generosity. Here, we find that grace has an edge to it. We have to accept the fact that others may be saved later than us or will do less work than us in the kingdom of God, the problem isn't an unjust or unfair God, the problem is with our selfish perception of His grace. How easily we take grace for granted. I’ve discovered that many, after being Christians for some time, even come to demand His grace just like the workers in the parable. How dare we to think of ourselves as "entitled" when grace is a gift. If it’s a wage that we want from God, Scripture says that our salary is already figured, if we want to be compensated for our work, Romans 6 tells us "the wages of sin is death…" If grace is what we want, "the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Grace is a gift, not a wage. Like any gift, all we can do is receive it.
Verse 15, "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?’" They all worked, some longer than others, but they had the same need. In his generosity, he met all their needs the same. Everybody finished at the same, they all received the same pay. So he says "Is your eye envious because I am generous?" Isn't ironic, that when grace is applied to us always seems right, but when it's given to others it disturbs us? What an indictment. Since this is a parable about the kingdom of heaven, I believe that we can understand how this relates us. God is the landowner, the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven, and we believers, are the laborers. The wage for our work for the kingdom while we're here on earth, is eternal life. We all equally receive the same reward, no matter how long, no matter how short we served His kingdom. You’re no better than me, and I'm no better than you. Grace makes us all equal. No one is first, and no one is last.
That brings us to verse 16, Jesus says "So the last shall be first, and the first last." What a glorious truth, every believer, who recognized his sin and willing to obey Christ, the sinner who embraces Christ on his death bed, the missionary who died a martyr, the pastor who spent 50 years preaching God's Word week after week, and the newly converted sitting in the pew, we’re all going to enter into the same eternal life. We don’t each receive an equal portion, we each receive eternal life in all its fullness.
In Closing..
This message poses both a question and a call to each of us, Is Jesus Christ the Lord and Savior of your life? Does your life reflect your answer?
Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." Have you openly welcomed new believers, treating as them as a welcome member of God's family? Grace is all about receiving a fresh start, not about keeping score. Are you offering grace to those who have offended you? When we arrive in heaven, there won't be two lines, one for the most deserving of God’s grace, and the other for the least deserving. Do you remember how confused we all were when someone reached out to us and welcomed us?
Have we forgotten what grace really means? "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see."
May it be so..
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen