Matthew 20:1

Ch. Mat_20:1-16. The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. Peculiar to St Matthew

1. For the kingdom of heaven, &c.] There are many possible applications of the parable, but the only true explanation of its meaning to the disciples at the time must be reached by considering the question to which it is an answer. The parable is addressed solely to the disciples. The thread of thought may be traced in this way: It is impossible for a rich man, one who trusts in riches, to enter the kingdom of heaven. The disciples, through Peter, say “We at any rate left all and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?” Our Lord’s answer is (1) partly encouraging, (2) partly discouraging.

(1) All who have in a true sense given up all for Christ shall have a great reward (ch. Mat_19:28-29).

(2) But (Mat_20:30) priority of time is not everything. The parable is given in explanation of this point. Not only will the disciples not be the only called, but they may not reach a higher place or a higher reward than some who follow them. Still all who work shall have their reward. But they must beware of a spirit very prevalent among hard workers, and not think too much of their own labours, or be displeased because others are equally rewarded.

labourers into his vineyard] i. e. workers for the Church of Christ.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_20:1-16

For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard:

The labourers in the vineyard

1.

This story is on the face of it improbable. It is unusual for an employer to give as much remuneration to those who have wrought one hour as to those who have wrought nine or twelve. The householder was a peculiar character, and had his own way of doing things, and did not care how people regarded him. He must be such an one if he is to represent God and His dealing with men. My thoughts are not your thoughts, etc. Gods kingdom is not of this world.

2. The act of the householder seems to be unjust. Some think that the late-comers did as-much work in one hour as the others in nine; others that the late-comers were paid with a brass denarius, the others with a silver one, or with a gold one; so they say one heaven for all, yet of varied glory. But if the early workers had a gold denarius they would not have complained. We have to admit the inequality of the treatment; it is explained by the spirit of the workers, of which earthly employers take no thought.

3. The difficulty of finding spiritual analogues for each of the particulars in the parable. The grumbling workers are to be taken as the impersonations of an evil principle that often exists in Christian hearts; they correspond to the elder brother in the parable. There is much of the hireling disposition even in true disciples. Work in this spirit, however great it may seem, is small in the sight of God. The perfect and the chosen labour for love. The first bargained with the householder; the last trusted to his generosity without question. To those late he was better than they expected. To the hireling He shows Himself a hirer; to the trustful worthy of confidence. The bargainers are filled with dissatisfaction, the confiding ones with joy. The parable teaches a change of place between the first and the last; not unusual. There will be first who shall remain first.

4. This view does not approve late coming into the vineyard. Service is not determined by duration, but by spirit, Motive gives character to work. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

The worth of work determined by the spirituality of its motive

The Church is composed, indeed, of those who have confessed Christ; but it is a society, existing for certain purposes, and, as such, it has its machinery for the carrying out of these purposes, like any other society that has been formed in the world. Now, the keeping of any part of that machinery in motion is in itself no more a spiritual work than the carrying-on of any other machinery; and if it is not done with a spiritual motive, then, even though it be done for the Church, it is not spiritual work such as God can value and reward. Thus, in a missionary society, the great object is spiritual; but it has to be sustained and carried on like any other business society; its books have to be kept like those of any commercial firm, and he who keeps them is not in that doing a spiritual work, any more than a bookkeeper in a mercantile house is doing a spiritual work. The mercantile bookkeeper may make his work spiritual by doing it as unto the Lord; but the missionary bookkeeper will make his secular if he does it simply for his wages, and as work. So, again, in the office of the ministry, there is much in common with ordinal departments of life. It gratifies literary tastes; it affords opportunities for study; it has associated with it a certain honour and esteem in the eyes of others; it furnishes occasions for the thrill that every real orator feels in the delivery of a message to his fellow-men, and the like. Now, if a man is in the ministry simply for these kinds of enjoyment, there is no more spirituality in his work, than there is in that of the litterateur, or the political orator. Theirs may be spiritual, indeed, if they are doing it out of love to God; but his must be merely secular if he does it only from such motives as have place in ordinary literature or eloquence. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

God Himself the best reward

Beautiful exceedingly in this connection is the story-mythical, no doubt, in form, but probably true in substance-that is told concerning Thomas Aquinas. Worshipping one day in the chapel in which he was accustomed to perform his devotions, it is said that the Saviour thus addressed him: Thomas, thou hast written much and well concerning Me. What reward shall I give thee for thy work? Whereupon he answered, Nihil misi te, Domine,-Nothing but Thyself, O Lord! And in very deed He is Himself the best of all His gifts. He is Himself the exceeding great reward of all His people. Let the spirit of the angelic Doctor, as enshrined in this simple story, fill our hearts, and there will be no room within us for the hirelings selfishness. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)

Christian condition and Christian character

The eleventh-hour workmen are made to feel that envy is worse than idleness. One exposition is that this parable refers to complete Christians, the reckoning at nightfall being taken for entrance into the bliss of heaven. Such would not be serious complainers; would not be sent away with humiliating rebuke; they would not regard eternal life as a compensation for work done. Some say that its design is to show that the judgment of Christian character does not depend on the length of service, but on its energy and spirit. This inadmissible; nothing is said of the one-hour servants working with more energy or a better spirit. Some imagine that our Lord teaches here that all souls in heaven will be equally rewarded. Inadmissible; though every labourer take his penny, some take it grudgingly and others cheerfully, some with envy and others with charity. Some among the ancient Fathers suggest that Christ alluded by the several hours of the working day, to the great periods in the worlds religious progress. Adam, Noah, Moses, and the Prophets endured the burden and heat of the worlds great day. No exclusive application to the Jews; Adam, Noah, etc., were not murmurers at the end; their earthly service did not last to the gathering of the nations about the cross. Again it has been said that these hours of the day stand for the different stages in mens lives when they make answer to the call of God. This fails as regards the judgment, when last converts serving one hour will not enjoy equal reward with life-long Christians. The word Christian is used in two senses. This is a Christian land:

1. This is the Christianity of condition It is the visible Christian estate or kingdom that Christ has set up on the earth; it is a state of salvation. The heathen are outside this.

2. There is the Christianity of character; not of provision, but of possession. We get it by the channel of a living faith. Thus many are called, few are chosen. Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure. The call of Christ is impartial. The night-fall is not death or judgment; but simply the end of one period of labour, of one test of character-the one ultimate reckoning lying still far in the future. The early and late workers have alike the promised penny, the common and open privilege of the gospel and Church. But have you turned the Christianity of condition and privilege into the personal Christianity of choice and character? The length of time you have been in the Church is now of little consequence; all that is over. Are you Christs men? What are your feelings toward the brother-souls that live and work near you? The parable strikes a blow at the notion that any works of ours are profitable, to t rod, or even to our salvation. The quality, not the performance, is the accepted thing, the heart of faith and love, not any self-complacent operations. (Bishop Huntington.)

Septuagesima Sunday

I. Grace, in its movements toward man.

1. There is the constitution of a vineyard (Isa_5:1-7).

2. Having constituted a vineyard, the next movement of Divine grace is to call and engage men as labourers in it.

3. Divine grace purposes to make active servants and labourers of men. Toil does not save men without effort; a variety of work.

4. Nor is it a bootless service to which grace calls men. The householder has wages for every labourer. Godliness is profitable (1Ti_4:8).

II. Thy conduct of men towards it. All were idlers at the commencement; man has endowments for work which ought to be employed. Some prefer idleness and continue in it. Many have entered the vineyard, but are not all satisfactory labourers. Some however are good and faithful servants.

1. Let us learn to admire the glorious beneficence of God.

2. There is something for us to do.

3. Let us move forward and see how it will be with us when the bustle of this world is over, and the Lord of the vineyard sends His steward to settle up our earthly accounts. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)

Diversity of reward imaged in nature

I suppose we have all noticed the curious diversity of the seeds we sow in the spring. There are some that shoot out and grow up days before the others from the same paper, sown in the same bed, and that seemed exactly like the rest. It is so with a number of fruit trees in a young orchard. Each tree may get an equal care, and appear to have the same natural advantages, but one will spring out into an early fruitfulness, while another holds back, summer after summer, and perhaps, only when the husbandman begins to despair of its ever doing any good, it bears fruit. (R. Collyer.)

The labourers in the vineyard

May we not then draw from this parable the lesson, that God takes into account not only the work we do, but also our opportunities. He does not allow us to be discredited with Him for not doing what we could not do, if only we show the disposition to do it. (A M. Ludlow, D. D.)

Similarity of reward not equality

So, then, we do the work without any reference to the reward. You who came to Christ full fifty years ago will have your penny-as well the dying thief that had to bring yesternight only one foot out of hell. Will you, then, be placed on equal terms? It never can be so. Can a man of fine capacity and mind go along any road and have as the result of his walking only that which the common clodhopper has, who thought the moon no bigger than his fathers shield, and the visual line that girt him round the worlds extreme? Have they both equal enjoyment out of the same circumstances? It is impossible. The walk to the philosopher is a walk in church, a climbing up the altar stairs. He sees angels, he hears voices, he is touched by reverences, he is in the presence and sanctuary of God. Yet the road the same, the day the same-the road through a garden, the day the queenliest in all the summer train, yet in that walk one man found Heaven, the other only a convenient road to a place to sleep in. (Dr. Parker.)

The vineyard labourers

I. Idling. Men who needed work. Whom work and its rewards would benefit. Waiting according to custom to be hired. Important to be where the call of the Master may meet us. There are many idlers in the world.

II. Calling. God calls men to work for Him in His vineyard. Some in early life-Josiah, etc. He continues to call up to the eleventh hour. This call He sends in various ways. He confers a great honour by calling. The honour of working for Him is a sufficient reward. Very sinful to refuse to obey (Pro_1:24). There will be a last call-we know not how soon-may be now.

III. Working. He calls to work.

1. For ourselves. To secure and work out our salvation. Follow after holiness, etc.

2. For others. We must do good, as well as get good. This work brings comfort to the worker.

IV. Paying. God will be no mans debtor. He will give what He has promised, More than we deserve, more than the most sanguine expect. Learn-

1. All living without working for God, is but idling.

2. Now that God calls us to work, let us not refuse.

3. Our best works will not deserve heaven.

4. We all need the work of Divine grace in our souls. (J C. Gray.)

Gods sovereign grace

Certainly it is sovereign grace alone which leads the Lord God to engage such sorry labourers as we are. Let us inquire-

I. How may the Lord be said to go out?

1. The impulse of grace comes, before we think of stirring to go to Him.

2. In times of revival, He goes forth by the power of His Spirit, and many are brought in.

3. There are times of personal visitation with most men, when they are specially moved to holy things.

II. What is the hour here mentioned? It represents the period between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age, or thereabouts.

1. The dew of youths earliest and best morning hour is gone.

2. Habits of idleness have been formed by standing in the marketplace so long. Harder to begin at third hour than first. Loiterers are usually spoiled by their loafing ways.

3. Satan is ready with temptation to lure them to his service.

4. Their sun may go down suddenly, for life is uncertain. Many a day of life has closed at its third hour.

5. Fair opportunity for work yet remains; but it will speedily pass away as the hours steal round.

6. As yet the noblest of all work has not been commenced; for only by working for Christ can life be made sublime.

III. What were they doing to whom he spoke? Standing idle.

1. Many are altogether idling in a literal sense; mere loafers with nothing to do.

2. Many are idle with laborious business-industrious triflers, wearied with toils which accomplish nothing of real worth.

3. Many are idle because of constant indecision.

4. Many are idle though full of sanguine intentions.

IV. What work would the Lord have them do? He would have them work by day in His vineyard.

1. The work is such as many of the best of men enjoy.

2. The work is proper and fit for you.

3. For that work the Lord will find you tools and strength.

4. You shall work with your Lord, and so be ennobled.

5. Your work shall be growingly pleasant to you

6. It shall be graciously rewarded at the last.

V. What did they do in answer to his call? Went their way. May you, who are in a similar time of the day, imitate them!

1. They went at once. Immediate service.

2. They worked with a will.

3. They never left the service, but remained till night.

4. They received the full reward at the days end. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Slothfulness condemned

I. A work supposed.

(1) Its object one of supreme importance;

(2) Proposed by highest authority;

(3) Requires long, steady, earnest application;

(4) Certain of ultimate success.

II. A state condemned-idleness.

(1) By limited time-a day;

(2) By analogy of worldly employments;

(3) By certainty of future reckoning.

III. A question urged: Why?

(1) Aversion to work;

(2) Indifference;

(3) Indecision;

(4) Procrastination. (J. C. Gray.)

The world a market-place

I. The ordinary walks of life are as a market-place to men whose highest aim is to buy and sell and get gain.

II. Outside this market-place is a vineyard, which the great Owner of the world and Proprietor of human life would have cultivated.

III. All hiring, and looking out for hire, is but a profitless idling till the Master calls to a higher work.

IV. Call a man to labour when He will, He will give what He pleases of His own at the end of lifes day. (J. C. Gray.)

Labourers

I. Idleness rebuked.

II. Service required.

III. Toil rewarded.

IV. Discontent manifested.

V. Murmuring silenced.

VI. Administration vindicated. (M. Braithwaite.)

I. There is a householder who has a vineyard. The householder-Jesus. The vineyard is the Church.

II. The householder calls labourers into his vineyard at different hours in the day.

III. In the evening the labourers are called to receive their reward.

IV. The early labourers murmur against the householder.

V. The householder defends his conduct; and expostulates with the murmurers.

VI. The parable concludes with an awful inference to the Jewish nation. (J. Edmonson.)

Work and wages

I. The Church of God is brought before us as a place of work. By no means the ordinary idea. Members, not workers.

II. There is much work to be done, and many kinds of work, and, therefore, that there is room and need for many workers of many kinds.

III. That no work shall be left without wages.

IV. That the wages are not proportioned to the work. (Anon.)

I. Called to work.

1. Who calls?

2. Who are called?

3. When called?

II. Humility in work. Shown in obedience, hearty service, thankful spirit.

III. Reward for work. To the first. To the last. (G. M. Taft.)

The labourers in the vineyard

I. Our attention is called to an examination of the parable.

1. God hires labourers into his vineyard.

2. At different periods has God made Himself known to the children of men.

3. They labour until the evening arrives.

II. Enforce the truths which considered as a whole this parable was intended to teach.

1. That the rewards of Christianity being rewards of grace, and not of works, are regulated only by the beneficent will of Him who is debtor to no man; and that such conduct is consistent with strict equity.

2. To expose the hypocrisy of some professors of religion, and remind us of the frailty which attaches even to those whose sincerity cannot be doubted.

3. To remind us of the real dignity of the work, independently of the reward annexed to it.

4. To warn us of the period to our exertions, and the hour of final reckoning-

(1) Payment;

(2) Disappointment;

(3) Gladness.

5. To instruct us in the temper of real Christianity. (J. Styles, D. D.)

Love makes labour light

Two young girls were going to a neighbouring town, each carrying on her head a heavy basket of fruit to sell. One of them was murmuring and fretting all the way, and complaining of the weight of her basket. The other went along smiling and singing, and seeming to be very happy. At last the first got out of patience with her companion, and said, How can you go on so merry and joyful? your basket is-as heavy as mine, and I know you are not a bit stronger than I am. I dont understand it. Oh, said the other, its easy enough to understand. I have a certain little plant which I put on the top of my load, and it makes it so light I hardly feel it. Indeed! that must be a very precious little plant. I wish I could lighten my load with it. Where does it grow? Tell me. What do you call it? It grows wherever you plant it, and give it a chance to take root, and theres no knowing the relief it gives. Its name is, love, the love of Jesus. I have found out that Jesus loved me so much that He died to save my soul. This makes me love Him. Whatever I do, whether it be carrying this basket or anything else, I think to myself, I am doing this for Jesus, to show that I love Him, and this makes everything easy and pleasant. (Bible Jewels.)

Disadvantage of Envy

The benevolent have the advantage of the envious, even in this present life; for the envious is tormented not only by all the ill that befalls himself, but by all the good that happens to another; whereas the benevolent man is the better prepared to bear his own calamities unruffled, from the complacency and serenity he has secured from contemplating the prosperity of all around him. (Colton.)

Hired late in the day

By these labourers that were hired long after the morning, we are to understand men in whom nothing appeared that should dispose any person to have a favourable opinion of them, or who were at least destitute of anything truly good, whilst others made a figure in the Church.

I. Speak of old sinners that need conversion.

1. There are some who have never thought seriously about the state of their souls; or their serious thoughts, if ever any obtained possession of their minds, have left no impression.

2. There are some who entertain a groundless opinion of the goodness of their state.

3. There are some who live in suspense about their condition.

4. There are some too well enlightened to flatter themselves with groundless hopes.

II. Show that old sinners may be converted.

1. God deals with them, by the gospel, as well as with sinners who are yet in the days of their youth.

2. The long-suffering of the Lord is salvation to sinners. God spares long, to give space for obtaining pardon and salvation.

3. From the grace of God bestowed upon transgressors in former days, it appears, that there is mercy with him for old transgressors.

III. Consider the encouragement given to old sinners to repent. The gracious reward promised to those who enter into the vineyard at the eleventh hour, must have a powerful effect upon all who believe the promises of our Lord Jesus Christ. (George Lawson,)

The festive evening time

The reward which the Lord will ultimately grant to His servants.

I. It is not arbitrary, but in accordance with the strictest justice.

1. He rewards only His labourers.

2. He rewards all His labourers.

3. He gives the same reward to all His labourers as such. The equality of the penny a figure of the equality of Gods justice.

II. It is not limited, but free and rich, according to the fulness of His love.

III. It is not a mysterious and silent fate, but the ways of wisdom, which justify themselves. (J. P. Lange, D. D.)

God a good paymaster

Consider His payments.

I. An easy conscience.

II. The comfort we have in doing something for Jesus.

III. The reward in watching first buddings of conviction in a soul.

IV. The joy of success.

V. The final entrance into the joy of our Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Hiring labourers in the East

The most conspicuous building in Hamadan is the Mesjid Jumah, a large mosque, now falling into decay, and before it a meidan, or square, which serves as a market-place. Here we observed, every morning before the sun rose, that a numerous body of peasants were collected with spades in their hands, waiting, as they informed me, to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields. This custom forcibly struck us as a most happy illustration of our Saviours parable of the labourers in the vineyard; particularly when, passing by the same place late in the day, we still found others standing idle, and remembered His words, Why stand ye here all the day idle? as most applicable to their situation; for in putting the very same question to them, they answered us, Because no man hath hired us. (Mr. Morier.)

Daring the whole season when vineyards may be dug, the common workmen to very early in the morning to the Sock, or market-place of the village or city, where comestibles are sold. While waiting to be hired, they take their morning cup of coffee, and eat a morsel of bread. The owners of vineyards come to the place and engage the number of labourers they need. These immediately go to the vineyard and work there until a little while before the sun sets, which, according to Oriental time, is twelve oclock, so that the eleventh hour means one hour before sunset. We have often seen men stand in the market-place through the entire day without finding employment, and have repeatedly engaged them ourselves at noon for half a days job, and later for one or two hours work in our garden. In such a case the price has to be particularly bargained for, but it is more often left to the generosity of the employer to give whatever backshish he feels disposed. (Van Lennep.)

Gods bounty to those who trust

He promises not to us, as to those first labourers, a certain hire. Even while He would wholly restore us in His mercy, He would keep in us the humility of penitents. He seemeth to tell us thus, that we have forfeited our claim that we must labour on in faith, and hope, and confiding trust, making no bargains, as it were, with Him, looking for nothing again, but what He of His free bounty will give us. But so will He give us, not what we could dare to ask or think, but what is right; not right with regard to us, or any poor claims or demerits of ours, but right in His sight whose mercy is over all His works, right for Him who doth what He will with His own, Who is not stinted to any measure of proportion, but giving us out of the largeness of His love; not what is right for us, but for Him in whose right we receive what we deserve not, even His, Who gave up that which was His right by nature, and emptied Himself, that, what is His right, we might receive. This is our very hope, and trust, and gladness in our toil, that we labour, not with any calculating spirit, or to set up for ourselves any claim with God; the rewards of desert were finite; the reward of grace is infinite, even Himself, Who hath said, I am thine exceeding great reward. (E. B. Pusey, D. D.)

Gods persevering activity

See how actively the householder employs himself. His loving heart is so comprehensive that He cannot have enough labourers in His vineyard-not enough souls with which He can, as it wore, share the joy and the glory of the extension of His kingdom. How many a human being who has been troubled at having missed the first appearance of the householder at daybreak, now rejoices at being called into the vineyard before the sun is too high in the heavens. He does not think first of stipulating about his hire; the word of the Lord, Whatsoever is right, I will give you, is even more than he requires, and at the sixth hour he joyfully enters into his work in the Lords vineyard. It has been painful to him to stand idle; to gaze for half a day upon that which is intended for working, and yet to be unable to work at it. (R. Rothe, D. D.)

Idle

If we, with the eye of God, could look down upon the proceedings of this life, how startled we should be at the host of idlers in the midst of the turmoil of life. The Lord sees clearly that which our merely human understanding can also perceive, that there is only one activity upon earth which is really activity, because it produces a real result-activity for the kingdom of God and in His service. Every other effort of human strength, if it has not a decided reference to the kingdom of God, and finds in its source as well as its aim, is only a busy idleness, a sad and mournful unreality, with which the prince of this world detains in its prison those who have fallen into its unhappy slavery. Every other activity which does not build, only destroys, and the more noble the power is which calls it forth, the more destructive is its working, until at last it destroys itself. (R. Rothe, D. D.)

Never too late for Gods grace

An old sailor, who was very ragged, and whose white head spoke the lapse of many years, was leaning against a post in conversation with another sailor. A member of the Bethel Union spoke to them, and particularly invited the old man to attend the prayer-meeting. His companion, after hearing the nature of the invitation, said, Thomas, go in! Come! come, man! go into the meeting; it wont hurt you. Puh! puh! cried the old seaman, I should not know what to do with myself. I never go to church or prayer-meetings; besides, I am too old. I am upwards of seventy, and I am very wicked, and have always been so; it is too late for me to begin, it is of no use; all is over with me, I must go to the devil. After a moments pause, the member, looking with pity upon the old veteran, answered, You are the very man the prayer-meeting is held for. How so? (with much surprise). Because Jesus Christ came into the world to save the chief of sinners. When young, I suppose, you were tempted to think it would be time enough to be religious when you came to be old? Ah I that I did, replied the sailor. Now you are old you say it is too late. Listen no longer to these suggestions; come with me: no time is to be lost, for Jesus is waiting to save you, poor sinner, or He would have sent you to that place where hope never comes, before this; your sins deserve it. His companion then said, Thomas, go to the prayer-meeting. You have need, at your time of life, to prepare to die. He went, and attended regularly, and with the best results. Some time after he was asked, Well, my aged friend, do you think you are too much in years to be saved? too old in sin for the blood of Christ to cleanse you? No, sir, said he; I bless God, I do feel a hope, a blessed hope, which I would not give up for worlds; a hope which encourages me to think that God will be merciful to me, and pardon me, old sinner as I am.

The grudging spirit

It was now plain that the early-hired labourer had little interest in the work, and that it was no satisfaction to him to have been able to do twelve times as much as the last hired. He had the hirelings spirit, and had been longing for the shadow and counting his wages all day long. English sailors have been known to be filled with pity for their comrades whose ships only hove in sight in time to see the enemys flag run down, or to fire the last shot in a long days engagement. They have so pitied them for having no share in the excitement and glory of the day, that they would willingly give them as a compensation their own pay and prize money. And the true follower of Christ, who has listened to the earliest call of his Master, and has revelled in the glory of serving Him throughout life, will from the bottom of his heart pity the man who has only late in life recognized the glory of His service, and has had barely time to pick up his tools when the dusk of evening fails upon him. It is impossible that a man whose chief desire was to advance his Masters work, should envy another labourer who had done much less than himself. The very fact that a man envies another his reward, is enough of itself to convict him of self-seeking in His service. (M. Dods, D. D.)

Unto this last

I. The work to which all were called; and in which the first bore the heat, etc.

II. The reason of the idleness of those who were called at the eleventh hour.

III. The Lords justification of His ways. (J. B. Brown, B. A.)

Mine own

We have here:

I. The assertion of the absolute proprietorship. Both the whole world and every man belong to God. They are His

(1) by creation;

(2) by providence;

(3) by grace.

II. A vindication of final decisions based on this absolute right.

III. A censure pronounced on all criticisms adverse to these decisions. (J. C. Gray.)

The evil eye

1. I have been good in that I hired you at all.

2. Hired you before you had shown what you could do.

3. I now give you all I promised, without criticising your work.

4. In being good to others I do not wrong you.

Learn, if one should say-Since I shall be no better off in the end than those who began late to work for God, and I may therefore delay, he should reflect that this hour may be his eleventh. (J. C. Gray.)

Waiting to be called

So, then, when I see a young man slow and backward, and in a poor place, whose soul I know would expand in the sunshine of prosperity and fill a better place: or a woman, waiting with her unfulfilled life in her heart, willing to give it in any high, pure fashion to the Lord, if He will but come and take it; or a preacher, with a mighty power to preach somewhere in his nature, if he could only find the clue to it; or a man who has waited through his lifetime for the Lord to show him the true church, the place where he can feel that the religious heart of him is at rest;-if in these things or in any of them, I feel I have found my place, and am doing my work, I must feel very tenderly, and judge very generously, all the waiters in all these ways; must call up this picture of the faces so wistful in the old market-place, watching for the coming of the Lord: Who has made me to differ, who has called me at the first hour, why do I succeed where others fail? It is the gift of God; it is not of works, lest any man should boast. It is the difference between the seed the husbandman, for his own good reason, will leave dark and still in the granary, and the seed he sows which can spring at once to the sun and the sweet airs of the summer. It is the difference in the home, in our conduct towards our children, when we know it is best to let one go forward in the school and keep another backward. (R. Collyer.)

The call of nations

This is true, finally of our country. England and Germany begin in the early morning, and in the wild woods of Britain and Gaul, to earn their penny; and it is their lot for long centuries to toil, winning, as they can, this and that from the wilderness,-trial by jury, Magna Charta, free speech, free press, free pulpit,-and when many hours are past, and much hard work is done, a voice comes to a new nation, and tells of a new world, and says, Go work there; and when the old world looks up, the new is abreast of those nations that have borne the burden and heat of the day, and will have its penny. And in this new world itself, there are men living here in Chicago, who can remember very well when our great prairies lifted their faces wistfully to the sun, and cried, No man hath hired us; when our streets, now so full of life, sounded only to the voice of the mighty waters and the cry of the savage. Now the whole civilized world has to come and see what has been done. Not many years more will pass, we who live here believe, before this new worker will be abreast of the oldest, and will win her penny. (R. Collyer.)

Reward given during work as well as after it is done

I think the most heart-whole man I ever knew, was a man who had waited and watched, breaking stones through all weathers on the cold shoulder of a Yorkshire hill, and he could hardly see the stones he had to break he was so sand blind. His wife was dead and all his children; his hut was open to the sky, and to the steel-cold stars in winter; but when once one said to comfort him, Brother, you will soon be in heaven! he cried out in his rapture, I have been there this ten years! And so when at last the angel came to take him, he was not unclothed, but clothed upon; mortality was swallowed up of life. (R. Collyer.)

Disinterested service

Christ nowhere offers us heaven as a price for good behaviour, as foolish parents, or rather wicked parents, lure their children to obey with sweetmeats and toys. It is in no such sense as this that He engages to be a Rewarder of them that seek Him. The very passage just quoted discredits such a thought; for it says, If ye love them that love you, what reward have ye? There must be spontaneous service. The heart must go into it, uncalculating and ungrudging. You must love your enemies, do good to them that hate you, and bless them that curse you, and lend, hoping for nothing again. Then you will be the children of the Highest; and, precisely because you expected no reward at all, verily your reward shall be great. There is a striking legend of saintly old Bishop Ivo, who walked with God, and saw through the self-seeking religionists of his time, and longed for larger faith. He describes himself as meeting one day, a figure in the form of a woman, of a sad, earnest aspect, like some prophetess of God, who carried a vessel of fire in one hand, and of water in the other. He asked her what these things were for. She answered, the tire is to burn up Paradise, the water is to quench Hell-that men may henceforth serve their Maker, not from the selfish hope of the one, nor from the selfish fear of the other, but for love of Himself alone. God does not consume paradise, nor quench hell. He keeps the fountains of sweet and living waters leaping and flowing in the one; He keeps the awful fires of the other burning. But surely all this promise and penalty do not mean that we are to stop in their discipline, and calculate the price of our obedience. Oh, no! not while the glorious voice of the apostle rings out over the centuries: The love of Christ constraineth me; I count all things loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Him. Not while the Saviour says to the aspiring heart of the world, Be ye perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect; hoping for nothing again. (Bishop Huntingdon.)

The thought of reward does not enter into the higher aspects of service

The reward is in doing them; in the inevitable feeling that goes along with them, far enough from being set about as the end, but interwoven with them by the gracious bounty that ever surprises faithful souls. With all these true acts and emotions of the really spiritually minded man, it is precisely as it is with any of those acts of common life that the heart goes most into. You cannot speak of any rewards for the love that is the bond of a true marriage, without insulting those to whom you speak. You cannot connect the notion of compensation, pay, with the affection that twines a childs arms about the mothers neck, or that keeps her waiting in vigils that outwatch the patient stars, over the childs pain or sin, without profaning that affection. You cannot associate the prospect of a reward with the heroic humanity which keeps the friendly vessels hanging close, many days and nights, in the frightful companionship of a common peril, to take off the passengers of the imperilled and sinking ship; nor with any generous and brave rescue or sacrifice. Now, to any spiritual estimate, the services of daily piety are as full of the charm and fascination and glory of self-forgetting devotion as any of these. Christ is nearer than wife or husband. The Father in heaven is more real, and infinitely holier and tenderer, than the human mother. All fellow-souls in moral misery or sin need help more urgently than the shipwrecked company. And so, if our piety is real, like Christs piety, it must be just as self-oblivious, as hearty, as spontaneous and free, as that. And then it will leave a more unspeakable, glorious, infinite reward. (Bishop Huntingdon.)

Cheerfulness in work

Are you not wearying for the heavenly rest? said Whitefield to an old minister. No, certainly not: he replied. Why not? was the surprised rejoinder. Why, my good brother, said the aged saint, if you were to send your servant into the fields to do a certain portion of work for you, and promised to give him rest and refreshment in the evening, what would you say if you found him languid and discontented in the middle of the day, and murmuring, Would to God it were evening? Would you not bid him be up and doing, and finish his work, and then go home and enjoy the promised rest? Just so does God require of you and me, that, instead of looking for Saturday night, we do our days work in the day. The eleventh, hour:-

I. The time mentioned may represent an advanced period of human life.

II. Men are to be found in this period, inattentive to the concerns of true religion.

III. They who are found inattentive in this period, are involved in peculiar perils. Hardness of heart, etc.

IV. Divine grace sometimes displays itself, by making this period to be one of true and saving conversion. (J. Parsons.)

Conversion postponed to old age

Many men put off their conversion, and at twenty send religion afore them to thirty; then post it off to forty, and yet not pleased to overtake it, they promise it entertainment at threescore. At last death comes, and he allows not one hour. In youth men resolve to afford themselves the time of age to serve God: in age they shuffle it off to sickness; when sickness comes, care to dispose their goods, lothness to die, hope to escape, martyrs that good thought, and their resolution still keeps before them. If we have but the lease of a farm for one-and-twenty years, we make use of the time, and gather profit. But in this precious farm of time we are so bad husbands that our lease comes out before we are one pennyworth of grace the richer by it. (T. Adams.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 20:1. For the kingdom of heaven, &c. — The manner in which the following parable is here introduced, (and it is the same in the original,) evidently shows that it was spoken in illustration of the sentence with which the preceding chapter concludes, and from which, therefore, it ought not to have been disjoined. The primary scope of this parable seems to be, to show that many of the Jews would be rejected for their disobedience to the gospel call, and many of the Gentiles accepted in consequence of their obeying it. The secondary, That, of the Gentiles, many who were first converted would be the last and lowest in the kingdom of glory, and many of those who were last converted, would be first and highest therein. The parable seems, also, to have a third intention, namely, to show that those Gentiles who should obey the gospel, whether sooner or later, should be admitted to privileges equal to those conferred on the believing Jews. The kingdom of heaven is like a householder — That is, the manner of God’s proceeding in his kingdom resembles that of a householder, or master of a family, in the management of his vineyard. Which went out early in the morning — Namely, at six, called by the Romans and Jews the first hour. From thence reckoning unto the evening, they called what is nine with us the third hour; twelve, the sixth; three in the afternoon, the ninth; and five, the eleventh. To hire labourers into his vineyard — At the time when the vintage was to be gathered in. As the householder here represents Christ, so the vineyard signifies his church, in which, as in a vineyard, much work is to be done, for which labourers are wanted. With respect to the different hours here mentioned, by early in the morning, or the first hour, some of the ancient fathers understood the ages preceding the flood, in which Adam and Eve, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and probably some others, were called. By the third hour they understood the patriarchal ages succeeding the flood; and by the sixth hour, the times of Moses and the promulgation of the law, and of the establishment of the Jewish Church; by the ninth hour, the times of the prophets; and by the eleventh, those of the Messiah and the calling of the Gentiles. But Dr. Whitby justly objects that, as this parable is intended to illustrate the kingdom of heaven, or the gospel dispensation, and the state of things in the gospel church, that exposition of the fathers cannot be the true one. He therefore explains the first call, early in the morning, of the earliest days of Christ’s preaching, preceded by that of John the Baptist; that of the third hour, as referring to the mission of the apostles) when they were first sent forth to preach in Judea. By the call of the sixth hour, he understands their preaching after the ascension of Christ and the descent of the Holy Ghost, when the church was in its meridian glory; by that of the ninth hour, the preaching of the same apostles to the dispersed Jews in their synagogues, in different parts of the world; and that of the eleventh hour, to the calling of the Gentiles. This exposition, if it do not imply too great a nicety of distinction, seems very plausible, and might probably be intended, partly at least, by our Lord. But others of the ancient fathers, comparing human life to a day, considered the parable as referring also to the several periods of the life of man, namely, to those called and obeying the call in childhood, in youth, in middle age, in declining years, and in old age; and doubtless the parable is capable of, and probably was intended to receive, such an application.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 105. — THE PARABLE OF THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD, Mat_20:1-16.

1. For — This word indicates that the parable is intended to illustrate the principles inculcated at the close of the preceding chapter, on which see our notes. The parable indeed enforces the same principles as were brought to view in the whole passage from Mat_19:16, namely, that we gain an inheritance in heaven not by payment for works done, but by the pure grace of God. No works of man can be an adequate equivalent for eternal glory. No works of man can confer a favour on God. Man cannot indeed be saved without becoming right and keeping right, by repentance of sin, and faith in Christ. But when he does by repentance and faith perform God’s conditions, and become right for receiving God’s favour and blessing, he has done God no favour, he has merited no eternal crown, he is an unprofitable servant, and he enters heaven by pure, abounding, forgiving, saving grace alone.

Kingdom of heaven — The divine administration. This parable is in close connection with the last four verses of chapter 19. The householder is God; the vineyard is the service of God on earth; the first labourers are servants of a hireling spirit; the second are unassuming sinners, who, upon being converted, serve at their master’s will, leaving the reward to his decision. The former incur rebuke, the latter are justified. Early in the morning — As all thrifty householders should, and as is specially necessary in warm climates.

To hire — God seeks men, not they him first. He calls and they refuse or obey. Labourers — God gives men a chance to labour, not because he needs their work, but because they need his reward. Peter and the apostles were such labourers.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Mat_20:1. For, etc.—The division of the chapters is here singularly unfortunate, as separating the parable both from the events which gave occasion to it and from the teaching which it illustrates. It is not too much to say that we can scarcely understand it at all unless we connect it with the history of the young ruler who had great possessions, and the claims which the disciples had made for themselves when they contrasted their readiness with his reluctance (Plumptre).

Mat_20:2. A penny.—The foreign term ought to have been retained in English, as Matthew retained the Latin denarius in Greek. The English version is here peculiarly unfortunate, and makes a false impression on the common reader. A penny would be a poor reward indeed, but a denarius is worth more than seven English pence or fifteen American cents, and was a liberal day’s wages at that time. About two-thirds of a Roman denáry (not a full denáry, as generally stated) was the daily pay of the Roman soldier. Cf. Tacitus, Annal., i. 17. Polybius (ii. 15) mentions that the charge for a day’s entertainment in the inns of Cisalpine Gaul was only half an ass, or one-twentieth of a denarius. Shilling would be a far better popular equivalent for denarius than penny (Schaff). The purchasing power of the coin must be taken into account. I’lumptre says it may fairly be reckoned as equal to about half-a-crown of our present currency.

Mat_20:3. The third hour.—The Jewish day began with the rising of the sun, and ended with sunset. It always consisted of twelve hours, whether the day was at its longest, as in midsummer, or at its shortest, as in mid-winter. Hence the hours varied a little in length at the different seasons of the year; and thus the “third hour”—the conclusion of the first quarter of the day—would correspond to nearly our eight or nine o’clock a.m., according as it might be summer or winter (Morison).

Mat_20:6. The eleventh hour.—The various hours may he referred in the first instance to the call of a Paul, a Barnabas, or a Timothy, who adopted the cause later than the Twelve. In a secondary and less immediate sense they seem to indicate the successive periods at which the various nations were admitted to the church of Christ. Was it unjust that European nations should have equal privileges with the Jews in the church of Christ, or that Paul should be equal to Peter? (Carr).

Mat_20:8. When even was come.—It was one of the humane rules of the Mosaic law that the day-labourer was to be paid by the day, and not made to wait for his wages (Deu_24:15) (Plumptre).

Mat_20:11. The goodman of the house.—The householder (R.V.). Same word in the Greek as in Mat_20:1.

Mat_20:12. Heat of the day.—The scorching heat (R.V.). Workmen who live in so temperate a climate as that of Great Britain can have but little conception of the furnace-like fervour of heat to which workmen in Palestine are exposed when the sun is overhead. The eleventh hour workmen would be employed only in “the cool of the day”—the comparatively delightful coolness of the approaching evening (Morison).

Mat_20:13. Friend.—Is almost too strong for the Greek ἑταῖρε (comrade, companion, fellow), while “fellow,” as now used, would be too disrespectful. It is here used as a term of cautious respect, with reproving import (Schaff). Cf. Mat_22:12; Mat_26:50.

Mat_20:15. Is thine eye evil?—The belief in the evil eye still prevails in the East. The envious or malevolent glance is thought to have an injurious effect, Here the sense is: Art thou envious because I am just? (Carr).

Mat_20:16. Many be called, etc.—See Mat_22:14. Omitted here in better MSS. and R.V. “If we accept it as the true reading, it adds something to the warning of the previous clause. The disciples had been summoned to work in the vineyard. The indulgence of the selfish, murmuring temper might hinder their ‘election’ even to that work. Of one of the disciples, whose state may have been specially present to our Lord’s mind, this was, we know, only too fatally true. Judas had been ‘called,’ but would not be among the ‘chosen’ either for the higher work or for its ultimate reward” (Plumptre).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mat_20:1-16

The kingdom of grace.—Two things may help to guide us in attempting to deal with this confessedly difficult parable. One is of a negative kind. Those who have undertaken to explain and apply its many minutiæ differ from each other so widely and hopelessly as to warn us against ourselves attempting so apparently hopeless a task. The other is to be found in the fact that the parable as it stands is both headed and followed by the very same words (Mat_19:30; Mat_20:16). From this we see that the truth there expressed was in the Saviour’s mind both when He began and when He concluded this piece of instruction; and, therefore, apparently, was not far from it all the way through. We would use this inference as a probable key to its true meaning all the way through; and would apply it so, first, to those general terms of agreement of which it speaks, to begin; and, secondly, to that broad method of settlement of which it afterwards tells us.

I. The terms of agreement.—These, in the main, were but two. On the one hand, there was the agreement made with the labourers hired at the beginning of the day. This agreement was formal, legal, precise. The labourers on their part were to work for so long. The householder on his part was to pay them so much. Also, the exact amount both of time and wages was specified in each case (Mat_20:2). Nothing could be at once clearer to, or more binding on, both. On the other hand, there were the agreements made with the different relays of labourers hired at later hours of the day. These, in substance, were all exactly alike. What the householder did in this matter of hiring with the third-hour labourers he is said to have done with the sixth-hour and the ninth-hour labourers too (Mat_20:5). As much is implied, also, about those sent into the vineyard at the “eleventh hour” of the day. These successive agreements in substance were all similar to that made with those hired at the first. Practically, what was promised to the first labourers was a usual day’s wage (a penny a day) for a usual day’s work; in other words, such an amount as was felt, on all hands, to be “right.” Practically, also (see Mat_20:4, etc.), this was what the house holder promised in all subsequent cases. The great difference, therefore, if not the only difference, between that earliest and these later agreements, lay in the matter of expression. What was clearly defined in the one case was only implied in the others. First a clear “compact”—then a succession of “understandings”—at the rate of so much a day.

II. The method of settlement adopted.—The great thing to be noted about this—looking at it in the same general way—is that it went beyond almost all the preceding agreements. This comes out, very clearly, in the case of those labourers who were last called but first paid; and it seems, indeed, to have been with the view of bringing this out thus plainly, that the order in question was decided on. These men, it is evident, according to that “which was right,” having only laboured for one hour in the day, had only earned something like one twelfth part of the stipulated denarius. Yet they each and all received the whole of it from the hands of the steward. So, also, of course, in varying proportion, of all except the first called. All of them in turn received more than they had actually earned. The same is shown, also, in a kind of back-handed way, by the very murmurs of those earliest-called ones when they came at last to be paid. What they murmured at, it seems very noticeable, was the bountifulness of their master. His justice, indeed, they could scarcely complain of. He had done nothing unjust—not even to them (Mat_20:13). What they complained of was that he had paid so much in excess of their due to so many beside (Mat_20:12). Even their very complaints, therefore, were an acknowledgment of the fact that he knew how to be liberal when he thought fit. Lastly, we see the same in the way in which the householder himself answered those who murmured against his way of proceeding. There is nothing injurious to thee in what I am doing. I am not giving less to thee because I give more to “this last” (Mat_20:14). Neither is there anything “unlawful” or contrary to right in what I am doing. No one can complain if I take of “mine own” to give unto him (Mat_20:15). Rather, in doing so, I am acting on a principle which is undoubtedly “good”; the principle, viz., of giving more than has been in any way earned. There is more than no injustice—there is kindness in this. Why shouldest thou complain of my showing “mercy” to any? Taken thus broadly, we seem to see here, in conclusion:—

1. A picture of Israel under the law of Moses.—Understood in the letter, very definite and precise was its compact with them. “This do, and thou shalt live” (Eze_20:11). “The man that doeth these things shall live in them” (Rom_10:5). For his day’s work a day’s wage as it were,—permission to live. Nothing more formal, nothing more “legal,” could very well be. So we may understand, therefore, of those labourers “first called” into the vineyard.

2. A picture of the Gentiles under the law of nature.—“These having no law were a law, it is said, to themselves” (Rom_2:14). In one sense they were ἀνόμοι—men without law (Rom_2:14). They were without the advantage possessed, in this respect, by the Jew (Rom_3:1-2). But they had that in their consciences, and in the teachings, perhaps, of some of their teachers, which was a kind of unwritten law—an unspoken “call” to them to obey and serve God—a law which in its essence went on the same principle as the written law of the Jews, viz., that of obtaining righteousness by their works; in other words, shall we say, of being paid at the rate of a penny a day. These seem to correspond, therefore, to those various later labourers of whom we read here.

3. Of the church under the gospel.—How revolutionary its proceedings! (Mat_20:16; Mat_8:11; Mat_21:31). How loud the complaints they give rise to! (Mat_9:10-11; Luk_19:7, etc.). How blessed the principle by which they are justified! (Rom_4:4-5, etc.). These are the points which seem to come out in the settlement, points precious indeed to all those who know their true state before God!

HOMILIES ON THE VERSES

Mat_20:1-16. The labourers in the vineyard.—

I. The hiring of the labourers.

II. The times of the hiring.

III. The payment which they receive.—W. Sanday, D.D.

First last and last first.—The parable is intended to show us the difference between work done in a bargaining spirit and work done in trust; between the reward given to work which in quantity may be very great, but in motive is mercenary, and the reward given to work which in quantity may be very small, but in motive is sound. That we are meant to see this difference of spirit in the labourers is obvious:—

I. From the terms of their respective engagements.—Those who were hired early in the day made an agreement to work for a stipulated sum. This sum was the usual day’s wage of the period; a fair wage, which of itself was sufficient inducement to work. These men were in a condition to make their own terms. They ruled in the market. But in the evening the tables are turned. The masters now have it all their own way. “Go ye also into my vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.” In no condition to make a bargain, they most gladly trust themselves to one whose words have the ring of truth.

II. From the distribution of the wages.—Those who had barely got their work begun were first paid, and were paid a full day’s wage. There must, of course, have been a reason for this. It was not mere caprice, but was the result and expression of some just idea. We are thrown back for the explanation on the hint given in the hiring—viz., that those who wrought merely for the sake of pay received the pay they looked for, while they who came to the vineyard conscious that they had wasted their day, and not daring to stipulate for any definite wage, but leaving themselves confidently in the hands of a master they believed in, were gladdened by the unmerited reward of the fullest wage.

III. From the temper shown by the last paid men.—Peter must have felt himself gravely rebuked by the picture here drawn of the man who had listened to the first call of Christ, but who, after a full, honest day’s work, was found to be possessed of a selfish, grudging spirit that filled him with discontent and envy. It was now plain that this early-hired labourer had little interest in the work, and that it was no satisfaction to him to have been able to do twelve times as much as the last-hired labourer. He had the hireling’s spirit, and had bean longing for the shadow and counting his wages all day long. The difference in the spirit of the workers which is thus brought out in the parable will be found, says our Lord, in the church, and it will he attended with like results at the time of judgment and award. Here, also, “Many that are first shall be last.” This parable, read rightly, gives no encouragement to late entrance into the Lord’s service. To think of this service as that which we can add at any convenient time to the other work of life is to mistake it altogether. The service of Christ should cover the whole of life; and what is not done as a part of His work may, in some respects, as well not be done at all. All outside His vineyard is idleness.—M. Dods, D.D.

Mat_20:1-7. The hiring of the labourers.—

I. Who hires them?—God is the great Householder, “whose we are, and whom we serve.” As a householder He has work that He will have to be done, and servants that He will have to be doing. God hires labourers, not because He needs them or their services, but as some charitable, generous householders keep poor men to work—in kindness to them.

II. Whence are they hired?—Out of the market-place, where, till they are hired into God’s service, they stand idle (Mat_20:3), all the day idle (Mat_20:6).

1. The soul of man stands ready to be hired into some service or other.

2. Till we are hired into the service of God we are standing all the day idle.

3. The gospel call is given to those who stand idle in the market-place.

III. What are they hired to do?—To labour in His vineyard.

1. The church is God’s vineyard; it is of His planting, watering, and fencing, and the fruit of it must be to His honour and praise.

2. We are called upon to be labourers in this vineyard. The work of religion is vineyard work—pruning, dressing, digging, watering, fencing, weeding. We have each of us our own vineyard to keep, our own soul; and it is God’s, and to be kept and dressed for Him. In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers but labourers, working and working out our own salvation. Work for God will not admit of trifling. A man may go idle to hell, but he that will go to heaven must be busy.

IV. What shall be their wages?—Whatsoever is right. Never any lost by working for God.—M. Henry.

Mat_20:1-16. Equality and differences.—The equality and the difference in the outward form of the kingdom of God:—

I. The equality and the difference of the labourers.—All are called to be servants in the kingdom; but one class consists of those who are merely called, or who are external and legal labourers, while the others are also chosen, their labour being internal and free.

II. The equality and the difference of their work.—Their service is one of simple obedience; but in the one case there was the advantage of priority, while at the same time some (not all of them) seem to have felt the service a burden. The others were engaged for a shorter period, but laboured in confidence and joy.

III. The equality and difference of the reward.—All received the shilling. The external blessing attaching to service in the kingdom of heaven remains the same. All have part in the church, in its fellowship and its privileges. But to some this appears a scanty hire, if not a kind of punishment; while to those who receive it in faith it is a sign of infinite grace.—J. P. Lange, D.D.

Mat_20:6. The life of Christianity.—Idleness is a crime against the Christian conscience, against the laws of the kingdom, and is for several reasons peculiarly anti-Christian.

I. Idleness defeats the object of the kingdom here on earth.—For that kingdom is come here to sift and test us for our place in its further development hereafter, and that place is determined by one decisive standard—character—and character is evoked and proved and established only under the pres sure of work; character discloses itself in face of obligations that it has to satisfy, tasks that it must fulfil, responsibilities that it is bound to face.

II. Idleness is a sin against love.—Love perishes in inactivity; it cannot be love and not be busy, for love is the energy of service; it exists only in ministering. Love must go out of itself and spend itself in labour for others—only in work can it breathe freely and move in gladness. God is love. God therefore is the energy of work; God is the great workman.

III. Idleness is a sin against God and against the body of Christ, the body of the new manhood, of which the brotherhood of believers is the realised pledge of that prophetic first-fruit. In Christ we are all recognised as members one of another, through membership in Him who wore the flesh of all. And such membership involves us in endless intimacies of brotherly activity by the sheer necessity of our bond in Christ through the Spirit. We cannot be in Christ and not be implicated in these responsibilities. For every limb, organ, fibre, nerve of the body is concerned in the health and life of the whole; and if one of the members suffer, all the members suffer. If one member is idle, all feel it; his debt, due to the general well-being, is unpaid; his sluggishness is a weight of which others feel the burden.—Canon Scott-Holland.

Spiritual idleness.—Voluntary idleness or sloth is one of the most shameful of vices, so much so that the world censures and scorns it with more severity than it awards to some others which are essentially more heinous. Avarice, e.g. is more criminal, but sloth is usually treated with more contempt and reprobation.

I. I press the remonstrance of our text on the unconverted.—

1. Your idleness does not arise from your having no need of that wealth which spiritual industry secures.

2. Nor that you have no opportunity to work, or that it would be vain for you to begin now, since the day has declined so far and the night is so near—“the eleventh hour.”

3. The reason of your idleness cannot rationally be that there is yet plenty of time—that you need not be in a hurry—that you are young, with many hours for amusing yourself before the eleventh.

4. Your reason for persistent, reckless idleness would not be reasonable should you plead that you are not qualified, and through inveterate habits in sin and unescapable companionships which you cannot shake off, and various other circumstances, are disabled for such spiritual work. The effectual aid of the Holy Spirit is provided for every humble petitioner. Positive reasons for it:

(1) That you are so busy with other work that you have no time for this.

(2) That you do not relish the work, but have a strong dislike of it.

II. I turn to remonstrate with those who, although not entirely idle in the spiritual work, do it but partially and with no animation or zeal.—Why so slow?

1. It cannot be because you are finding much satisfaction in those worldly engagements which consume so much of your time and attention, and leave so little for the honour of God and the interest of your precious soul.

2. Nor because you think you have cultivated your heart already as much as is necessary.

3. Is it because you think you are doing enough for the Master?

4. It cannot be because you calculate that anything you might do Christward and heavenward above what you consider to be the measure of your necessity would be profitless. Why then so slow? I’ll tell you. It is because of an insidious unbelief; a want of a clear realisation of the heavenly hope; a seeing of the kingdom only dimly through the fog and haze of the cares and pleasures of this world; yea, in many cases, a secret misgiving of heart that after all there is any reality in this heavenly kingdom; a mingling with faith of suspicions, of myths and antiquated traditions, and fancies of enthusiastic prophets.—Wm. Anderson, LL.D.

Mat_20:8-16. Eventide.—The signs of a sad evening-time:—

I. Murmuring on looking back on the labour and its results.

II. An evil eye with reference to our neighbour and his success.

III. Self-contradiction and the merited rebuke.

IV. The loss of the capacity of enjoying the blessing in peace and gratitude.—J. P. Lange, D.D.

Mat_20:10. Spiritual rewards.—“And they likewise received every man a penny.” Observe:—

I. In the kingdom of God the work and the wages are the same thing.

II. In the kingdom of God there can be no such thing as competition. The enriching of one never impoverishes another.—D. Strong, M.A.

Mat_20:12. The justice of the award.—Man does not here acquiesce in the Judge’s decision, as in the parable of the debtors

(18). What is just does not at first seem just, but, as in science many things that seemed untrue are proved to be true, what seems unjust will be proved just when we know all. Further, time is not the only element in service. An act of swift intelligence or of bravery wrought in the space of a single minute has saved an army or a people, and merited higher reward than a lifetime of ordinary service.—A. Carr, M.A.

Mat_20:15. The evil eye.—

I. The nature of envy.—It is an evil eye. The eye is oftentimes both the inlet and outlet of sin (1Sa_18:9; 1Sa_18:15). What can have more evil in it? It is grief to ourselves, anger to God, and ill-will to our neighbour; and it is a sin that has neither pleasure, profit, nor honour in it.

II. The aggravation of envy.—It is “because I am good.” Envy is un-likeness to God, who is good, and doeth good, and delights in doing good; nay, it is an opposition and contradiction to God; it is a dislike of His proceedings, and a displeasure at what He doth and is pleased with. It is a direct violation of both the two great commandments at once; both that of love to God, in whose will we should acquiesce, and love to our neighbour, in whose welfare we should rejoice. Thus man’s badness takes occasion from God’s goodness to be more exceeding sinful.—M. Henry.

Mat_20:16. The last first and the first last.—The meaning of the interpreting utterance, Mat_20:16, is as follows:—

1. Those labourers in God’s kingdom to whom, by the peculiarity of their calling, only a relatively insignificant work was assigned on earth, will in God’s future kingdom be treated in the matter of reward as if the greatest work had been assigned them.

2. They who were above all the rest in respect of the magnitude and weight of the work assigned them on earth by Divine calling, will not on that account merely, be treated differently in the matter of reward from those standing farthest below them in this respect. This by no means implies that despite great diversity in service all labourers in God’s kingdom will, as respects reward, be placed on a level in the next world. On the contrary, the presupposition in the utterance of Jesus is that in God’s kingdom of the future there is a manifoldly diverse reward for service of diverse worth in this life. But, this presupposition being understood, it is affirmed that the standard for determining the difference in the reward will not be the difference among the labourers of God’s kingdom first striking the eye in this life, namely, the difference in the magnitude and weight of the different functions to which individuals are assigned in this life by a different Divine calling, and the consequent difference in the outward amount of service. Of those who in this respect were the last or first it is said that in the matter of future reward neither the one will be injured nor the other privileged by their position in this life. The future reward of grace, instead of being adjudged to each according to the difference in the outward amount of service, obvious to human eyes and open to human calculation, will rather, as may here be supplementarily added, be adjudged according to the difference in the inner worth of the service known only to God—i.e. according to the different degree of self-sacrificing fidelity with which every one has laboured in the function assigned to him, whether small or great, and has borne corresponding fruit within the sphere of influence, great or small, allotted to him.—S. Goebel.

The service that God regards.—One hour of trustful, humble service is of greater value to God than a lifetime of calculating industry and self-regarding zeal. A gift that is reckoned by thousands of pounds, an ecclesiastical endowment that makes a noise through a whole generation, a busy, unflagging, obtrusive zeal which makes itself seen and felt throughout a whole land, these things make a great impression upon men—and it is well if they do not make a great impression on the parties themselves who do them, and prompt them inwardly to say, “What shall we have therefore?”—but they make no impression upon God unless animated by a really devoted spirit. While men are applauding the great workers who ostentatiously wipe the sweat from their brows and pant so that you can hear them across the whole field, God is regarding an unnoticed worker, who feels he is doing little, who is ashamed that anyone should see his work, who bitterly regrets he can do no more, who could not name a coin small enough to pay him, but who is perfectly sure that the Master he serves is well worth serving. It is thus that the first become last and the last first.—M. Dods, D.D.

Unselfishness of true Christian service.—English sailors have been known to be filled with pity for their comrades whose ships only hove in sight in time to see the enemy’s flag run down or to fire the last shot in a long engagement. They have so pitied them for having no share in the excitement and glory of the day that they would willingly give them as a compensation their own pay and prize-money. And the true follower of Christ, who has listened to the earliest call of his Master and has revelled in the glory of serving Him throughout life, will from the bottom of his heart pity the man who has only late in life recognised the glory of the service, and has had barely time to pick up his tools when the dusk of evening falls upon him. It is impossible that a man whose chief desire was to advance his Master’s work should envy another labourer Who had done much less than himself. The very fact that a man envies another his reward is enough of itself to convict him of self-seeking in his service.—M. Dods, D.D.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

B. The Reward in the Spirit of Free Grace. The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. Mat_20:1-16

(The Gospel for Septuagesima.)

1For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a householder [like to a human householder, ἀνθρώπῳ οἰκοδεσπότῃ], which [who] went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. 2And when he had agreed [having agreed, συμφωνήσας] with the labourers for a penny [denáry, or shilling]1 a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3And he went out about the third hour [at nine o’clock, A. M.], and saw others standing idle in the market-place, 4And said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5Again he went out about the sixth [at noon] and ninth hour [at three o’clock, P. M.], and did likewise. 6And about the eleventh hour [an hour before sunset] he went out, and found others standing idle,2 and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto him, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.3 8So when even [evening] was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward [overseer], Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny [denáry, shilling]. 10But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received [should receive, λήφονται] more; and they likewise received every man a penny [denáry]. 11And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house [householder, 12οἰκοδεσπότον], Saying, These last have wrought [made] but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which [who] have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13But he answered one of them, and said, Friend,4 I do thee no wrong: didst not thou 14agree with me for a penny [denáry, or shilling]? Take that thine is [what is thine, τὸ σόν lit.: the thine], and go thy way: [but I will give unto this last, even as unto 15thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be [are] called, but few chosen.5

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Mat_20:1. For the kingdom of heaven is like.—This parable is evidently intended as an illustration and explanation of Christ’s former teaching [especially of the last verse of the preceding chapter, as is shown by the connecting γάρ. Hence the division of chapters here, as Trench justly observes, is peculiarly unfortunate.] For a number of ancient treatises on this parable, see Lilienthal’s Bibl. Archivarius, p. 91; for more recent discussions, the Studien und Kritiken (Rupprecht, 1847, p. 396 sqq.; Steffensen, 1848, p. 686 sqq.). On the difficulties of this parable [second only to those of the parable of the Unjust Steward], see Heubner, p. 300. [Latin dissertations on the Parabola de Operariis in Vinea, by J. L. Mosheim, 1724; A. H. Faust, 1725; F. S. Lœffler, 1726; F. A. Zülich, 1741; J. R. Kiesling, 1740; J. H. Schramm, 1775, etc. Of English expositions, see especially Trench, Notes on the Parables, 9th Lond. ed., 1863, pp. 161–184, and Alford in loc.—P. S.]

A human householder.—In contrast to God, who is the Householder in the highest and truest sense. As in Mat_13:24; Mat_18:23. [It is plain that the householder signifies God; the vineyard, the kingdom of heaven (comp. Isa_5:1-7; Son_8:12); the steward ( Mat_20:8), Christ; the twelfth hour of the day, or the evening, the parusia of Christ; the other hours, the different periods of calling and its service. The difficulty lies in the symbolical meaning of the denáry and in determining the chief lesson of the parable. See below.—P. S.]

Mat_20:2. For a denary (or shilling) a day.—Both these terms are intended to express the fact, that the servants were hired in the proper sense of the term, which is also implied in ἐκδηναρίον. A Roman denarius was the common pay for a day’s labor (Tob_5:14 : a drachma). The Attic drachma was equal to the Roman denarius, and amounted to six oboli, or about seven and a half pence sterling, or fifteen American cents. “That this hire was equitable,6 appears from the circumstance that at a time of scarcity, the denarius would be sufficient to purchase what was requisite for man’s daily support; Rev_6:6.” Starke.

[The meaning of the denáry is a crux interpretum, and reminds us of what Chrysostom and Maldonatus say in loc., that we must not scrupulously press every particular in a parable, but keep always in view the general scope. Parables are poetic pictures taken from real life for the illustration of the higher truths and realities of the kingdom of heaven, and contain with the essential figures some ornamental touches which are necessary for the artistic finish, although they may not express definitely a corresponding idea or fact in the spiritual world. The denáry here undoubtedly conveys the idea of reward, but in a very general way. As soon as we particularize it, we get into almost inextricable difficulties. Two opposite views must be mentioned. (1) The denáry means the temporal reward only, and those who were hired first, while they receive their stipulated denáry, lose eternal life and are ultimately lost The Lord says to them at last: Take thy miserable penny, the wages of a day-laborer on earth, and go thy way (ν̔́παγε), i.e., depart from Me ( Mat_20:14). So Luther (in his later writings: The penny is the temporal good, the favor of the householder, the eternal good; the murmuring laborers trot away with their penny, and are damned), more recently Stier (who zealously and elaborately defends this interpretation), W. Nast (who fully agrees with him), and Wordsworth. At first sight this view offers a plausible escape from the difficulties of the second, but it is hardly in keeping with the dignity of the parable, and is made impossible by the fact that the penny is paid at the close of the day, i.e., at the end of man’s life or the day of final account, when the temporal reward ceases. Godliness is indeed profitable for all things and has the promise of this life as well as of that which is to come; but the temporal blessings accompany the work itself, while the eternal reward follows it after it is finished. (2) The denáry means eternal salvation. So Origen, Augustine (Serm. Matt 343: “Denarius ille vita œterna est, quœ omnibus par est”), Gregory I., Bernard, Luther (in his Com. on Gal_3:2), Maldonatus (salus et vita œterna), Meyer (das Messianische Heil), Lange (with some modification: the blessing of Christian communion, see his Doctrinal Thoughts below), Alford (eternal life, or God Himself), and many others. To this view the following objections may be urged: (a) Eternal life is not a reward or wages for work performed, but a free gift of grace. True; yet there is a reward of grace as well as a reward of merit, and in the former sense eternal life is constantly represented by Christ and the apostles as a μισθός (variously rendered in the E. V. by reward, hire, and wages), see Mat_5:12 (“great is your reward in heaven”); Mat_10:41-42; Luk_6:23; Luk_6:35; Luk_10:7; Joh_4:36; 1Co_3:8; 1Co_3:14 etc. The selection of so small a price as a denáry for so great a good as eternal life is to be explained from the nature of the parable and the fact that a denáry was the usual pay for a day’s work.—(b) The laborers who were first called, engaged in the service of God in a mercenary spirit, which is indicated by ἐκ δηναρίον i.e., for the sake of a denáry,7 and their murmuring and dissatisfaction, as well as the rebuke administered to them on the day of account ( Mat_20:11-15), seems inconsistent with the fact of their final salvation. For envy, as Words worth remarks, disqualifies for heaven and is an inward hell. But it should be observed, first, that the murmuring occurs before they enter into heaven proper; secondly, that the laborers who were called first, are placed, not outside of the kingdom of heaven, but simply last in the kingdom, Mat_19:30; Mat_20:16; thirdly, that we have a full parallel in the parable of the Prodigal Son, whose elder brother showed envy and anger at the mercy extended to the Prodigal, and yet the father expressly said unto him: “Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine;” Luk_15:28-31. In both cases this manifestation of dissatisfaction must be explained from a primary reference of the parable to the Jews and their inveterate and almost insurmountable prejudice against the Gentiles. It is introduced for the purpose of rebuking their mercenary and envious disposition, and commending the more disinterested spirit of the Gentile converts who went to work as soon as they were called, without a definite agreement as to price, but implicitly trusting in the justice and mercy of the householder, who would give them far more than they could ask or deserve. But although the laborers who were called first, were ultimately admitted into heaven with the rest, yet many of them occupy there the last place, and enjoy a far inferior degree of glory than many others who were called last. Cœlum omnibus est idem, sed gloria dispar, or as Augustine has it: splendor dispar, cœlum commune. Thus the denáry, or final reward, although the same objectively considered, is very different subjectively, according to the different degrees of capacity for bliss, and moral perfection on the part of the receivers. Comp. 1Co_15:41, and the parable of the talents, Mat_25:15-30, and the parable of the pounds, Luk_19:12-26. With this explanation we regard the second view as substantially correct, certainly preferable to the first, although it is doubtful whether we are authorized, in the original sense and intent of the parable, to go beyond the general idea of reward. Comp. Lange’s Doctrinal Thoughts below.—P. S.]

The expression day refers to that period of time in the narrower sense. The Jews reckoned the day in the wider sense from sunset to sunset (comp. Lev_23:32). Before the Babylonish captivity the day was divided into morning, noon, evening, and a twofold twilight. Gradually, however, the division into hours was introduced, which in the Old Testament occur under the Chaldee designation of שׁעִה. The Jews seem to have adopted the division of the day into hours during their residence in Babylon. As every natural day was divided into twelve hours, their duration necessarily varied at different periods of the year. The longest day in Palestine consists of fourteen hours and twelve minutes; the shortest, of nine hours and forty-eight minutes. About the third hour, or at nine o’clock in the morning, the market-place would be full of people. “Vitringa applies the term hours to different periods of history. Thus he regards ‘early in the morning,’=Adam; ‘the third hour,’=Abraham; ‘the sixth hour,’=Moses; ‘the ninth hour,’=the latter times, when the Edomites, under John Hyrcanus, became converts to Judaism; ‘the eleventh hour,’ = the time of Christ. Similarly Origen and Hilary.”8 Heubner.—On this point comp. the Doctrinal Thoughts below.

Mat_20:4. Whatever is right.—In the general sense; whatever is equitable. The idea of a regular engagement for a definite hire gradually disappears. The first laborers were hired for a day; their remuneration being not only fixed, but serving as their motive (ἐκ). The next laborers were merely promised an equitable acknowledgment of their services; while in the last instance, according to the best accredited reading ( Mat_20:7), no promise at all was made to those who went into the vineyard.

Mat_20:7. Because no man hath hired us.—This trait is of great importance in the interpretation of the parable. Comp. Romans 11; Act_14:16.

Mat_20:8. Unto his steward, ἐπίτροπος.—The term was equally applied to those who administered whole provinces and single households. In this case, the steward of a household. [Christ is the overseer set over the house of God and entrusted with the whole economy of salvation including the distribution of the final rewards, Heb_3:6; Joh_5:27; Rev_2:7; Rev_2:10; Rev_2:17; Rev_2:28, etc.—P. S.]—Their hire.—Meyer: The hire which the master had previously told him to give. But in this case it is intended to combine the idea of a day’s hire with that of hire in the more general sense; in short, the full amount of their hire.

Mat_20:9. [It is a gratuitous assumption that the last hired laborers worked as much in one hour as the rest during several hours or the whole day, and that for this reason they received the same reward. God does, indeed, not measure His reward by the length of man’s life, but by the intensity of his labor and the fidelity of his services, and the parable implies a protest against the quantitative appreciation of men’s works, as distinct from the qualitative. But this is not the main lesson of the parable, as Maldonatus9 and Kuinoel affirm, else the circumstance, on which the narrative turned, would have been mentioned in this place or afterwards.—P. S.]

Mat_20:12. Have done (spent) but one hour, ἐποίησαν—Not wrought, but passed one hour in working. Evidently indicating their contempt for the others; which also appears from such expressions as “these last,” and from their laying stress on their own work. This is likewise implied in the arrangement of the words: “Thou hast made them equal unto us—unto us who have borne the burden of the day (having wrought for twelve hours), and its heat (at noon).” Καν́σων, lit.: the scorcher, used here in the general sense for noon-day heat, but in the Sept. frequently for the hot wind from the south.

Mat_20:13. But he answered one of them.—This trait must not be overlooked. The householder does rot deem it necessary to excuse his conduct before all the laborers, and only explains it to one of them, by way of information for the rest.

Friend.—Not ironically, but as an expression of kindness, to show that the rebuke which followed was not the result of partiality.

Mat_20:15. Is thine eye evil?—Not a doubtful question, nor a mere suggestion, but intended to show the impropriety of such evil seeing, when the householder manifested so much kindness. On the expression ὀφθαλμὸς πονηρός, comp. Mat_6:23; Pro_28:22. In this instance it refers to envy. History records the terrible consequences of such “an evil eye” ever since the time of Cain. Eastern and Southern nations assign a pernicious and baneful effect to the evil eye.

Mat_20:16. The last shall be first.—On the ground to which we have before referred, the statement is here reversed.

[This verse contains the lesson of the parable, comp. the last verse of the preceding chapter and the connecting γάρ in the first verse of this. It illustrates the truth that many (not all, see Mat_19:30) first shall be last, and (many) last shall be first, or that the order in the calling of individuals and nations will in many cases be reversed in their final position in heaven. This truth is an encouragement to those who are called at a late period of their lives, but still more a solemn warning to those who are called early, urging them to be humble and ever mindful of their unworthiness before God, lest they be overtaken by others or forfeit the reward altogether. Bengel observes on ἔσονται: respectu apostolorum non, est prœdictio sed admonitio. The admonition contained in the words: the first shall be last, was intended first for apostles, especially for Peter, whose self-exalting and somewhat mercenary question in Mat_19:27 called forth this parable, and whose subsequent history sadly revealed the danger of self-confidence; then for Jewish Christians generally, who were so prone to look down with envy upon the Gentile converts, and to set up peculiar claims, as if salvation was of merit and not of free grace; and lastly, for all Christians, who enjoy special spiritual privileges and the great blessing of an early acquaintance with the Saviour.—This is the main lesson of the parable as plainly set forth in the opening and concluding sentences. What other commentators have set forth as the main lesson, is either not taught at all, or taught only incidentally or by implication, as: the equality of rewards in the kingdom of heaven (Augustine, etc.; but this must be modified by the doctrine of different degrees of glory); the kingdom of heaven is of grace, not of debt, but God will strictly fulfil all his covenant promise in its integrity (Rupprecht, Alford); God rewards not according to the time, but according to the kind and fidelity of service (Maldonatus), etc.—P. S.]

For many are called.—Our Lord here shows that this reversal of the outward order was not arbitrary, but depended upon a higher and internal order. Those who are chosen do not exclude them that are merely called; but, from their earnestness and the absence of all mercenary spirit, they occupy a higher place than the latter. This characteristic is indicated in the parable by the circumstance, that these laborers went to the vineyard without the promise of any definite hire, and even without the assurance of any reward at all. On the other hand, in Mat_22:14 the expression chosen applies to a real selection from among those that were called or invited, to whom alone the blessings of justification and final glory were awarded. In other words, the awful difference between those who are called and those who are chosen is only indicated in our passage, while it is fully carried out in Matthew 22. [Trench explains: “Many are called to work in God’s vineyard, but few retain that temper of spirit, humility, and submission to God, which will allow them at last to be partakers of His reward.” Similarly Alford, who disconnects these words from the parable. But the connection is more readily accounted for if we explain the sentence somewhat differently here, from what is its obvious meaning in the parable of the Marriage of the King’s Son (Mat_22:14), where it contains the moral of the parable. Bengel in loc. observes: “̓Εκλεκτοί exquisiti prœ aliis. Videtur, hoc loco, ubi primum occurrit, non omnes salvandos denotare, sed horum excellentissimos.” So Olshausen, who makes the called and the chosen alike partakers of final salvation, but with different degrees of standing.—P. S.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Meaning of this parable.—It is unnecessary to prove that the vineyard is intended to designate the kingdom of heaven (see Isa_5:1; Mat_21:28; Mat_21:33). The kingdom of heaven is compared to a vineyard because it produces the noblest fruits, even love, peace, and blessedness, of which the precious fruit of the vine is a faint emblem. Besides, the need of careful cultivation and of seasonable weather, as also of good soil and sunny exposure, and of a favorable climate, are features which make the vineyard a fit symbol of the kingdom of heaven.

But the first point to be ascertained is, whether the vineyard is intended as an emblem of the kingdom of God generally, in its various economies, or only of the New Testament economy of the Church. According to Gray, Seiler, and others, the first hired were the Jews, and those who were last engaged, the Gentiles. Heubner denies the correctness of this view. It is certainly of great importance to remember that this parable was primarily, and almost exclusively, intended for the disciples. Hence it must evidently refer, in the first place, to the New Testament economy, although it is at the same time applicable to the various economies of the kingdom of God; while Mat_21:33 primarily refers to the Old Testament economy and its termination. By thus restricting the import of the parable, its leading features become more distinct and definite. Above all, it is of the greatest importance to keep in mind that it is intended to illustrate the statement, “Many that are first shall be last,” but not meant to teach that all that are first shall be last, etc. Perhaps we might arrive at such a conclusion from the circumstance, that in the parable all that are first are described as sharing the same mercenary spirit; but this is only intended to convey the idea that, as a body, and in reference to their general spirit, such was the case. We shall by and by see in what sense this was true.

To return: The vineyard is the kingdom of heaven under the New Testament, from its first commencement; the householder is God (see the passages above quoted); the steward is Christ, in His capacity as the Judge of the world (Matthew 25); the laborers are, in the first place, the regular ministers in the kingdom of God, and secondarily, believers in general. To this interpretation Heubner objects that the people must be represented by the vineyard itself. In answer to this, we again remind the reader, that symbolical expressions must not be confounded with dogmatical statements. Thus, on one occasion, our Lord Himself is compared to a vine (Joh_15:1); while on another, even the weakest Christians may be designated as laborers in the vineyard, just as in Mat_21:31 converted publicans and harlots are compared to the son who, returning to his obedience, goes to work in the vineyard. Every Christian must seek to advance the kingdom of God, or be a laborer in His vineyard—by his confession, by his Christian conduct, and, above all, by the spiritual character which attaches to his ordinary labor and avocation, however humble it may appear in the sight of men. The different laborers evidently indicate not only different stages of faith and worth, but also difference of individuality. Their reward is given them individually, while the explanation of the householder is also addressed to one of them individually. Similarly, the different hours refer not only to different periods in the history of the Church, but also to different stages in our own life and experience, although the former idea is perhaps more prominently brought out. Hence we may remark, that those who were hired “early in the morning” were not merely the Apostles, but also Jewish Christians generally. Accordingly, the whole of that class are represented in the parable as displaying a mercenary spirit—a characteristic which, so far as the Apostles were concerned, was only intended as a warning. This will also assist us in explaining the statement about the denáry. Those who were hired in the third hour were found standing in the market-place. This may probably be referred to the Jewish proselytes, who congregated along with the Jews in the most public place of the kingdom of heaven as then existing, or in the synagogue. Those who were hired at the sixth and the ninth hour, were the Gentile races who inhabited the ancient Greek and Roman empires, and those barbarous tribes who, after the migration of nations, were brought into the Church. Lastly, they who were converted at the eleventh hour may be the last fruits from among the Jews and Gentiles, gathered through the missionary labors of the latter days. The evening is the hour of final reward for those who labored in the vineyard. That festive evening of the Church will take place at the second appearing of Christ—which must not be confounded with the final judgment;—while, so far as each individual is concerned, the festive evening commences with our entrance into the Church triumphant, although in a certain sense it may be said to begin whenever we taste of the blessings connected with the invisible Church. From the general character of this parable, it is evident that its main point lies in the idea of an hour of reward. It is not easy to ascertain the exact meaning attaching to the hire of a denáry or shilling (see Heubner, p. 300). Gerhard remarks, in his Harmonia, that the denáry refers to Christ Himself; while, according to Augustine and Luther (Gal_3:2), it means eternal life. In another place, however, Luther remarks that the denáry referred to temporal possessions,10 while the favor of the householder constituted the eternal reward of the laborers. Heubner suggests that the denáry refers to the reward generally; H. Müller, that it applies to all rewards of grace, both in this and in a future life. But if the labor in the vineyard is performed in the service of the Church, the hire must equally refer to Christian fellowship. This blessing may be characterized as forming part of the outward manifestation of the kingdom of Christ and of its benefits. By the word and sacraments—by which Christ is brought to us—we have even now “part and lot in this matter.” But the history of the Jewish Christian Church shows that we may lose our enjoyment of this portion even while possessing it. They had agreed with the Householder ἐκδηναρίον: for the sake of the kingdom of Messiah, and of their part in it, they had gone into the vineyard, or entered the Church. It deserves notice, that the prospect of this kingdom was not so clearly set before those who—so to speak—were engaged at a later hour. In their case, only a general promise was given, and they were to receive whatsoever was right. On this assurance they went into the vineyard. Lastly, as we have seen, according to the best reading ( Mat_20:7), no mention of any reward was made to those who came at the eleventh hour. Apparently, they were satisfied to be delivered from total inactivity, and happy at the prospect of securing by their labors the favor of Him who had called them. This will serve to explain how, while the same reward was given to all, it led to such a difference of feeling among the laborers. Manifestly, any dea of dissatisfaction or murmuring would be entirely inadmissible, if the reward accorded to the laborers had referred either to Christ Himself, or else to eternal life. On the other hand, temporal possessions would scarcely be characterized as a reward for labor in the vineyard of the Lord. But a share in the blessings of the Church, or in the manifestation of Christ, is a spiritual possession, which at the same time may produce in different persons different, and even contrary, results. This may also serve to throw some light on the parable of the ten virgins. It accounts for the dissatisfaction of the first laborers on receiving the same reward as the last. The Jewish Christians were dissatisfied because the Gentiles were to obtain the same share in the blessings of the Church, or in the kingdom of Messiah. They expected that some distinctive privileges would accrue to them, and thus lapsed into Ebionism, and in the end became the last (even as is the case with the Jewish nation generally). Similarly, at the moment when Judas obtained his share in the Church, at the first celebration of the Eucharist, his murmuring and dissatisfaction became open apostasy.

This leads us to the next inquiry, whether those who were last rewarded were in reality lost, as their murmuring and envy would seem to indicate, or whether they were only reproved for their pretensions and claims. The fact that they received a denary seems in favor of the latter view; but, on the other hand, they appear to have raised some objections to taking their hire, as appears from the expression, “Take what is thine.” When combining this with the circumstance that they were last rewarded, we infer that our Lord intends to indicate that an immense difference of internal capability for spiritual blessings existed between them—pointing forward to the contrast of eternal blessedness and everlasting misery. This is also implied in the parable of the prodigal son, while it is fully brought out in that of the wise and foolish virgins. We need scarcely add that such was really the case in the history of the Church. While the one party regarded the denáry as a scanty and even poor reward, the other took it as a sign and seal of the infinite favor of the Master, and of the free love of God and of Christ. Thus legalism regards, for example, the Lord’s Supper as a merely outward ordinance, implying legal absolution and reconciliation with the Church; while to the humble believer it is a seal of pardon and of final salvation. This difference of view depends on whether we regard the kingdom of heaven in an outward and legalistic manner as conferring certain privileges and rewards, or in an inward and spiritual manner as the kingdom of free love. But there are certain characters who, though intensely conscientious and earnest, are destitute of love. In their Case, the difference between those that are chosen depends exclusively on a smaller capacity for receiving the blessing. But those who are selfish and mere professors are not only less capable of receiving the blessing; they also convert the blessing into a curse. Thus the shilling of reward becomes to them ultimately a punishment and a judgment. But in this parable this point is only alluded to; the main object being to show that many of the last shall be first, to the glory and praise of free grace, and as displaying the righteousness and glory of God.

2. On a previous occasion, the Lord had taught the disciples that the grace of God and the faith or unbelief of man were capable of annulling and bridging over every distance of space in the kingdom of heaven (Mat_8:11). In the present instance, He shows that the same holds true with reference to time. Grace can not only equalize, but—so to speak—reverse, the times of outward service; and it does so in many cases. It seems as if it restored to genuine believers the time which they had lost Nay, it may convert one day into a thousand years, and a thousand years into one day.

3. We would call special attention to the spiritual progress marked in the parable by the fact, that the idea of a hire gradually recedes from view.

4. The fundamental idea of this parable is the free reward of the kingdom of heaven, not as dictated by arbitrary motives, but as depending on the internal state of mind and heart, in opposition to the legal and common reward in the service of works, which is determined by only outward considerations. The kingdom of heaven does not consist in merely outward performances, to which a certain value attaches. This idea, which was so much fostered by the legalistic spirit of the Pharisees, was all the more effectually refuted in this parable, that it seemed at first, to a certain extent, to admit its accuracy. But after having presented the kingdom of heaven under the figure of hired servants, the parable gradually changes, and exhibits in all its fulness the economy of sovereign mercy, compassion, and love. All these exhibitions are indeed based on the idea of justice—every laborer receives a shilling, none receives too little. But in its combination with love, justice assumes a higher form, and those who have only labored part of the day receive the hire of full work. Hence, according to the notions of legalism, they received too much. But grace manifests itself not only in giving the shilling to those who were last engaged, but also in giving it first to them, while the earliest laborers are last paid. Nor is this dispensation arbitrary, but based on truth. Thus it appears that a mercenary spirit brings its own judgment. It leads to dissatisfaction with the promised reward, and to contempt and envy of those who may have been made the subjects of grace. On the other hand, the latter in reality possess superior inward qualification, as appears from the fact that they agreed to commence labor late in the day, and in simple trustfulness, without any promise of definite reward. Similarly, it is now seen that the shilling, which the one class receives with dissatisfaction and murmuring, is hailed by the other as a reward of free grace. Thus the parable points forward to that of the prodigal, in which the elder son is represented as having been all along in his father’s house, and shared all his possessions without ever rejoicing in his inheritance. Lastly, the righteousness of the reward appears from this, that while the selfishness of the earlier laborers converts their hire into a judgment, it is received by the others as a gift of grace, by which they become the free servants and fellow-laborers of their Lord and Master.

5. It is important to remember that this reward is of grace, although not in the sense of any arbitrariness, nor to the exclusion of the requirements of strict justice. Everything that we possess is indeed a gift of God, in the twofold sense of our having received it either naturally or by grace. Accordingly, every idea of merit in the literal or worldly sense is entirely excluded; yet there is a reward and return, in the relationship subsisting between God and man in the covenant, and in the interchange between promise and duty. To banish every trace of a mercenary spirit, it is not necessary to suppose that believers are not to receive any reward, but to recognize that, along with the penny which Supreme Justice has accorded on the ground of free love, we have by grace received the whole kingdom of heaven, with all that it implies—even as we are able to receive it, in humility and self-surrender, and far above all that we could ask or desire.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The word of the Lord: “The last shall be first, and the first last.” 1. Illustrated by the parable of the laborers in the vineyard; 2. explained by the declaration, “Many are called, but few chosen.”—The laborers in the vineyard: 1. The vineyard of the Lord, and labor in it 2. The calling and the character of the laborers. 3. The work and the hire. 4. The equality and the difference of the reward.—The equality and the difference in the outward form of the kingdom of God: 1. The equality and the difference of the laborers. All are called to be servants in the kingdom; but one class consists of those who are merely called, or who are external and legal laborers, while the others are also chosen, their labor being internal and free. 2. The equality and the difference of their work. Their service is one of simple obedience; but in the one case there was the advantage of priority, while at the same time some (lot all of them) seem to have felt the service a burden. The others were engaged for a shorter period, but labored in confidence and joy. 3. The equality and the difference of the reward: all received the shilling. The external blessing attaching to service in the kingdom of heaven remains the same. All have part in the Church, in its fellowship and its privileges. But to some this appears a scanty hire, if not a kind of punishment; while to those who receive it in faith, it is a sign of infinite grace.—Late repentance.—The festive evening-time.—The reward which the Lord will ultimately grant to His servants: 1. It is not arbitrary, but in accordance with the strictest justice (He rewards only His laborers; He rewards all His laborers; He gives the same reward to all His laborers as such). The equality of the denáry a figure of the equality of God’s justice. 2. It is not limited, but free and rich, according to the fulness of His love (even those who were last called received a denáry, and may perhaps have received it before the others). 3. It is not a mysterious and silent fate, but the ways of wisdom, which justify themselves.—How the kingdom of free love is reared on the basis of God’s justice.—The kingdom of justice is also that of love: (a) This love is ever just; (b) this justice is ever love.—How a mercenary spirit destroys the position of a laborer in the kingdom of God: He makes merchandize of the calling of God (instead of being a fellow-worker, he becomes an unfaithful, hired servant); he converts the word of God into mere traditions, the work of faith into a burden, the hope of a reward into a claim, and the blessings granted into a judgment.—The one shilling, or the blessing of legal return, may lead some to heaven, while others convert it into a curse.—Comparison between the first and the last laborers: A. first merely a difference, but at last a contrast, between them.—The solemn word of the Judge: Take what is thine.—How self-righteousness brings its own judgment.—How it refutes itself: 1. It demands the promised reward, and yet always expects more. 2. It only seeks its own, and yet looks with envy upon others. 3. It does not care for the friendship of the Lord nor the prosperity of His vineyard, but attempts to use Him and the vineyard as a means toward an end; while at the same time he grudges to others the favor of the Lord which they enjoy.—The evil eye of those who are merely outward workers, as illustrated by the history of the Church from the commencement of the kingdom (Cain) until now.—The dire effects of this evil eye.—How the grace of God makes up for everything to the laborers who have entered even at a late hour,—1. for lost time; 2 for loss of service; 3. for a lost life; 4. for the lost of the fruits of life.—Import of the shilling to various classes of laborers: 1. It is viewed as the just reward: the value of the labor (Church-fellowship in return for confession and profession). 2. Viewed from a legal point, as if the labor had been forcibly taken; in which case it becomes a spiritual judgment. 3. Viewed as the reward of love: as the blessing attaching to genuine labor and the pledge of eternal salvation.—What has the legal church to do with that of love?—What have those who are merely outward laborers to do with the blessedness enjoyed by true believers?—Import of the fact that legalism would fain limit and restrain the exercise of free grace (the Lord, His love, His grace, heaven, the Church, inward life).—The signs of a sad evening-time: 1. Murmuring on looking back on the labor and its results. 2. An evil eye with reference to our neighbor and his success. 3. Self-contradiction, and the merited rebuke. 4. The loss of the capacity of enjoying the blessing in peace and gratitude.—How the return made us in the kingdom of God becomes a real reward: 1. If it has been preceded by joy in the work. 2. If it is a pledge of further activity. 3. If it is a sign and seal of the favor of the Lord.—The characteristic marks of those who are chosen: 1. They wait for the call of love without knowing it. 2. They gladly enter the kingdom of love without hesitating. 3. They do service in the trustfulness of love, without bargaining. 4. They regard the outward and finite reward as an emblem and a pledge of the infinite love of their Master, without seeking merely the outward hire.

Starke:—Zeisius: Eternal salvation is indeed a gift of free grace, but God will have no idle people: He wants laborers in His vineyard.—To stand idle in the market-place of the world.—We must follow the call of God.—We should ever keep in view the reward, Gen_12:1.—God stretcheth forth his hands all day long, Rom_10:21.—While bearing the burden of the day, let us comfort ourselves with thoughts of the evening of rest.—What God has promised He will certainly perform.—True repentance is never too late.—The penitent thief on the cross.—But it is a most dangerous thing to defer the work of salvation to the last hour.—All legalists are actuated by a mercenary spirit.—Nova Bibl. Tub.: “What advantage then have we? Is God unjust? Has God cast away His people? Rom_11:1-2. Such is the murmuring language of a mercenary spirit.”—Presumption of the hired servants: 1. They boast in their own merits ( Mat_7:22; Mat_19:20); 2. they despise and envy others (Luk_15:2), nay, they presume to question God Himself (Job_31:2).—Presume not to question God’s mode of administration.—God rewards us as we serve Him.—God is justified when He speaketh, Psa_51:4.—God has power to do with His own as He pleases.

Lisco:—The laborers: not merely the ministers of the word, but all Christians.—Luther: These words, “The first shall be last,” are intended to remove all presumption, and to prevent our exalting ourselves above any sinner; while the clause, “The last shall be first,” is directed against despair.

Heubner:—It is grace which calls, grace which renders us fit for service, and grace which promises and bestows the reward.—This call is heard in all ages of the Church, and at different periods of our lives.—Our whole life is only one day.—There is a difference between standing idle and going idle.—How many idlers there are in this world! Such are all who only live for themselves.—In proportion as you have formerly lost time, be earnest, diligent, and active in employing the rest of your life.—There is an eternal festive evening for the laborers in Christ’s vineyard.—Conceit and a mercenary spirit lead to dissatisfaction with the ways of God.—There is a great deal of murmuring against the providence of God: 1. In point of fact—murmuring on account of want of outward prosperity, etc.; 2. expressed in various ways—being open or concealed, etc.—The servile spirit, which leads us to regard labor in the vineyard as a burden, renders it really heavy.—The strict justice of God dispensing what is right to every one, even to mercenary laborers.—We shall certainly receive What our labor deserves,—Even merely external virtues, however worthless in a spiritual sense, receive a certain reward; as, for example, chastity, temperance, etc.—The coarse envy of carnal men is directed against the earthly happiness of others, while the more subtle form of that sin is excited by the gifts and distinctions which grace confers upon others.—Many of those who were first, etc. In what respect? 1. With reference to the various periods of the Christian Church; 2. with reference to age; 3. with reference to gifts, office, etc.; 4. with reference to their own opinion.—All who regard themselves as the first, etc.—A Christian should regard everything as of free grace: the labor, the blessing, and the reward.—This passage may well be quoted in opposition to the Popish doctrine of works, but also against Protestant Antinomianism.

K. Zimmermann:—On what principle does our heavenly Father reward His people? 1. Not arbitrarily; 2. according to the law of justice; 3. according to the law of grace; 4. how justice and grace are here combined.—Arndt (Gleichnisse):—Humility in reference to the future reward.—Hofacker:—On the invitation of God to labor in His vineyard.—Goldmann (Erweckungen, 1835):—The characteristic marks of those who are chosen.—Reinhardt:—A mercenary spirit in the practice of what is right.—Haupt:—Haste into the vineyard: the Lord calls, time flies, the reward beckons.—Kuinoel:—The economy of the kingdom of grace.—Nicmann:—How does our labor become a service in the kingdom of God.—Lisco:—He is the humblest Christian who has received most grace.—Ahlfeld:—Evening and its reward.—Florey:—The grace of the Lord is manifest in the case of all the laborers in His vineyard: 1. The call a call of grace; 2. the hour an hour of grace; 3. the labor a labor of grace; 4. the reward a reward of grace.—Uhle:—The season of grace in our lives.—Rautenberg:—God will give to every one according to his works.—Bomhard:—Meditation on the eleventh hour: 1. It is an hour of grace; 2. a solemn hour; 3. an uncertain hour; 4, a well-marked hour; 5. a difficult hour; 6. a blessed hour.

[Trench:—The great question on the last day will be, not “How much hast thou done?” but “What art thou now?” (Yet that which men have done will greatly affect what they are, since actions form habits and habits establish a character.)—D. Brown:—1. True Christianity is a life of active service rendered to Christ 2. God rewards us for this service, though not of merit, but of pure grace. 3. There is a reward common to all laborers, and special rewards for peculiar services. 4. Unreasonable and ungrateful conduct of the murmuring laborers, and the rebuke administered to them on the day of account. 5. Encouragement for those called at a late hour. 6. Strange revelations of the judgment day: some of the first will be last, some of the last first, and some of the greatest note in the church below, will be excluded altogether.—Comp. also Barnes, Notes in loc., who derives nine lessons from this parable too long to be quoted.—Stier:—The greatest man of business on the market-place of the world is a mere idle gazer ( Mat_20:3 : standing idle).—W. Nast.—Whoever has not yet commenced to labor in the kingdom of God, is an idler, no matter what else he may do.—The labor in the kingdom of God and its reward: 1. All are called to labor, though at different hours (in childhood, manhood, or old age). 2, God is just toward all laborers. 3. The reward is of free grace.—P. S.]

Footnotes:

[1] Mat_20:2.—[Ἐκδηναρίου. The foreign term ought to have been retained in English, as Matthew retained the Latin denarius in Greek. The English Version is here peculiarly unfortunate, and makes a false Impression on the common reader. A penny would be a poor reward indeed, but a denarius is worth more than seven English pence or fifteen American cents, and was a liberal day’s wages at that time. About two thirds of a Roman denáry (not a full denary as generally stated) was the daily pay of the Roman soldier. Comp. Tacitus. Annal. Mat_1:17. Polybius (Mat_2:15) mentions that the charge for a day’s entertainment in the inns of Cisalpine Gaul was only half an ass or one twentieth of a denarius. Bengel intimates that the daily wages in his time (before the middle of the last century) were not higher: Denarius erut diurna merces, ut fere est hodierno die. Shilling would be a far better popular equivalent for denarius than penny. See note 4 on p. 332.—P. S.]

[2] Mat_20:6.—Ἀγρούς (idle) is wanting in Codd. B., C., D., L., and many others [also in Cod. Sinait.], and is inserted from Mat_20:3 and the question immediately following. In this place it does not strengthen, but weaken the sense.

[3] Mat_20:7.—The words: and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive, καὶ ὃ ἐὰν ἶͅι δίκαιον λήψεσθε, are missing in Codd. B., D., L., Z., [Cod. Sinait.], the Vulgate, and other old versions. Meyer, however, observes that the expression λήψεσθε instead of δώσω ὑμῖν speaks against the insertion of this sentence from Mat_20:4.

[4] Mat_20:13.—[Friend is almost too strong for the Greek ἑταῖρε (comrade, companion, fellow). while “fellow,” as now used, would be too disrespectful. It is here used as a term of cautious respect with reproving import. The Vulgata translates: am-ce; Augustine better: sodalis; all the German versions but one: Freund, as all English versions have friend. The word is often used in the address of a superior to an inferior, as a servant or a disciple, and occurs four times in the N. T.: here. Mat_22:12 (of the guest who had no wedding garment), Mat_26:50 (of Judas when he betrayed his Master with a kiss), and Mat_11:16; in the last passage the E. V. translates: fellows. in all others: friend. Grotius: “Comvellatio leviter notis accommodata.” Meyer compares the German Kamerad, but this, like fellow, would not be dignified enough. We must, therefore, retain friend in the absence of a precise equivalent—P. S.]

[5] Mat_20:16 —The last words: πολλοὶ γάρ εἰσιν κλητοὶ, ὀλίγοι δὲ ἐκλεκτοί, are not found in B., L, Z., [and Cod. Sinait], Copt. Sahid. But Meyer rightly objects to the hypothesis of interpolation from Mat_20:14, since there was no occasion for it here, the words appearing rather out of place in this connection. [Lachmann, Tischendorf (ed. of 1859), and Alford retain the sentence, and Tischendorf says: Cur vero ex xxii. 14 huc transtulerint vix dixeris. The homœoteleuton ἐσχαΤΟΙ—ἐκλεκΤΟΙ easily explains the omission of the sentence by some transcribers. Κλητοί and ἐκλεκτοί are a paronomasia in Greek, which is lost in the E. V. In German it might be rendered by erwählt and auserwählt.—P. S.]

[6][This must be the meaning of die Billigkeit dieses Tagelahns, (as the connection shows in the passage quoted from Starke) and not small or cheap, as the Edinb. trls. has it; for a denarius was liberal pay for a day’s work at the time of Christ. Comp. Note 1, p. 352.—P. S.]

[7][Meyer in loc.: “Ex signifies not the price (which would be expressed by the genitive, Mat_20:13), although the denáry is the price, but it represents this price as the causal feature or motive of the agreement. Comp. Matthiæ, p. 1334.”—P. S.]

[8][Especially also Gregory (Homil. 19 in Evang.) who refers the morning to the age from Adam to Noah, the third hour to the age from Noah to Abraham, the sixth hour to that from Abraham to Moses, the ninth hour to that from Moses to Christ, and the eleventh hour to that from Christ to the end of the world. But the same writer applies the different hours also to the different ages in the life of individuals: childhood, youth, manhood, old age, and the years of decrepitude. The latter interpretation is also held by Jerome, Theophylact, Maldonatus.—P. S.]

[9][“Finis ergo parabolœ est, mercedem vitœ œternœ œon tempori, quo quis laboravit, sed labori et operi, quod facit, respondere.”—P. S.]

[10][So also Stier, Nast, and Wordsworth.—P. S.]

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.

The Healing of the Two Blind Men.

CHAPTER 20

1. The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard. (Mat 20:1-16.)

2. The Third Prediction of His Death and Resurrection. (Mat 20:17-19.)

3. The Ambitiousness of the Disciples. (Mat 20:20-28.)

4. The Healing of the Two Blind Men. (Mat 20:29-34.)

The Lord had spoken about the rewards to be given at the time when the kingdom is to be established on the earth in power and glory, the time of regeneration. His last word in the nineteenth chapter was the statement, “many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.” If we turn to our chapter we find the same words again. “So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many are called ones, but few are chosen ones” (Mat 20:16). It is evident by the word “so” that the Lord gives us the interpretation of this sentence in the first part of the twentieth chapter, and, as already indicated, the last verse of the nineteenth chapter belongs properly to the beginning of the chapter which follows. A parable it is by which the Lord continues to teach about the rewards of the kingdom. “But many first shall be last, and last first. For the kingdom of the heavens is like a householder who went out with the early morning to hire workmen for his vineyard. And having agreed with the workmen for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And having gone out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market place idle; and to them he said: Go also ye into the vineyard, and whatsoever may be just I will give you. And they went their way. Again, having gone out about the sixth and ninth hour, he did likewise. But about the eleventh hour, having gone out, he found others standing, and says to them, Why stand ye here all day idle? They say to him, because no man has hired us. He says to them, Go also ye into the vineyard and whatsoever may be just ye shall receive. But when the evening was come the Lord of the vineyard says to his steward, Call the workmen and pay them their wages, beginning from the last even to the first. And when they who came to work about the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius. And when the first came they supposed that they would receive more, and they received also themselves each a denarius. And on receiving it they murmured against the master of the house, saying, these last have worked one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the heat. But he, answering, said to one of them, My friend, I do not wrong thee. Didst thou not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is thine and go. But it is my will to give to this last even as to thee, is it not lawful for me to do what I will in my own affairs? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So shall the last be first and the first last; for many are called ones, but few chosen ones.”

This parable has difficulties to many readers of the Bible, and all kinds of interpretations have been attempted. Some of these are altogether wrong and contradict Scripture. Among them we mention the exposition of the denarius or penny to mean eternal life and salvation. Thus Luther states on this parable, and after him many other commentators, “the penny which each receives, whether he has labored much or little, is His Son Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death, His Holy Spirit, and finally He gives eternal life.” That this is wrong needs hardly to be mentioned. The salvation of the sinner is here not at all in view. If it were true that the penny, which all receive alike, means salvation, then salvation would have to be worked for and earned by man as a laborer. This strikes at grace and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross. No, the question of the parable is not the question of salvation.

Again, others, recognizing that it is about rewards in the kingdom of which the Lord speaks, have claimed that the teaching is that there will be no diversities or degrees of rewards in the kingdom, but all will receive alike from the hands of the Lord. This, too, is wrong, for it is in opposition to the teachings of the Scriptures. The difficulty of this parable will easily be overcome, if we take into consideration that a parable is an allegorical representation by which a principle is demonstrated or a moral is drawn for instruction. It is, therefore, not at all correct to think that everything in a parable must have a specific meaning and must be spiritually applied. As soon as we enter into the details of this parable and attempt a detailed exposition and try to make an application of these, we shall miss the true lesson, and, perhaps, in the attempt, teach exactly the opposite from what the Lord teaches. We do not think that the penny, or, as it is correctly translated, denarius, has a special spiritual meaning at all. It simply stands for something received. Men have tried to ascertain the time when the laborers were hired, what is meant by the morning, by the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour and the eleventh. Some have fixed these different hours and declare that the early morning laborers were the apostles, the early Christians, and the eleventh hour workers, the laborers living in our days. Now, if we are authorized to seek a meaning in all these terms and give it such an interpretation, then we must do so with every statement found here. According to this the early morning workers would murmur in the presence of the Lord of the vineyard, then there would be murmuring in the day when the rewards are distributed.

We have to pass over the details and look for the great lesson which our teacher desires to bring to our hearts in this parable. We have already shown how closely the parable is connected with the events recorded at the close of the previous chapter. There one, who was rich in himself and knew not his true condition, and rich in possessions, had gone away sorrowful from the Lord; and the Lord had declared, while salvation is impossible with men, all things are possible with God. Salvation is of God. It is grace which has saved us. “For ye are saved by grace, through faith” (Eph 2:8). That grace has brought salvation, what all is included in this we cannot follow here. But then one, a saved one, Peter, spoke and though it was self which uttered these words, the Lord gave Peter and the disciples a gracious answer. He assured them that there was a time coming when they should receive a reward and that He would not forget the service, self-denial and sacrifice of His own.

But with this declaration, so comforting to the hearts of the disciples, there is a great danger connected. The danger is that the believer may forget that he is a debtor to grace and to grace alone, that all he has, he is and he ever will be in all eternity is the result of grace. He may become occupied with his service, his sacrifice and expecting rewards, lose sight of grace and become thoroughly self-righteous. God does not want us to get our hearts away from His riches of grace in Christ Jesus. He is delighted with His children when they magnify that wonderful grace, when they cast themselves upon it; never can we make too much of grace. To keep the disciple from a spirit of self-righteousness as well as occupation with service and rewards, the Lord brings in this parable. The great principle which He teaches is, that God will give the rewards in His own sovereignty, as it seems best to Him, never out of harmony with His wonderful justice. “Should not the judge of the whole earth do right?” (Gen 18:25) “The principle is this, that while God owns every service and loss for the sake of Christ, yet He maintains His own title to do as He will.”

While we labor, our labor is not to be for the sake of reward, as one who is hired for a certain sum of money. We are to be laborers with no trace of legality about us. The servant, the laborer who has the thought before the soul to earn something by his service and sacrifice, lives but to himself, and would be only a hired servant, which the believer is not. Such a one, though he has stood the heat and burden of the day, would find the Lord acting on the principle expounded here by Himself. He will hear from Him: “Take what is thine and go. But if it is my will to give to this last even as to thee; is it not lawful for me to do what I will in my own affairs?” The Lord wants us to trust grace and trust the rewards, the recompense to Him and His own will to give as it pleases Him, and not think anything of our service. Thus the parable appears as a rebuke to Peter, who was occupied with what he had given up.

“The first shall be last;” thus the parable began, and it indicates the human failure. At the end of the parable the order is reversed, the last shall be first; the Lord, in His sovereign grace will lift up those who trusted in His grace. “Many are called, but few are chosen ones,” which has nothing to do with salvation, but is in connection with rewards.

And now we are told that the Lord went up to Jerusalem, and as He directs His steps there He announces once more the fact of His coming passion, death and resurrection. “And Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples with Him apart in the way, and said to them, Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death; and they will deliver Him up to the nations to mock and to scourge and to crucify, and the third day He shall rise again” (Mat 20:17-19). And as He uttered these solemn words, His soul knew all what it meant for Him and the bitter cup He was to drink to the very last drop. Some have taught and teach that it dawned upon Him gradually and that He was not conscious of all which was before Him. But He knew everything which would happen to Him in Jerusalem, for His own Spirit had revealed these sufferings in the prophets (1Pe 1:11). What awe and silence must have rested upon the disciples as He acquainted them with the path He was to go! In Mark we read that they were amazed, and as they followed they were afraid (Mar 10:32). In the Gospel of Luke the Holy Spirit gives additional information: “And they understood none of these things, and this saying was hid from them; neither knew they the things which were spoken” (Luk 18:34). He alone knew the meaning of all before Him, and as the hour draweth near, for which He had come into the world, when He was to be delivered up and to die, we see Him setting His face like a flint to go to Jerusalem.

But now we hear the silence broken. It is a woman who approaches Him. “Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, doing homage and asking something of Him. And He said to her, What wilt thou? She says to Him, Speak the Word that these, my two sons, may sit, one on thy right hand and one on thy left in thy kingdom” (Mat 20:20-21). Self-seeking, the ambition of the flesh, is here again in evidence. Most likely the words of our Lord in answer to Peter’s words in chapter 19 prompted this desire. He had spoken of those that followed Him, that, in the regeneration, they should occupy twelve thrones and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. This word impressed itself, no doubt, upon the mother of the sons of Zebedee, as well as upon the sons themselves, John and James. It was a custom of Oriental kings to have a person sit at their right hand and one on the left; and so the wish is uttered for places of honor in His Kingdom. The mother of Zebedee’s sons here leads; from the Gospel of Mark we learn that John and James made the request. This is no discrepancy, as often called by unbelievers in the verbal inspiration of the Bible. Both mother and sons came together, having both the same wish. The mother’s desire and request was the desire and request of the sons. In Mark’s Gospel the sons are in the foreground, and in Matthew the mother. This is seen by the fact that the Lord does not answer the mother at all. And the ten were indignant about the two brothers. The parable the Lord had just given concerning the workmen in the vineyard was not understood by them all. The request is the manifestation of self. Peter had been uncovered in the presence of the Lord, and now we find that in the beloved disciple, in John and in James, the same evil thing is present. But all brings out His own perfection and His glory; the imperfection and selfishness of His disciples reveals His perfection.

“And Jesus, answering, said, Ye know not what ye ask. Can ye drink the cup which I am about to drink? They say to Him, We are able; He says to them, Ye shall drink indeed my cup, and to sit on my right hand and on my left is not mine to give, but to those for whom it is prepared by my Father” (Mat 20:22-24). (The words “and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with,” are left out, also the same words in the 23rd verse. They are an interpolation in Matthew.) How lovingly and with what patience He reproves her. There is no harshness about it, but it is all tenderness and grace. They did, indeed, know not what they asked. He asks them if they could drink the cup He was about to drink. A cup was to be drunk by Him, and this cup stands for all the agony He was about to suffer. They knew nothing of that cup He was about to drink; nothing of the suffering and the cross which was before Him. It was their own selfishness and a presumption that they answered in the affirmative. They think they are able without knowing what the cup was.

He tells them that they should indeed drink His cup. They were to be partakers of His sufferings and have fellowship with it. That this does not mean the sufferings our Lord had to undergo from the side of God is evident. He alone could suffer thus, and no human being could follow Him there. They would drink His cup, which not alone contained the suffering from God, but sufferings from men, rejection, reproach, and much else besides. In His rejection and sufferings from men they had to enter in. And to this we are also called. “For even hereunto were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow in His steps” (1Pe 2:21). Paul speaks of the sufferings of Christ. “I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church” (Col 1:24). “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death” (Php 3:10).

And now we see the place the Lord Jesus Christ takes in His humiliation. He came not to do His own will, but the will of Him that sent Him. To say that He did not know to whom the places of honor in the kingdom belonged, or that He has no right to give these places and bestow these honors, would be dishonoring to His person. He both knew it, and had a right to place in the seats of honor whomsoever He chooses. He had humbled Himself and had come to exalt the Father, and here He shows forth His place He had taken. He declares in that perfect humiliation that it is not for Him to give these places, but for the Father. Here is a marvelous depth of precious truth. The One equal with the Father in all eternity, One with the Father, truly God in all eternity, without any beginning, came and humbled Himself, made of Himself no reputation. He came to do the will of the Father to the Glory and Praise of His name. He put Himself in the place of humiliation, under the Father, though ever Jehovah while in the earth. Raised from the dead, highly exalted, seated on the right hand of God, though absolutely and eternally one with God, the Father, He yet, as glorified Man, does the Father’s will, subject to the Father. When every knee at last bows and every tongue confesses that Jesus Christ is Lord, it will be to the glory of God the Father. It is the glory of the Father which is His aim. In this light 1Co 15:27-28 are correctly understood: “For He (the Father) hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He is exempted, which did put all things under Him.” The Father is meant and the Son of God incarnate, as glorified Man is under Him, though as God the Son absolutely One with the Father. But still more: “And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him, that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” Such passages have ever been used by the subtlety of the enemy to rob the Lord Jesus Christ of His absolute Deity. So has the word in our chapter been construed to mean that the Lord is inferior to the Father.

“And the ten, having heard of it, were indignant about the two brothers” (Mat 20:24). This is a verse which tells us much. One could easily draw a picture of the ten Jews, how they gesticulated and showed their indignation by looks and words. What kind of an indignation was it? Did perhaps Peter say, “too bad for John and James to intrude thus upon the Lord, and after He made such an announcement to disturb Him; and then the mother came also; what do they mean anyway by such a selfish desire?” did he speak thus? We think not. Most likely Peter was very much occupied with his own case, and the words, “keys of kingdom,” were ringing in his ears. The pride in these two they most likely recognized, as well as the forwardness of the mother. It was, however, their own pride which moved them to indignation. And thus it is repeated over and over again. The fault-finding spirit is rarely anything less than the manifestation of the same evil. What often a brother accuses his brother of is just that what he himself does.

This indignation of the disciples brings out another gracious instruction from the Lord. Once more he teaches in perfect patience His poor erring ones. And oh! Praise to His name! He is ever the same. We are all His dull and weak disciples, and the graciousness and patience He manifests here He has manifested towards us a thousand times. And still He teaches; He bears us and treats us with such loving tenderness. Why do we not learn from Him how to deal with a weak and erring brother?

“But Jesus, having called them to Him, said, Ye know that the rulers of the nations exercise lordship over them, and the great exercise authority over them. It shall not be thus amongst you, but whosoever will be great among you shall be your servant; and whosoever will be first among you, let him be your bondman; as, indeed, the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mat 20:25-28).

The mistake the disputing disciples had made was to think of His Kingdom, like the kingdoms of the nations. He dispels this conception; it would be the very opposite from what it is in the kingdoms of the nations. The greatest in His Kingdom are those who are servants and the bondman is the first. He Himself, the Son of Man, came to serve. Blessed words are these indeed, lowering all that is of self, dethroning pride and ambition, teaching us to let this mind be in us which was in Christ Jesus.

The closing scene of this chapter is the healing of the two blind men. The Lord is departing with His disciples from Jericho, followed by a great multitude, going up to Jerusalem to fulfil all that which was written concerning Him. The incident before us is the beginning of the end and one of the last miracles of healing recorded in this Gospel.

“And as they went out from Jericho a great multitude followed Him. And lo, two blind men, sitting by the wayside, having heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David. But the multitude rebuked them, that they might be silent. But they cried out the more, saying, Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David. And Jesus, having stopped, called them and said, What will ye that I shall do to you? They say to Him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. And Jesus, moved with compassion, touched their eyes, and immediately their eyes had sight restored to them, and they followed Him” (Mat 20:29-34).

We had before a similar miracle in this Gospel. In the ninth chapter, when Jesus departed, two blind men followed Him, and they, too, cried to Him as Son of David, and He touched and healed them (Mat 9:27-31). The miracle there preceded the sending out of the twelve to preach that the kingdom of the heavens is at hand. Here the healing of the two blind men stands at the close of the Galilean ministry and precedes His triumphant entry into Jerusalem.

It has significance in different directions. These two men were witnesses to Him. They cried to Him as Lord and Son of David. When in Caesarea-Philippi He had asked His disciples what men say of Him. The answer showed then that His own knew Him not. None said that He is the Son of David, His messianic title. Before a Gentile, the Canaanitish woman, had called to Him as Lord, Son of David, and He had not answered till she had dropped “Son of David.” There was no confession from the side of the multitudes of Him as Son of David, no appeal to Him as such. This fully shows the condition of the people, the great multitude who had seen Him, beheld His miracles and heard His words. They did not believe on Him as the promised One, the Son of David, the King and Redeemer of Israel. Quite true we read in the next chapter that the multitudes who went before Him and who followed cried, saying: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” But this never came from the heart. It was the temporary enthusiasm of a great multitude of excitable Jews. Soon their cry changes and they say: “This is Jesus the prophet, who is from Nazareth of Galilee!”

While then the great mass of people presses around Him, following Him from Jericho, there comes the voice of the two blind men, moved, no doubt, by the Holy Spirit, and they confess Him as Son of David. Had they cried to Him as Jesus of Nazareth or simply as “Lord” their witness would have not fitted into the scene at all. But as Son of David and Heir to the Throne of David, He was to be presented to Jerusalem, and ere this takes place He has the witness of two witnesses that He is the Son of David. According to the law the testimony of two witnesses was necessary. The Holy Spirit here supplies these in the cry of the two blind men at the wayside. This is the reason why two blind men are mentioned exclusively in the first Gospel, the Jewish Gospel, while Luke and Mark speak of only the one. And so while the Lord is on His way to Jerusalem and no voice from the multitude is heard declaring Him and confessing Him as Son of David, and therefore as the King, a confession from these two sitting in darkness is heard.

That these men had heard of Him is evident, that their chief desire was to be healed is equally certain; and they had faith in Him, that He could do it, but it was the Holy Spirit who put that confession and cry in their hearts and lips: “Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David.” And the multitude rebuked them that they might be silent. Surely this is proof enough of the unbelief and condition of this great company of people following Him. Why should they have rebuked these men, commanding them to be silent, if they had shared the faith of these two? The confession of this Jesus as “Son of David” was obnoxious to the multitude. But they could not be silenced. The Holy Spirit had moved them, and as they are rebuked they cry the more with their solemn witness, “Son of David.”

And full of compassion He touched them, and their sight was restored. We have learned before the typical meaning of healing by touch in this Gospel. Whenever the Lord heals by touch it has reference, dispensationally, to His personal presence on the earth and His merciful dealing with Israel. When He heals by His Word, absent in person, as it is in the case of the Centurian’s servant, and the Canaanitish woman, or if He is touched in faith, it refers to the time when He is absent from the earth, and Gentiles approaching Him in faith are healed by Him.

Now here we have a dispensational foreshadowing, the importance of which should not be overlooked. These two blind men sitting at the wayside, groping in the dark, crying to the Son of David for deliverance, are types of the poor and feeble remnant of Israel in the end of this age, after the testimony of the church for Christ the Son of God by resurrection from the dead, has been finished and the church is no longer upon this scene. That remnant of Israel will cry to Him as Son of David and call upon Him for deliverance. The entrance of Jerusalem, which follows in the next chapter, foreshadows also that coming of the Son of David to Jerusalem, when He comes as King crowned with honor and glory. And as the two blind ones called upon Him when He was on the way to Jerusalem, and He heard and delivered them, so will that remnant of His earthly people seek Him, and in that darkness which precedes His return to Jerusalem cry to the Son of David, without seeing Him in person, though they believe on Him, that He is the promised One. And as the cry of the blind men was the work of the Holy Spirit, so will the seeking, the longing, the prayer of that future remnant be produced by the Spirit of God.

The multitudes which rebuked the two at the wayside and tried to silence them foreshadows that part of the people of Israel, which in that great tribulation remains in unbelief and which hates their own brethren, who are expecting the Coming of the Messiah and cry to him for deliverance. In Isa 66:1-24 we read of this: “Hear the Word of the Lord, ye that tremble at His Word. Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name’s sake, said, Let Jehovah be glorified, and let us see your joy! But they shall be ashamed” (Isa 66:5). Those in Israel, who at the end time tremble at His Word are the godly remnant. They are hated by their own brethren and are cast out. They also mock at them and their expectation; but they shall be ashamed.

The two blind men were healed and followed Him. Their eyes were suddenly opened. So shall the remnant behold Him, and as, no doubt, these two were witnesses of His triumphant entry into Jerusalem and shouted out the Praise and Glory of His name, so will the delivered remnant of Israel sing forth His Praises.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 20:1-10

The Labourers in the Vineyard.

I. This parable is directed against a wrong temper and spirit of mind, which was notably manifested among the Jews, but one against which all men in possession of spiritual privileges have need to be, and herein are, warned; this warning being primarily addressed not to them, but to the Apostles, as the foremost workers in the Christian Church, the earliest called to labour in the Lord’s vineyard, "the first" both in time and in toil and pains. They had seen the rich young man go sorrowful away, unable to abide the proof by which the Lord had mercifully revealed to him how strong were the bands by which the world was holding him still. They (for Peter here, as so often, is spokesman for all) would fain know what their reward should be, who had done this very thing from which he had shrunk, and forsaken all for the Gospel’s sake. The Lord answers them first and fully, that they and as many as should do the same for His sake should reap an abundant reward.

II. But for all this the question, "What shall we have?" was not a right one; it put their relation to their Lord on a wrong footing. There was a tendency in it to bring their obedience to a calculation of—so much work, so much reward. There lurked, too, a certain self-complacency in it. In this parable the Apostles are taught that, however long-continued their work, abundant their labours, yet without charity to their brethren, and humility before God, they are nothing; that pride and a self-complacent estimate of their work, like the fly in the precious ointment, would spoil the work, however great it might be, since that work stands only in humility, and from first they would fall to last. The lesson taught to Peter, and through him to us all, is that the first may be altogether last; that those who stand foremost as chief in labour, yet if they forget that the reward is of grace and not of works, and begin to boast and exalt themselves above their fellow-labourers, may altogether lose the things which they have wrought; while those who seem last may yet, by keeping their humility, be acknowledged first and foremost in the day of God.

R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 168.

References: Mat 20:1-16.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 272; Ibid., Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 183; R. Calderwood, The Parables of our Lord, p. 291; G. Calthrop, Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., pp. 55, 496; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 82; W. Sanday, Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 81; F. T. Hill, Ibid., p. 427; Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. iii., p. 72. Mat 20:3, Mat 20:4.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 114.

Mat 20:6-7

I. If we would hear, surely we might rather say that God calls us, at all times, in all places; by all things, persons, deeds, words; by night and by day, all our lives long, than dare to say for ourselves before God’s all-searching eye: "No man hath heard us." For so it is when persons have heard the first call; everything calls them when the heart is awake; every, the lowest, whisper calls it. The world is one great mirror. As we are who look into it or on it, so it is to us. It gives us back ourselves. It speaks to us the language of our own hearts; our inmost self is the key to all. The heart where God dwelleth is in all things called anew by God. His blessed presence draws it by its sweetness; or His seeming absence may, by the very void, absorb it yet more, by the vehemence of longing, into Himself.

II. He bids us "Go work in My vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you." He promises not to us, as to those first labourers, a certain hire. Even while He would wholly restore us to His mercy He would keep us in the humility of penitents. He seems to tells us thus: that we have forfeited our claim, that we must labour on in faith and hope and confiding trust, making no bargains, as it were, with Him, looking for nothing again but what He of His free bounty will give us. This is our very hope and trust and gladness in our toil, that we labour not with any calculating spirit, or to set up for ourselves any claim with God; the rewards of desert were finite; the reward of grace infinite, even Himself, who hath said, "I am thine exceeding great reward."

III. He calleth thee now: He calleth thee, that in death He may again call thee to place thee near Himself: He calleth thee that He may save thee from the pit where His voice is not heard, to place thee above the stars, with cherubim and seraphim, there to sing everlastingly, "Holy, holy, holy." Such is the hire which God offereth thee. What were it, could Satan offer thee not this earth only, but countless worlds? Things out of God may take thee up; nought but God can fill thee. He calleth thee, "Son, give Me thine heart;" and He will give thee His own all-encompassing, unencompassed love

E. B. Pusey, Sermons for the Church’s Seasons, p. 133.

References: Mat 20:6.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 26; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, The Life of Duty, vol. i., p. 106; J. Keble, Sermons for the Church Year, vol. iii., p. 85. Mat 20:8.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 357. Mat 20:9.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 108. Mat 20:9-11.—Ibid., vol. iv., p. 86. Mat 20:10.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 473; vol. viii., p. 133. Mat 20:11-15.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 105; S. Cox, Expositions, vol. iv., p. 208. Mat 20:15.—A. W. Hare, The Alton Sermons, p. 239; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 77. Mat 20:16.—S. Cox, Expository Essays and Discourses, pp. 239, 251; J. Keble, Sermons for the Christian Year, vol. iii., pp. 1, 10, 21; C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons, vol. i., p. 205. Mat 20:17-28.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 282. Mat 20:17-34.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. iii., p. 81.

Mat 20:20-23

(with Mar 10:35-40)

I. Comparing St. Matthew’s and St. Mark’s accounts, we see that it was the mother and sons together who made the request. It is a homely human picture of ambition—hers for them and herself in them; theirs for themselves though with an eagerness, stimulated it may be by the desire to delight and elevate her. The childlike simplicity with which the request is made, in evident unconsciousness of its deep and solemn connections, is very notable and attractive. They wanted the promise beforehand. They wanted, as it might seem, to surprise Him into granting their request, as a confiding child may seek, half in earnest, half in sport, to entrap a tender and indulgent parent. They knew not what they asked, but there is a charm, there is even something of example, in the freedom of their asking.

II. There is no favouritism, no partiality, no promotion by interest in the kingdom of Christ. There is no caprice in the placing of the highest and lowest in it. The answer to the question, to whom the precedence in the kingdom shall be given, is one and the same with that to the question for whom the kingdom of heaven is prepared. The inheritance belongs to a certain character, so does the precedence; every single citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem has his place prepared for him, not only for what, but by what he is. There is a character now forming amid the turmoil and conflict of this lower world, for which eternal precedence is prepared by the necessary self-executing law of spiritual life in which the will—that is, the character—of the Father of spirits is reflected. The nearest to Christ in His glory will be those who are nearest Him in action and character.

III. This incident as a whole contains no condemnation of ambition. There is an ambition which belongs to the true disciple, which exercises the Christian virtues and does Christ’s work in the world. It is an ambition not for place, but for character. It aspires not to have, but to be; and to be that it may work, that it may serve, that it may impart even of its very self. If it be the case that many of us are wanting in this ambition, if aspiration after the closest possible nearness to Christ, under the sense that nearness means likeness, be almost unknown to us, if we are satisfied with the hope of freedom from suffering and enjoyment of happiness, this will go far to account for the insufficient power of Christianity to leaven society, as well as for the poverty of individual Christian life.

W. Romanes, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, March 2nd, 1882.

Reference: Mat 20:20-28.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 11.

Mat 20:21

(with Luk 9:38)

These are two examples of intercessory prayer. All the principles on which we explain or defend prayer, as the communing in Christ’s spirit of submission, refer also to those prayers which we offer for others.

I. Take first the prayer of Salome for her sons. There were two entirely false conceptions lying at the root of her prayer. (1) She was wrong as to the nature of the kingdom of their Lord. She thought of it as an earthly kingdom, like that of David. (2) She was mistaken, also, as to the principles of Divine election and reward in Christ’s kingdom. She evidently thought that places of high honour—the right and left hand of some real throne—were to be bestowed according to some caprice of favouritism. And her idea of prayer was, that it could win something of this kind from the Lord.

It may have seemed to the mother at the moment as if her prayer had been refused. It was not granted according to her own narrow, fatal estimate of what she desired for her sons. It was granted with a fulness and a power that she did not conceive then, but which may have dawned upon her as, with Mary, she stood beside the cross on Calvary. The opportunity of serving and suffering for Christ was given them. That was the only way the prayer could be granted. St. James was the first Apostle Martyr and St. John the last.

II. There were petitions for others offered to Christ while on earth of a different kind to those which Salome presented for her sons—prayers that were answered and granted by the Lord just as they were prayed.

In that other instance of a parent’s prayer, given in St. Luk 9:38, it was, indeed, for a child to be delivered only from bodily infirmity; but yet as we fondly believe that all Christ’s healing of bodily diseases has a sacramental significance, and points to the deeper healing of the sickness of the soul, we may trust that He will ever thus still answer our prayers for others.

T. T. Shore, Some Difficulties of Belief, p. 61.

Reference: Mat 20:21, Mat 20:22.—F. W. Macdonald, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 200.

Mat 20:22

Even these great Apostles whom, from the ardent glow of their impetuous love, our Lord calls "Sons of Thunder," were, before the descent of the Holy Ghost, deceived in two ways. (1) They thought that our Lord would bestow by favour the glories of His kingdom and nearness to Himself. (2) They were mistaken as to themselves, and their own power to endure that hardness through which they were to enter into eternal bliss. In a word, they knew fully neither their master nor themselves.

I. The last thing in heaven or earth, which man by nature desires to know, is that which most concerns him: himself, his very self. Man will interest himself about all things around him. He will be curious to know the news of the day, what is passing in other countries, or perhaps the works of God, the courses of the stars or of the winds, the history of past ages, the structure of the world or even of the human mind, or the evil of his neighbour. One thing, unless touched by the grace of God, he will not wish to know—nay, he will strive to forget, to bury it amid the knowledge of the things which he knows—the state of his own soul.

II. If we know not ourselves we cannot know God, nor love God, nor become like Him. If we know not what is so nigh to us as our own souls, made in His image, how can we know Him who made them, who made, and who fills heaven and earth? If we understand not the least how can we understand the Infinite?

III. Men think that they know themselves because they are themselves. And yet of others we are all ready to think that they do not know themselves. Surely, if many so saw their own faults as others see them, they would be at more pains, by God’s grace, to subdue them. Thou must examine thyself—not by the examples of those around thee, nor by the maxims of the world; not heeding the praise which men give thee, but by the light of God’s endowments.

E. B. Pusey, Selected Occasional Sermons, p. 61.

References: Mat 20:22.—J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 70; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xvii., p. 18; R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, vol. iii., p. 173.

Mat 20:22-23

Law and Prayer.

To think that nothing can be too good for their children is an amiable weakness few mothers can resist. Salome had heard Christ discourse of a kingdom which He was about to establish. There would be places and preferments at His disposal, and who so lit to possess them as her own sons? A little forwardness in asking might secure a prize, and so she said to Jesus, "Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, the other on the left, in Thy kingdom." Our Lord answers, "To sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of My Father." In other words, our Lord says, "It is Mine to give to these, but it is not Mine to give without regard to the will of My Father; not Mine to give to any who may ask for it, but who have not the proper preparation."

I. From these words of our Lord we get a principle, which the students of physical phenomena are perpetually asserting as though it were their peculiar discovery, that the Almighty has chosen to proceed in His dealings with His creatures according to a regular and uniform order; that He does not break this order, or interfere with this method, or give up His will, simply because a frail foolish mortal may ask Him to do so. The text reveals to us a law or regular method of Divine action, and by consequence that there are things which do not belong to the region of prayer.

II. The question is not of God’s omnipotence, but of His will. The existence of God being granted, every man, whether he be a Christian or not, makes no doubt that God can do whatsoever pleaseth Him. In our ignorance we often make the mistake which was made by Salome, and ask for that which may not be ours. If our ignorance be our misfortune and not our fault, He who looks "with larger, other eyes than ours," to make allowance for us all, will not treat us sternly because we have made a child’s blunder. But when, by one way or another, from the Bible, or from the world around us, we have discovered God’s purpose and will, then we do not ask Him to change it, but to help us to bear or to fulfil it. Until we clearly and distinctly know what God’s good pleasure is concerning us, it remains our soothing and hopeful privilege to tell Him everything, our secret wishes and desires, the things we so much long for.

III. Prayer is not a mere piece of mental machinery for obtaining some temporal advantage for which material appliances are insufficient. The kingdom of heaven is not a mere union-house, from which the idle and the improvident, and indeed all comers, may get a passing relief. Prayer is the communion of the soul with God, its repose upon infinite love. In a new joy as well as in a blinding reverse, in the weariness and rustiness of too often repeated pleasures, in the gnawing dissatisfaction of conscious failure, and on the high places of success, to poor humble people as well as the solitary great ones of earth, there comes the need of prayer and the crying for God: "O God, Thou art my God: early will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee, my flesh also longeth after Thee: in a barren and dry land, where no water is."

W. Page Roberts, Law and God, p. 14.

Mat 20:23

I. These words contain, first, the principle that some will be nearer Christ than others in the heavenly kingdom. The words of our Lord do not merely imply, by the absence of all hint, that these men’s petition was impossible, the existence of degrees among the subjects of His heavenly kingdom, but articulately affirm that such variety is provided for by the preparation of the Father. Does not the very idea of an endless progress in that kingdom involve this variety in degree? We do not think of men passing into the heavens and being perfected by a bound, so that there shall be no growth. And if they each grow through all the ages, and are ever coming nearer and nearer to Christ, that seems necessarily to lead to the thought that this endless progress, carried on in every spirit, places them at different points of approximation to the one centre. "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us," is the law for the incompleteness of earth: "Having then gifts differing according to the glory that is given to us," will be the law for the perfection of the heavens.

II. These words rightly understood assert the truth that Christ is the Giver of each of these various degrees of glory and blessedness. To deny or to doubt that Christ is the Giver of the blessedness, whatsoever the blessedness may be, that fills the hearts and souls of the redeemed, is to destroy His whole work, to destroy all the relations upon which our hopes rest, and to introduce confusion and contradiction into the whole matter. There is nothing within the compass of God’s love to bestow of which Christ is not the Giver. He is the Giver of heaven and everything else which the soul requires.

III. The words lead us to the further thought, that these glorious places are not given to mere wishing, nor by mere arbitrary will. Christ could not, if He would, take a man to His right hand whose heart was not the home of simple trust and thankful love, whose nature and desires were unprepared for that blessed world.

IV. These glorious places are given as the result of a Divine preparation. "To them for whom it is prepared of My Father." There is a twofold Divine preparation of the heavens for men. (1) One is from of old, in the eternal counsel of the Divine love. (2) The other is the realization of that eternal purpose in time through the work of Jesus Christ our Lord.

A. Maclaren, Sermons preached in Manchester, 3rd series, p. 351.

References: Mat 20:24.—F. W. Robertson, The Human Race and Other Sermons, p. 31; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 20. Mat 20:25-27.—J. M. Wilson, Ibid., vol. xxxi., p. 72.

Mat 20:26-28

I. These words have something to tell us of the nature of true greatness. Though Christ does not ignore intellects, or even riches, He yet regards these things, and all things like these, as but instruments; and he is, in the gospel sense of the word, the greatest who uses all such gifts or possessions in the service of mankind. If this view of the case be correct, one or two inferences of importance follow from it. (1) It is evident that he who wins this greatness does not win it at the expense of others. (2) It follows, further, that we may win this greatness anywhere. (3) It follows, thirdly, that this greatness is satisfying to its possessor.

II. The text has something to say to us, in the next place, about the model of true greatness. "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." In one point of view the greatness of God is that of service. All things depend on Him. He holds the planets in their orbits. He rules the changing year. The highest of all is the servant of all. But striking as the nobleness and the divinity of service appear, when we look thus at the universal ministry of God, we have a more impressive illustration of the same thing in the mission and work of the Lord Jesus. In creation and providence God lays nothing aside. But in redemption it was different. To deliver man from the guilt and power of sin it was needed that the Son of God should become a man, and, after a life of obedience, should submit to a death of shame; and there was sacrifice. When that was done Jehovah rendered the highest service to humanity and gave a pattern of the loftiest greatness.

III. This text has something to say to us about the motive to true greatness. We are to seek it for the sake of Him who gave Himself for us. Jesus does not say in so many words, "Serve one another, because I have served you;" but still the reference which He makes to His death, as an example, brings before every Christian’s mind the magnitude of the obligation under which Christ has laid him.

W. M. Taylor, Contrary Winds and Other Sermons, p. 215:

Mat 20:27

I. The answer of our Lord is entirely at variance with the law of the children of this world. Greatness in this world is universally sought by exalting a man’s self; more wealth, more power, more esteem among men, a grander display and more profuse luxuries—these are landmarks in the world’s path to greatness. And no wonder, for the world is naturally selfish, and all its practice, however varnished over by civilization and religion, is but refined selfishness still. It is not only unwittingly that the world acts counter to our Saviour’s rule, but deliberately and habitually.

II. "Even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister," etc. This example is of immense importance. If it had not existed, it might have been said, The rule is metaphorical, to be understood figuratively; it means that a humble spirit is the way to advancement in Christ’s kingdom, not that any outward conduct showing humiliation is required. Jesus Christ would be chief among us, and He became our servant. Ye who are ambitious look upon Him, He recognises your upward impulse. It is a noble endeavour, to rise. Eminence is a legitimate object; "forward," a watchword worthy of the Christian soldier. But let it be well understood what this eminence is; towards what this forward endeavour is to be directed. The Saviour of sinners is your pattern. Like that Saviour become a servant.

III. Let it be with each of us a subject of serious inquiry whether our religion will stand this test; whether we are making ourselves the servants of others for their good, after the pattern of Christ, or are spending our labours in self-advancement. To become the servants of all, for their temporal and spiritual welfare, may be accounted worldly folly, but it will be heavenly wisdom. And when the world has passed away and man’s final state arrives, our object will not have passed, but will then be first gained: to reach Him after whom we have been striving, to awake up after His long-sought likeness, and be satisfied.

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. i., p. 51.

Mat 20:28

The Meekness of God.

Here is a text that speaks home at once and with ease. It runs on our levels; it speaks in a language understood of all.

I. Everyone knows the arrogance and the insolence of the kings of the Gentiles who exercise lordship over their fellows. And it is in delightful and enticing contrast to this that we turn to greet, with heart and soul, the sweet coming of Him, the human-hearted, the tender Master of all loving-kindness, and all patience, and all goodness, and all long-suffering—the Son of Man. The Son of Man came to minister. He had seen an opportunity of giving, of helping, and so He came.

II. Of giving what? Himself. His service was to be utterly unstinted. He would go the whole length with it. He saw that we should demand from Him all that He had; that we should use up His very life; that we should never let Him stop, or stay, or rest, while we saw a chance of draining His succouring stores. And yet He came; even His life He would lay down for our profit. He came as the good Giver, as the Shepherd who giveth His life for the sheep.

III. And it is this, His character, which draws us under the sway of His gracious lordship. This is the allurement of Christ, by which His sheep are drawn after His feet; how can they resist the call of One who serves them so loyally? Every sound of His voice has in it the ring of that true-hearted devotion which would lay down life itself to save them from harm. And yet it is just this winning charm of which we miss often the true force. For do we not associate it entirely with what we call the humanity of the Lord? But that winning grace has in it the potency of God Himself. It is the manifestation of the Word, the revelation of what God is in Himself. If Jesus, the Man, is tender and meek, then God, the Word, is meek and tender; God, the Word, is sympathetic, and gentle, and humble, and forgiving, and loyal, and loving, and true. It is God, the Word, who cannot restrain Himself for love of us, and comes with overwhelming compassion to seek and save the lost; God, the Eternal Word, who longs to win the heart of publican and sinner. The Son of Man is the Son of God; and, therefore, we know and thank God for it, that it is the blessed nature of the Son Himself, in His eternal substance, which found its true and congenial delight in coming, not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

H. Scott Holland, Logic and Life, p. 227.

References: Mat 20:28.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 181; J. Davies, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 317; W. G. Blaikie, Glimpses of the Inner Life of our Lord, p. 97; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 42, Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xix., p. 210; A. Scott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvii., p. 339; Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 27; W. H. Murray, The Fruits of the Spirit, p. 441.

Mat 20:31

(with Luk 19:3; Mar 2:4; Luk 8:45)

Crowds around Christ. Crowds gathered daily around Jesus Christ. He was thronged, pressed, almost persecuted, by the ever-accumulating multitudes. It is evident that this was not always, if it was ever, an advantage. The crowd was rather hindersome than helpful.

I. What of the crowds around Jesus Christ today? Who are they, and what is their social effect? There is a crowd (1) of nominal followers; (2) of bigots; (3) of controversialists; (4) of ceremonialists.

II. See how difficult it is for a simple-minded and earnest inquirer to find his way to Jesus Christ through such throngs. (1) As a question of mere time, they make it difficult. (2) They distract the inquirer’s thoughts. (3) They chill the inquirer’s ove.

III. Against this set the glorious fact that there is no crowd, how dense or turbulent soever, through which an earnest inquirer may not find his way. There is a way to the Master—seek and thou shalt find; the Master, not the crowd, must redeem and pardon the sons of men.

Parker, City Temple, vol. i., p. 193.

Reference: Mat 20:31.—W. F. Hook, Sermons on the Miracles, vol. ii., p. 194.

Mat 20:32

The narrative, of which these words form a part, tends to illustrate in a remarkable manner the nature of true prayer; and to show us His mind respecting it, to whom or through whom all Christian prayer is made.

I. "What will ye that I should do unto you?" The question was asked for a twofold reason. Christ will have the suppliant in prayer aware of the depth and the nature of his own need; and He will have the same suppliant grasp by faith the power and will to grant his prayer which reside in Him to whom he addresses it. To them who never seek Him, or seek Him but little, His power seems but an idea; but to them that seek Him daily, and commune with Him without ceasing in the craving language of the asking heart, His power is a great stream of strength flowing into them—secret, but well recognized; calm, but mighty, supplying their empty places and fortifying all the accesses of sin; and His love is the constant watchful tenderness of a Friend who knows the depth of their wants—a bright face ever bent over them, full of fatherly pity and of unfathomable wisdom. And in order to this real and definite sense of God’s daily power and love in answering prayer, prayer must be a real and definite thing also.

II. If we would pray aright we must live in the constant habit of self-examination. We must also know Him with whom we have to do. We pray to, not a God of the imagination, not a God whose being and attributes we have reasoned out for ourselves, but a manifested God. When the Christian says, "Have mercy on us, miserable sinners," he expresses not only the heavy burden of his own heart in the description of himself, but the reliance of his faith on Him that died for him and is now at the right hand of God in His nature, exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and forgiveness of sins. If then we would pray aright, we must know Christ with a personal and appropriating faith. When the Lord says, "What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?" the longing after more of His likeness, the yearnings of our hearts for holiness and love and truth, these will be the eager and ready reply; and no such prayer shall be sent up without fetching down the gracious answer, "According to your faith, so be it done unto you."

H. Alford, Quebec Chapel Sermons, vol. ii., p. 146.

References: Mat 21:1-9.—J. Vaughan, Children’s Sermons, vol. ii., p. 18. Mat 21:1-11.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., pp. 242, 471. Mat 21:1-13.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 287. Mat 21:1-16.—Parker, Inner Life of Christ, vol. iii., p. 90. Mat 21:1-17.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 263.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 16

THE HIRED LABORERS

Mat 20:1-16. “For the kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man who is a landlord, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.” The Jews counted the diurnal hours from six o’clock the year around. Hence this was the hour at which he hired the first lot. “And agreeing with the laborers for a denarion per day, he sent them into his vineyard.” “A penny a day,” E. V., is misleading, as alenation does not mean a penny, being a Roman coin, corresponding to the Grecian drachma, with no synonym nor equivalent coin in our currency. It was worth fifteen cents, and equivalent to about one dollar in our time and currency, as money at that time was worth about seven or eight times as much as it is now, because of its scarcity, the paucity of people, and the great productiveness of the earth. So these people received good wages.

“And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing idle in the market-place, and said unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard, and I will give you whatsoever may be right. And they departed.” This lot were hired at nine o’clock, the first having been laboring three hours. “And again going out, about the sixth and ninth hour, he did likewise.” So you see that he hired another group at twelve, and still another at three, and sent them into his vineyard. “And about the eleventh hour, having gone out, he found others standing, and says to them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say to him, Because no one hired us. He says to them, Go ye also into the vineyard. And it being evening, the lord of the vineyard says to his steward, Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last until the first. And those having come about the eleventh hour, received each one a denarion. And the first having come, thought that they shall receive more; and they also received each one a denarion. But having received it, they began to murmur against the landlord, saying, These last wrought one hour, and thou didst make them equal unto us bearing the burden and heat of the day. And he, responding, said to one of them, Comrade, I do thee no wrong; didst thou not agree with me for a denarion?

Take thine own and go. But I wish to give unto this last one as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do that which I wish with mine own? Is thine eye evil because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.”

This last statement, which is quite axiomatic, referring to the call of the Gentiles and the final conversion of the Jews, is only a single item in this grand and comprehensive parable, which really applies to all the people, in all ages, who ever have or ever will hear the call of gospel grace. “For many are called, but few elected.” While this statement really follows as a logical sequence from the entire parable, it is a very comprehensive epitome.

a. The denorion here is a formal stipulation of wages, being a logical item in such a business transaction, and a necessary constituent. As to the times at which the five different lots were hired, you must recognize the fact that they did not arrive in the market-place previously to those respective hours; e.g., those hired at twelve, three, and five o’clock, not having been on hand when their predecessors were called, had no offer nor opportunity. Therefore this parable can not be used as an apology for people in gospel lands who hear the gospel all their lives, but willingly and overtly procrastinate, thus grieving away the Holy Spirit. It applies to heathen, and all others, who do not receive the gospel till late at night.

b. Now, we see at the conclusion of the day, the steward — i.e., the Holy Spirit calls all of the laborers, and pays them their hire. Of course, the denarion was the mere stipulation, occupying its place as a constituency of the business transaction. But what is the misthos, “hire?” This is what we all receive in the finale of probationary life, and is so variant and comprehensive in its adaptation to the infinite diversity of the countless millions who, in some mysterious way, will move on and finally get to heaven, that we may safely conclude the misthos — i.e., reward of all the laborers — is God Himself.

c. This parable teaches the unity of salvation, all alike receiving the denarion, which is a mere representation of the misthos — i, e., the rewards which they will get through the denarion. Does not this prove that all are equal in heaven? We certainly must answer in the negative. Heaven is a place of endless diversity, like this world (1 Corinthians 15), differing either from other, “as one star differeth from another.” This misthos, which we all receive, is God Himself, who of course is a Unit, yet He is infinite and inexhaustible. Now, while in eternity we all receive God for our reward, yet there is an infinite diversity of capacity on the part of humanity for this reception. Therefore we all receive God to our utmost capacity, which is by no means a constant quantity, but will increase through the flight of eternal ages, as God is everything to every immortal, intelligent spirit which that spirit is competent to receive. Hence you see the unity of the reward is in perfect harmony with the infinite diversity, as we see revealed in the parables of the pounds and the talents.

d. But what about those murmurers? They are easily explained. Of course, murmuring is sin, and the idea of people in heaven murmuring against God is revolting to contemplate. You find the solution of the mystery in file concluding statement, “Many are called, but few elected.” This reveals the whole secret. “Chosen,” E. V., is eklektoi, from ek, “out of,” and lego, “to select.” Hence it means the elect. Now, the plain solution in reference to the murmurers is the simple fact that they heard the call, but were never elected.

Consequently they never got into the kingdom. We are “elected through sanctification of the Spirit.” (1Pe 1:2.)

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:1-16 This parable is similar to the parable of the Lost Son (Luke 15:11-32). In both, God’s grace is shown to two parties while one grumbles about unjust treatment.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mat 20:1. Γάρ, for) referring to the last verse of the preceding chapter. There is a similar connection of a parable with what immediately Preceded it, in ch. Mat 18:23. Peter is taught to be more diffident in asking questions (cf. ch. Mat 19:27), and in comparing himself with others; cf. Luk 17:5; Luk 17:10, where we see that they think more rightly who consider themselves as unprofitable servants, than they who consider themselves better than others.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_20:1. The parable is peculiar to Matthew.

γάρ] explaining and confirming what has been said in Mat_19:30.

ἀνθρ. οἰκοδ.] See notes on Mat_13:24, Mat_18:23.

ἅμα πρωΐ] Comp. notes on Mat_13:29, Act_28:23 : ἀπὸ πρωΐ. Classical writers would say: ἅμα ἕῳ, ἅμα τῇ ἡμέρᾳ, ἅιμα ὄρθρῳ, and such like.

εἰς τὸν ἀμπελ. αὐτοῦ] into his vineyard, into which he wished to send them, Mat_20:2. Comp. Act_7:9; and see, in general, Wilke, Rhetor, p. 47 f.

On the whole parable, see Rupprecht in the Stud. u. Krit. 1847, p. 396 ff.; Steffensen, ibid. 1848, p. 686 ff.; Besser in the Luther. Zeitschr. 1851, p. 122; Rudel, ibid. p. 511; Münchmeyer, ibid. p. 728. For proof that it is not to be regarded as furnishing directions for the regulation of offices, see Köstlin, d. Wesen d. Kirche, 1854, p. 52 ff.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 20:1-16 . Parable of the hours , peculiar to Mt., and, whatever its real connection as spoken by Jesus, to be interpreted in relation to its setting as here given, which is not impossible. The parable is brought in as illustrating the aphorism in Mat 19:30 .

Mat 20:1 . ὁμοία γὰρ etc.: γὰρ points back to previous sentence about first-lasts and last-firsts. ἀνθ . οἰκοδ .: vide Mat 13:52 . ἅμα πρωῒ : at early dawn (similar use of ἅμα in classics), at the beginning of the day, which was reckoned from six to six. μισθώσασθαι : hiring has a prominent place in this parable, at the first, third, sixth, ninth, eleventh hour. Why so many servants wanted that day? This feature obtains natural probability by conceiving that it is the season of grape-gathering, which must be done at the proper time and promptly; the more hands the better (Koetsveld, De Gelijk. ).

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chap.

20:1-16.] Parable of the labourers in the vineyard. Peculiar to Matthew. In interpreting this difficult parable, we must first carefully observe its occasion and connexion. It is bound by the γάρ to the conclusion of chap. 19, and arose out of the question of Peter in ver. 27, τί ἄρα ἔσται ἡμῖν; (1) Its ‘punctum saliens’ is, that the Kingdom of God is of grace, not of debt; that they who were called first, and have laboured longest, have no more claim upon God than those who were called last: but that to all, His covenant promise shall be fulfilled in its integrity. (2) Its primary application is to the Apostles, who had asked the question. They were not to be of such a spirit, as to imagine, with the murmurers in ver. 11, that they should have something supereminent (because they were called first, and had laboured longest) above those who in their own time were to be afterward called (see 1Co 15:8-11). (3) Its secondary applications are to all those to whom such a comparison, of first and last called, will apply:—nationally, to the Jews, who were first called, and with a definite covenant, and the Heathens who came in afterwards, and on a covenant, though really made (see Jer 31:33: Zec 8:8: Heb 8:10), yet not so open and prominent;—individually, to those whose call has been in early life, and who have spent their days in God’s active service, and those who have been summoned later; and to various other classes and persons between whom comparison, not only of time, but of advantages, talents, or any other distinguishing characteristic, can be made: that none of the first of these can boast themselves over the others, nor look for higher place and greater reward, inasmuch as there is but one “gift” of God according to the covenant of grace. And the “first” of these are to see that they do not by pride and self-righteousness become the “last,” or worse—be rejected, as nationally were the Jews; for among the many that are called, there are few chosen—many who will fail of the reward in the end. (4) In subordination to this leading idea and warning of the parable must the circumstances brought before us be interpreted. The day and its hours are not any fixed time, such as the duration of the world, or our Lord’s life on earth, or the life of man, exclusively: but the natural period of earthly work as applied to the various meanings of which the parable is capable. The various times of hiring are not to be pressed as each having an exclusive meaning in each interpretation: they serve to spread the calling over the various periods, and to shew that it is again and again made. They are the quarters of the natural day, when the aliquot parts of the day’s wages could be earned, and therefore labourers would be waiting. The last of these is inserted for a special purpose, and belongs more expressly to the instruction of the parable. (5) The μισθος bears an important part in the interpretation. I cannot with Stier (whose comment on this parable I think much inferior to his usual remarks) suppose it to mean “the promise of this life” attached to godliness. His anxiety to escape from the danger of eternal life being matter of wages, has here misled him. But there is no such danger in the interpretation of the parable which I believe to be the true one. The μισθός is the promise of the covenant, uniformly represented by our Lord and His Apostles as a ‘reward,’ Mat 5:12: Luk 6:35; Luk 14:14: Joh 4:36: 1Co 3:14: 2Jn 1:8: Heb 10:35; 11:6 ., reckoned indeed of free grace; but still, forensically considered, answering to, and represented by, ‘wages,’ as claimed under God’s covenant with man in Christ. (The freeness and sovereignty of God’s gift of grace is pointedly set before us in ver. 14, θέλω δὲ τού. τ. ἐσχ. δοῦναι.…) This μισθός I believe then to be eternal life, or, in other words, God Himself (Joh 17:3). And this, rightly understood, will keep us from the error of supposing, that the parable involves a declaration that all who are saved will be in an absolute equality. This gift is, and will be, to each man, as he is prepared to receive it. To the envious and murmurers, it will be as the fruit that turned to ashes in the mouth; by their own unchristian spirit they will “lose the things that they have wrought” (2Jn 1:8), and their reward will be null: in other words, they will, as the spiritual verity necessitates, not enter into that life to which they were called. God’s covenant is fulfilled to them—they have received their denarius—but, from the essential nature of the μισθός, are disqualified from enjoying its use: for as Gregory the Great remarks (Hom. 19 in Evv., p. 1512) ‘cœlorum regnum nullus murmurans accipit: nullus qui accipit murmurare poterit.’ To those who have known and loved God, it will be, to each as he has advanced in the spiritual life, joy unspeakable and full of glory. (In the 2nd edn. of the Reden Jesu (p. 299, note), Stier has even more emphatically declared himself in favour of his former view, and that with reference to my note; wenn auch Alford mir widerspricht und meine Eregese hier “much inferior to his usual remarks” nennt, so muss ich erwarten, ob oielleicht die zweite Auflage mit ihren genaueren Beziehungen ihn beffer uberzeugt. But after carefully weighing the whole, I am quite unable to accede to his view; indeed I feel more repugnance to it than ever. The “promise of the life that now is” seems to me wholly beneath the dignity of the parable, and in his explanation he appears painfully to feel it so. The text above quoted, 2Jn 1:8, seems to me to furnish the key to the parable, and to have been written with reference to it: and there no one surely could interpret μισθός otherwise than of the μισθὸς ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς of our ch. 5.)

1. ἅμα πρωΐ] see Jer 35:14, and other places.

ἐργάτας] in the primary meanings of the parable, ‘apostles, prophets, ministers:’ distinct from the vines in the vineyard. But inasmuch as every workman is himself subject to the treatment of the husbandman (see Joh 15:1, Joh 15:2), and every man in the Kingdom of God is in some sense or other a worker on the rest, the distinction is not to be pressed—the parable ranges over both comparisons.

ἀμπελῶνα]not the Jewish church only, as Greswell, Parables, iv. 355 ff., maintains. The Jewish Church was God’s vineyard especially and typically; His Church in all ages is His true vineyard, see Joh 15:1.

Our language admits of the idiom εἰς τὸν ἀμ. αὐ. being exactly rendered—into his vineyard, E. V.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

20:1-16. “For the kingdom of the heavens is like to a man, a householder,” i.e. in the preparation for the kingdom, God deals with His servants as a householder does with his hired labourers, who pays them each and all the stipulated wage. Just so God when the kingdom comes will give to all who enter His service the eternal life which He has promised to them. The parable, as originally spoken, can hardly have had any other object than that of warning Christ’s first disciples, that others who should become His disciples at a later date would also be partakers of privileges equal to theirs who had first joined Him (cf, Gal 2:6) The statement that the payment of wages began with the last hired, is a literary device to account for and to emphasise the dissatisfaction of the first hired labourers. The editor has been led by this feature to insert the parable here as an explanation of Mk.’s difficult v. 31. The first called will be as the last called, because all alike will receive an equal reward. A somewhat similar question is solved on parallel lines in 2 Es 5:41, 42. God has made promises of love to His people: “And I said, O Lord, Thou hast made the promise unto them that be in the end: and what shall they do that have been before us, or we, or they that shall come after us? And He said unto me, I will liken My judgement unto a ring: like as there is no slackness of them that be last, even so there shall be no swiftness of them that be first.” Cf. also Apoc. Bar 30:2 “the first will rejoice, and the last will not be grieved.” This does not, however, exclude the thought of differences of position in the kingdom; cf. 19:28.

(L)

1. For the kingdom of the heavens is like—for the formula, cf. on 11:16, 13:24—to a householder, —cf. 13:52, —who went out early—“the time of working,” says the Babyl. Talmud (Bab. Mez 832), “is from sunrise”—to hire labourers into his vineyard.] For the earthly estate owner as contrasted with God, see the parable from the Mechilta, cited by Fiebig, Altjüdische Gleichnisse Jesu, 69. For a somewhat similar parable, with, however; a very different application, see Jer. Talm. Berakhoth 5:3 quoted by Lightfoot.—μισθώσασθαι ἐργάτας] misses the ring of the original לאנורי אנירי; cf. Bab. Mez 76b.

(L)

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

God is bound to no man, and therefore he calleth whomsoever and whensoever he listeth. This only every man ought to take heed of, and hereupon bestow his whole endeavor, that he go forward and come to the mark without all stopping or staggering, and not curiously to examine other men’s doings, or the judgments of God.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

CHAPTER XX.

The similitude of the householder hiring labourers into his

vineyard, to show that the Gentiles should be preferred to the

Jews, according to what was hinted at the close of the last

chapter, 1-16.

On the way going up to Jerusalem he predicts his sufferings and

death, 17-19.

The mother of Zebedee's children requests dignities for her

sons, 20, 21.

Christ, by his answer, shows that sufferings, not worldly

honours, are to be the lot of his most faithful followers, and

that seats in glory can be given only to those who are prepared

for them, 22, 23.

From this our Lord takes occasion to teach the necessity of

humility, and to show that those who wished to be chief must be

servants of all, 24-28.

On his coming to Jericho, he restores sight to two blind men,

who, being restored, follow him, 29-34.

NOTES ON CHAP. XX.

Verse 1. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man - a householder] The very commencement of this chapter shows it to be connected with the preceding. The manner of God's proceeding under the Gospel dispensation resembles a householder, who went out at day break, αμα πρωι, together with the morning; as the light began to go out of its chambers in the east, so he went out of his bed-room to employ labourers, that they might cultivate his vineyard. This was what was called, among the Jews and Romans, the first hour; answering to six o'clock in the morning.

To hire labourers] Some workmen, των εργατων - for he had not got all that was necessary, because we find him going out at other hours to hire more.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

XX.

(1) For the kingdom.—The division of the chapter is here singularly unfortunate, as separating the parable both from the events which gave occasion to it and from the teaching which it illustrates. It is not too much to say that we can scarcely understand it at all unless we connect it with the history of the young ruler who had great possessions, and the claims which the disciples had made for themselves when they contrasted their readiness with his reluctance.

To hire labourers into his vineyard.—The framework of the parable brings before us a form of labour in some respects lower than that of the “servants,” or “slaves,” who formed part of the household, and had been bought or born to their position. The labourers here are the “hired servants” of Luk_15:17, engaged for a time only, and paid by the day. Interpreting the parable, we may see in the householder our Lord Himself. It was indeed a title which He seems to have, as it were, delighted in, and which He applies directly to Himself in Mat_10:25; Mat_13:27; Mat_13:52. And the “vineyard” is primarily, as in Isa_5:1, the house of Israel, which the Anointed of the Lord had come to claim as His kingdom. The “early morning” answered accordingly to the beginning of our Lord’s ministry; the “labourers” He then called were the disciples whom, at the outset of His ministry, He had summoned to follow Him. He had promised them a reward. Though at the best they were unprofitable servants, He yet offered them wages, and the wages were the kingdom of heaven itself (Mat_5:3; Mat_5:10); in other words, “righteousness, and peace, and joy;” in other words, yet again, “eternal life, seeing and knowing God” (Mat_5:8; Joh_17:3). We may trace, I believe, something of a subtle and peculiar fitness in our Lord’s choice of this form of labour, as distinct, on the one side, from free and willing service, and, on the other, from the task-work of slaves. It was not in itself the best or most adequate symbol of the relation of the disciples to their Lord, but as their question, “What shall we have, therefore?” implies, it was that on which their minds were dwelling, and therefore He chose it, adapting Himself so far to their weakness, that He might teach them the lesson which they needed.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.

Ver. 1. For the kingdom of heaven, &c.] That last sentence Christ further illustrateth and enforceth by this following parable. Peter and the rest were in danger to be puffed up with the pre-conceit of their abundant reward promised, Mat 19:28-29. This to prevent, and that they might not stand upon their terms and tip-toes, they are again and again given to know, that "many that are first shall be last, and last first."

Which went out early in the morning] "God is found of them that seek him not," Isa 65:1; "Yea, the Father seeketh such to worship him," Joh 4:23; he soliciteth suitors and servants. A wonderful condescension it is, that he looketh out of himself upon the saints and angels in heaven, Psa 113:6. How much more upon us poor earthworms!

Labourers into his vineyard] Not loiterers. Jacob saw the angels, some ascending, others descending, none standing still. God hath made Behemoth to play in the waters, not so men; they must be doing, that will keep in with God.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For the kingdom of heaven ... - The word “for” shows that this chapter should have been connected with the preceding. The parable was spoken expressly to illustrate the sentiment in the last verse of that chapter: “Many that are first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” The kingdom of heaven means here the church, including, perhaps, its state here and hereafter. See the notes at Mat 3:2. It has reference to rewards, and the meaning may be thus expressed: “Rewards shall be bestowed in my kingdom, or on my followers, in the same manner as they were by a certain householder - in such a way that the last shall be equal to the first, and the first last.”

A householder - A master of a family. One at the head of family affairs.

His vineyard - No inconsiderable part of Judea was employed in the culture of the grape. Vineyards are often used, therefore, to represent a fertile or well-cultivated place, and hence the church, denoting the care and culture that God has bestowed on it. See the notes at Isa 5:7. Compare Jer 12:10. For the manner of their construction, see the notes at Mat 21:33.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For the kingdom. The participle for, is found in the Greek, and connects the present parable with the last verse of the preceding chapter: indeed it is a comment on that text, and describes to us the gospel dispensation. Thus the conduct of God in the choice he makes of members for his spiritual kingdom, the Church, and of his elect for the kingdom of heaven, is not unlike that of the father of a family, who hires workmen to labour in his vineyard. There are various opinions respecting who are meant by the first, and by the last, in this parable. Many of the fathers suppose that the saints of different states and degrees are here designed, whose reward will suffer no diminution from the circumstances of their having come to the service of Christ at a late age of the world, according to Sts. Hilary, Gregory, and Theophylactus; or, at a late age of life, according to Sts. Basil, Jerome, and Fulgentius. In the latter case, however, we must understand that their greater fervour in co-operating with divine grace, in the latter part of their life, has supplied and compensated for the defect of their preceding negligence; hence it may sometimes happen that the reward of such as enter late in life on the service of God, will exceed that of the less fervent who have entered at an earlier period. But as Christ rather seems to speak here of his militant than his triumphant Church, many commentators explain the parable of the Jews and Gentiles. For the Jews, after bearing the yoke of the Mosaic law for so many ages, received nothing more than what was promised to the observance of that law; whilst Christians receive a more plentiful reward for their more easy labour under the sweet yoke of the gospel. In which sense Christ says to the Jews, Luke xiii. 29: Publicans and harlots shall go before you into the kingdom of heaven. "And, strangers shall come from the east, and from the west, and the north, and the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God. And behold they are last that shall be first, and they are first that shall be last." (Luke xiii. 30.) --- Hence the Jews may be supposed to murmur, that they who are first in their vocation to be the people of God, and first in the observance of his law, should not be preferred to others, who in these respects have been far posterior to them. (Tirinus) --- By the vineyard, says St. John Chrysostom, we here understand, the commandments of God. The time for labour is the present life. In the first, third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours, i.e. in infancy, youth, manhood, declining years, and extreme decrepitude of age, many individuals, yielding to the effective call of God, labour in the exact performance of the divine commandments. (Hom. lxv.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

We find this parable only recorded by St. Matthew; nor have any thing to guide us in understanding the scope of our Saviour in it, but Act 20:16, So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Some here by first understand such as are of greatest repute and estimation in the world, or who have the highest opinion of themselves. By last they understand persons who are of meaner note and reckoning in the world, and have lowest opinion of themselves. The former shall be last as to the love and favour of God, and any reward from him; and the other shall be first. Others by the first understand the Jews, who were the first people God had in the world, and more dignified than any other by privileges: by the last, the Gentiles, who came last into the church of God. This seems to be directly intended by our Saviour, who perfectly knew the pride and invidious temper of the Jews, who valued themselves upon their prerogative, that they were the church of God, when the world lay in wickedness; and were apt to resent as an indignity that the Gentiles should be called into the church, and be made equally partakers of spiritual privileges with them. Having now fixed the scope of the parable, the interpretation is easy.

The kingdom of heaven, that is, the sovereign dispensation of God in calling nations or persons to partake of spiritual benefits in his church, and consequently of eternal blessedness, is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. The householder is God the Father, compared by Christ to a husbandman, with respect to the culture of vines, Joh 15:1; to one that hath a vineyard, Isa 5:1,2 &c. The vineyard is the church. The work is that which concerns eternal salvation, both of our own salvation, and of others that are committed to our charge, or that are within the compass of our activity to do them spiritual good. The labourers are, eminently, persons in office, and, generally, all that are called by the gospel. The hiring of them imports the gracious promise of the reward published in the gospel to those who will work. The penny is the reward, comprehensive of the spiritual privileges that persons in the church are made partakers of. Men standing idle in the marketplace, signifies their neglect of the great and proper work for which they came into the world, to glorify God and save their souls. His going out at several times, and calling in some to the vineyard at the third, sixth, and ninth hours, implies the calling of the Jews in the early age of the world, and his sending the prophets in sundry times, when they were degenerated, to return to his service. The calling some at the eleventh hour particularly respects the bringing in the Gentiles by preaching the gospel, who before were without the knowledge of God and the way to life. The even is the time of accounts and recompence. The murmuring of some that they received no more than those that came later into the vineyard, primarily and immediately signifies the envy and vexation of the Jews, that the Gentiles should be equal partakers of the grace of God with themselves, who for so many ages had been his peculiar people. The householder’s vindicating himself is from two considerations, wherein it appears that his liberality to some is perfectly consistent with his justice to all.

1. That he agreed with them for a penny, which they received: the Jews enjoyed those external privileges of God’s covenant, which they so much valued themselves for, till they cut themselves off by their obstinate rejecting his grace.

2. That he might do what he pleased with his own. He was master of his own favours, and it was malignity to tax his bounty to others, which was nothing prejudicial to what was due by agreement to them. Our Saviour concludes the parable, that the last shall be first; the Gentiles shall be made partakers of the gospel, with the blessed privileges attending it: and the first shall be last; that is, the Jews should deprived of those privileges.

And analogically in every age, some who are first, in presumption of their own merit, in profession, and reputation, but not in real holiness, shall be last in God’s account; and those who were sincere and diligent in the Christian calling, though not valued by the world, shall be preferred before them.

For many be called, but few chosen. This is the reason of what is said before. Many are called by the external preaching of the word into the visible communion of the church; this is the evident meaning by the reading of the parable, wherein it is said persons were called at several hours, comprehending the ministry of the prophets and the apostles, and all the succession of preachers in every age.

And few chosen; that is, by the free and unchangeable decree of God ordained to eternal life, and to partake of saving grace in order to the obtaining it. This is the main scope of the parable.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Labourers in the Vineyard. The Journey to Jerusalem

1-16, Parable of the labourers in the vineyard (peculiar to St. Matthew). This difficult parable is closely linked with what goes before, and can only be understood in connexion with it. It rebukes the spirit of Peter's enquiry (Mat_19:27), 'We have left all and followed thee; what then shall we have?' The Twelve through Peter had demanded a superlatively great reward, because they had been called first and had laboured longest. Such a reward had been promised them, should they prove worthy of it (Mat_19:28) though at the same time it was darkly hinted, that some outside the apostolic circle would prove in the end more worthy than some of the apostles (Mat_19:30). Then follows the parable. It is a serjqaon on the text, 'But many shall be last that are first, and first that are last,' which opens (Mat_19:30) and closes it (Mat_20:16). It is addressed primarily to the apostles. It teaches them that great as their merit and their reward undoubtedly are, there will perhaps be others whose merit and reward will be equal or even greater. Thus St. Stephen (not an apostle) was the first to gain the martyr's crown, St. Paul laboured 'more abundantly than they all,' Barnabas and James the Lord's brother ranked with the leading apostles, and many great names in the subsequent history of the Church—Athanasius, Augustine, Jerome, Charlemagne, Alfred the Great, St. Louis—have completely eclipsed the fame of the more obscure apostles. The apostles are warned not to be jealous of the attainments and rewards of other followers of Christ, but to do their own work single-heartedly, and to leave the recompense to God. Another important lesson is taught by the identity of the recompense paid to the various groups of labourers. They all receive the same coin, a denarius, which at this time was regarded as a liberal, but not unusual day's pay (Tob_5:14). This does not necessarily signify that there will be no degrees of rank or blessedness in heaven, but it does signify that such degrees, if they exist, will be relatively unimportant. The supreme reward of all, to see God as He is in His unveiled splendour, will be enjoyed by all who are faithful to the end, and those who have this will care little what else they have or have not.

(a) Among the numerous conflicting interpretations of this parable, the following are the most noteworthy. (1) Calvin: a warning not to be over-confident because we have begun our Christian course well. (2) St. Irenaeus: the various bands of labourers are the OT. saints; those last called are the apostles. (3) Greswell: the labourers first called are the Jews; those last called, the Gentiles. (4) St. Chrysostom: it refers to the periods of men's lives at which they begin to serve God. Some begin in infancy, others in youth, others in manhood, others in old age. It encourages those who have entered late on God's service, to labour heartily. (b) The following interesting parallel is taken from the Talmud. 'To what was Rabbi Bon like? He was like to a king who hired many labourers, among whom there was one who performed his work extraordinarily well. So the king took him aside, and walked with him to and fro. And when evening was come, those labourers came, and he gave him a complete hire with the rest. And the labourers murmured saying, “We have laboured hard all day, and this man only two hours, yet he hath received as much wages as we.” But the king said to them, “He hath laboured more in those two hours than you in the whole day.” So Babbi Bon plied the Law more in twenty-eight years, than another in one hundred years.'

15. Is thine eye evil?] i.e. Art thou jealous, because I am generous?

16. For many be called, but few chosen] These words are omitted by the RV, probably rightly. If retained, they are very difficult to interpret in such a way as to harmonise with the parable.

17-19. Another prediction of the Passion (Mar_10:32; Luk_18:31). A prophecy remarkable for its detailed character. It mentions Christ's delivery to the Bomans ('Gentiles'), His mocking, scourging, and crucifixion, and His resurrection on the third day. St. Luke adds, 'And they perceived not what was said': cp. Mat_16:21; Mat_17:22.

20-28. The ambition of the sons of Zebedee (Mar_10:35). The special promise to Peter (Mat_16:18) had aroused the jealousy of the other two most intimate disciples, who now came to claim the two most prominent of the twelve thrones promised in Mat_19:28, making no mention whatever of Peter. The incident is a painful one, coming as it does immediately after the warning in the parable, and the prediction of the Passion.

20. The mother] Her name was Salome (Mat_27:56 compared with Mar_15:40), and it is generally supposed that she was sister to the Virgin, and therefore our Lord's aunt: see on Joh_19:25.

21. The right hand was the first place of honour, the left the second: cp. the saying of Rabbi Acha, 'The Holy and Blessed God will cause King Messiah to sit at his right hand, and Abraham at his left.'

22. Ye know not what ye ask] The mere fact that you ask for such a thing, shows that you are at present worthy not of the highest but of the lowest place in the kingdom: see Mat_20:16, Mat_20:26. To drink of the cup] 'Cup,' a metaphor for 'lot in life,' is here used of Christ's rejection, persecution, and death: cp. Isa_51:17; ('the cup of fury'), Jer_49:12; Jer_25:15; Eze_23:33. To be baptized.. baptized with] Interpolated from Mk; omitted by RV. The 'baptism' has the same meaning as the 'cup.'

23. Ye shall drink indeed of my cup. James was martyred (Act_12:2). According to tradition, John had many strange experiences; such as, exile in Patmos, immersion in boiling oil, poison; but survived these ordeals, and died a natural death.

Is not mine to give] i.e. in this way, as a piece of favouritism. Euthymius well says, 'Why is He, who is all powerful, unable to give this? Not from want of power, but from regard to justice. This eminence is reserved for those who are worthy to attain it. For it is not only participation in a death like mine which wins the first seat, but undisputed preeminence in all good qualities.'

25-27. See on Luk_22:25, Luk_22:26.

26 Minister] RM 'servant.'

27. Servant] RM 'bond-servant.'

28. A ransom for many] lit. 'a ransom instead of many.' An important doctrinal passage showing the importance which Jesus attached to His own death. He regards it as a redemption price, which, since men cannot pay it for themselves, He pays for them, and so releases them from the bondage of sin and death. In the OT. it is the ransom price paid for slaves (Lev_19:20), for captives (Isa_45:13), and for the ransom of a life (Exo_21:30; Num_35:31).

Many] either indicates all mankind, laying stress upon their multitude, or else those who actually accept redemption, as distinguished from those for whom the redemption price is paid: see Mat_26:28.

After Mat_20:28 the Codex Bezae introduces an interesting saying of Jesus which may possibly be authentic: 'But do you seek to become greater from what is less, and less from what is greater? Accordingly when ye have been invited to supper, and enter the house, recline not in the chief places, lest haply one more honourable than thou enter afterwards, and the host (or master of the feast) come and say to thee, “Go down yet lower,” and thou be shamed. But if thou recline in the inferior place, and one inferior to thee comes in, the host will say to thee, “Eat thy supper higher up,” and this shall be profitable to thee.' Cp. Luk_14:8.

29-34. Two blind men at Jericho (Mar_10:46; Luk_18:35). Two apparent discrepancies call for notice: (1) St. Mark and St. Luke mention only one blind man; (2) St. Luke says that the map was healed as Jesus was entering Jericho, not as he was leaving it. Euthymius says, 'Some say that one of these blind men, Bartimseus, was the more distinguished of the two, and so was mentioned by St. Mark and St. Luke, while the other was passed over as being his attendant, as in the case of the two demoniacs (Mat_8:28). But my own conjecture is, that one of these blind men is to be identified with St. Mark's and the other with St. Luke's, for St. Luke's blind man was apparently healed when Christ was entering into Jericho, and not when he was leaving it.' A more modern reconciliation is that the miracle took place between the old town of Jericho and the new city called Phasaelis, built by Herod the Great. The miracle might, therefore, be described with equal propriety as performed when leaving the old town, or when approaching the new.

30. Son of David] i.e. the Messiah: see Mat_9:27.

31. Rebuked them] not because they disbelieved that Jesus was the Messiah, 'but out of honour to Jesus lest He should be disturbed.' They cried the more] a lesson in persistence in prayer, and its answer.

34. Followed him] not only in the way, but in the Way (Act_19:9).

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 1-16. Parable of the labourers in the vineyard. (Peculiar to St. Matthew.)

For. The following parable is intended to illustrate the apophthegmatic at the end of the last chapter, which is repeated almost in the same words at the close, "Many that are first," etc., and "The last shall be first," etc. It taught the apostles a lesson in answer to Peter"s question, (Mat_19:27) "What shall we have therefore?" and the primary lesson was that the reward of the kingdom is not of debt, but of grace. There are many difficulties in the parable, which may be better noticed after we have expounded its literal bearing and details. The kingdom of heaven is like. That is, what happens in the kingdom of heaven is parallel to the case of a householder, etc. The kingdom of heaven is the Church of Christ, whether militant on earth (when the labourers are hired) or triumphant in heaven (when the reward is bestowed). We may refer to Mat_13:24, Mat_13:45, where an analogous comparison is found. Early in the morning (ama prwi); i.e. at the end of the last night watch (see on ver. 3), wishing to secure labourers, who at vintage time were probably in great request. Vineyard. The Church is elsewhere so called by our Lord, (Mat_21:28, Mat_21:33, etc.) and in the Old Testament. (see Psa_80:8 Isa_5:1 Jer_12:10)

Vers. 1-16. Parable of the labourers in the vineyard.

I THE HIRING.

1. The connection. The parable is very closely connected with the last four verses of Mt 19. It is plainly intended to illustrate our Lord"s saying in Mat_19:30, "Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." St. Peter"s question in ver. 27 contained an element of error. The Lord had promised a great reward to his faithful servants, and he would give it. It was their due, in a sense; but not as a debt, not as of merit ("the gift of God is eternal life"), but only of promise, because God, in the free bounty of his sovereign grace, has given unto us "exceeding great and precious promises." God will remember his holy promise; he is faithful. But his people must understand that the rewards of his kingdom are his to give to give according to his own will. His will is not arbitrary; it is holy and just and good. He cannot deny himself; the determinations of his wilt must always be in accordance with his own infinite goodness, love, wisdom, justice. His people must learn to say, "Thy will be done." They must trust absolutely and wholly in his love and bounty. They must not prescribe their own reward. They must not venture to estimate it upon the basis of so much reward for so much work. They must not make jealous comparisons of themselves with others. Each Christian man must do his duty, not grudgingly, nor of necessity, but out of love, in simple trustfulness. God is faithful.

2. The first hiring. The householder went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. The Householder is God; the vineyard is his kingdom; the labourers are men called by him to do his work. The parable was addressed to the apostles, and was part of the answer to St. Peter"s question; so it would seem that, in the first and strictest meaning, the labourers first called must be the apostles themselves. The householder went out early in the morning; the Lord came forth from heaven; it was to hire labourers, to send forth men to carry on the great work which he himself began. He agreed with them for a penny a day. The penny must mean the prize of the high calling that treasure in heaven which the Lord had offered to the young ruler, that eternal life which he promised to all who deny themselves for his Name"s sake. The labourers hired later in the day must, on this theory, be the holy men (such as St. Stephen, St. Paul, and others) who were called to the work after the twelve, but still in the apostolic times. Those called at the eleventh hour will be Gentile Christians called later yet to the work, such as the fellow labourers of St. Paul. The context seems to suggest this explanation as the first and most obvious meaning of the parable. But it may be fairly understood also of the Jews, God"s ancient people, who were first called into covenant with God; and of the Gentiles, called in the last times into a covenant of grace. And, again, the parable illustrates in a touching and striking manner the dealings of God with individual souls; some are called in childhood like Samuel, some in middle life, some in advanced age. They differ indefinitely from one another in early training, in talents, in opportunities. But all have their appointed work; all have the like blessed hope to cheer them on in their daily task. Each must do his best according to his powers, according to the time allowed him. All must trust in God. He is gracious and merciful, just and large in his generous bounty. But he is sovereign in the exercise of his goodness. None may presume to murmur; envies and jealousies are excluded from the kingdom of heaven. The last shall be first. St. Paul, the last of all, the least of the apostles in his own sight, laboured more abundantly than they all. "Yet not I," he says, "but the grace of God which was with me." That is the true Christian temper, which ascribes all its energy and all its labours to the assisting grace of God, which never murmurs, which gladly recognizes the goodness, the work of others, which rejoices with them that do rejoice, in the successes of others, in the praises, the honours, the rewards bestowed upon them.

3. The intermediate hirings. Again the householder went out when nearly a quarter of the working day was gone; there were others standing idle in the marketplace; he bade them go and work in his vineyard. Me made no definite agreement with them, as he bad done with the first hired labourers; they were satisfied with his promise to give whatever was right, and they went their way. Again at noon, and again when only a quarter of the working hours remained, he did the like. All went, none refused; none tried to bargain with the householder; none asked, "What shall we have therefore?" We must not stand idle when God calls us to work for him. We must go at once whenever we hear that gracious call, whether it be early or late, whatever be our circumstances and employments; all other work is but idleness in his sight, compared with the great work, the work which God has given us to do. We must trust him implicitly. We have the blessed word of Holy Scripture, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." It is enough for us.

4. The last hiring. The day was now nearly ended; only one hour remained. For the last time the householder went into the marketplace. God, in his long suffering mercy, calls us again and again, at different periods of our lives, in different ways. He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." The marketplace is the world; it is a bustling, noisy scene; yet, alas! many stand there all the day idle. Their idleness may be laborious idleness. There was one who said on his death bed, "Heu! vitam perdidi laboriose nihil agendo." Their life may be restless, eager in the pursuit of pleasure or riches, filled every hour with this or that engagement, this or that amusement. Yet, if the great end of life be neglected, all is but a laborious doing nothing; for nothing real is gained. "Man walketh in a vain shadow," if he is not working for God; this life, with all its varied occupations, is no better than idle play", if it has no conscious relation to the life beyond the grave. Men think that they are working hard when, in the eye of God, they are standing idle all the day, for they are not working out their own salvation, the only work that is real, earnest, abiding. God doth not leave such idlers to perish. He calls them again and again, by his Word, by his ministers, by his providence. He calls then at the eleventh hour, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" "The night cometh, wherein no man can work," and the work to be done before nightfall is of momentous importance. They that then stood idle gave a reason for their idleness, "Because no man hath hired us." The excuse was true in the mouth of those Gentile fellow labourers who were gathered into the Church late in the apostolic times. God "in times past," said St. Paul, (Act_14:16) "suffered all nations to walk in their own ways". (comp. Act_17:30 and Ro 11) They had not been called into the Church, the kingdom of heaven. It can be true only in a very partial sense of Christians now. Men do not heed the call; the loud noise and bustle of the world drown the still small voice of the blessed Spirit. Their deafness is wilful; the voice comes again and again; they will not listen, and it becomes fainter and less distinct. Sometimes it is unheeded to the end; sometimes at last it swells into a trumpet note, and rouses the thoughtless to repentance. Yet, alas! even in Christian countries there are many, brought up among evil surroundings, in all the misery of godless training and wicked examples, without instruction, without the means of grace; of whom (it sometimes seems to us, when we face sadly and helplessly these perplexing problems of life) those words may still be said, "No man hath hired us." But God, we know, is not willing that any should perish; we may not doubt but that in some way his voice makes itself heard even to such as these, if not earlier, yet at the eleventh hour, as life is drawing near to its close. "Go ye also into the vineyard," the householder, said, though so short a time for work was left. No stipulation was made; perhaps, in this case, the reward was not even mentioned; the promise of giving whatsoever was right is omitted here in some of the most ancient manuscripts, which the Revised Version follows. The men trusted the householder implicitly; they went even at that late hour into the vineyard. There was yet work to be done; and, if there was work, there was hope. They went, they worked; and, we shall find, their trust was not in vain.

II THE RESULT.

1. The reward. When even was come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, "Call the labourers, and give them their hire." Christ himself is the Steward, as a Son over his own house. (Heb_3:6) All power is given unto him; it is he who will say to the redeemed, "Come, ye blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you." The steward called the labourers; he began, as his lord had bidden him, with the last hired. They had wrought but one hour, and that without any definite agreement. They knew not what to expect; they had done their best, it seems; but the time was short, very short. What could they look for? They came in doubt and anxiety. But they received every man a penny the full day"s wages. They were, we may be sure, full of joy and gratitude; it was far more than they had expected. They had not earned it, they knew; it was of grace, a free gift, a proof of the generous bounty of the lord of the vineyard. The rewards of heaven are not calculated by the methods of earth. Men called late into Christ"s service might rank with the first chosen twelve. Paul the persecutor would sit on one of the twelve thrones; Judas the apostle would forfeit his place in the apostolic hierarchy. Gentiles would be called into the kingdom on an equal footing with God"s ancient people. Throughout the history of the Church it would happen again and again that men called late in life, sometimes on the very bed of death, would receive the full reward. Work is not always measured by time; life itself is not measured by time. A short life has sometimes far more of real living, more of deep spiritual energy, and even sometimes of outward work, than a very long life spent without earnest purpose. ("He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time," RAPC Wis 4:13) We may well believe that in the dying hours of the penitent thief there was concentrated a depth of repentance, an intensity of love, an energy of victorious faith, which he marked and rewarded who measures life, not by time, not by outward work, but by faith and love. The labourers were called in order from the last unto the first. All received the like reward the penny, covenanted to the first called, given, it seems, without covenant to those sent later into the vineyard. The parable contemplates a portion only of God"s dealings with mankind; its point of view does not extend to the disobedient, mentioned elsewhere, who went not to the vineyard. Here all the labourers had worked, and all received their hire. But that reward, though in itself the same, varies according to the spiritual capacity of the receiver. Eternal life is promised to all the blessed; God himself is their Portion. Yet we read of ten cities and of five. (Luk_19:17, Luk_19:19) There will be first and last, greatest and leash in the kingdom of God; all the stars shine in the heavens, but one star differeth from another star in glory. All the blessed will, by the grace of God, be admitted into the exceeding great rapture of the beatific vision. That vision of love and glory will fill every heart with unutterable gladness; the saints will be changed into the same image from glory to glory, drawn ever nearer, received into an ever-closer nearness, an ever-deepening blessedness, increasing in proportion to the powers, the love, the fervour, the devotion of each glorified spirit. All will receive the blessed promise, eternal life; the realization of that promise will depend in some measure on the capacities of the receiver. All will be blessed. Holy Scripture seems to teach that there will be degrees of blessedness in heaven, as there are degrees of holiness on earth.

2. The murmurs. The first-hired labourers had borne the burden and heat of the day; they now received the covenanted reward. It was their just due according to the original agreement. But they murmured, not because they had received too little, but because others, as they thought, had received too much. These last had wrought but one hour, and yet the good man of the house had made them equal to those who had worked from morning until evening. The Jews showed this narrow spirit of unworthy jealousy towards the Gentiles; we see it throughout the New Testament. It was this that caused the rejection of our Lord at Nazareth. (Luk_4:25-29) It was this that excited the fierce wrath of the Jews against St. Paul. (Act_22:21, Act_22:22) They were God"s chosen people; the adoption was theirs, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises. (Rom_9:4) They could not endure the thought that the despised Gentiles were to be admitted to an equality of privileges. St. Peter had just showed something of this spirit in his question, "Behold, we have left all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" The primary intention of the parable was, it seems, to teach him and his brother apostles that the rewards of God"s kingdom are not of debt, but of grace; and to rebuke that desire of pre-eminence, those jealousies and rivalries, which we meet with so often in the history of the apostles, and, alas! in the whole history of the Church. There must be no jealousies in the kingdom of God. Each Christian must learn of him "who is meek and lowly in heart" the great grace of humility; we must all learn "in lowliness of mind to esteem others better than ourselves." We must learn this great lesson now; for murmurers have no place in the kingdom of glory. Heaven is the home of love; no jarring notes of envy or discontent may disturb its Divine harmonies. It is the home of blessedness; there can be no complaints in heaven; for, if there are degrees of blessedness, yet each redeemed soul is blessed to the full extent of its capacities, and is disturbed by no unsatisfied longings. Then if we apply the parable to the circumstances of individual Christians, and understand the penny as meaning the unspeakable gift Christ now, eternal life hereafter we must regard this portion as belonging to the scenery, so to speak, of the parable, to its setting, as conveying a warning of what might happen on earth, not a prophecy of what will happen hereafter. On earth the murmurers receive the penny; they have worked for it. There is no intimation in the parable that they worked less strenuously than those called later; it would not be just to withhold it, though they marred their industry by their envy and ill temper. In the world to come such men would lose their reward; in this world they knew not how to value it. The reward offered was the gift of Christ, Christ himself, Christ present to his people"s hearts; but, alas! though they seemed to begin well, they envied others who afterwards outstripped them in the Christian race; and that envy of the progress, of the successes, of the rewards of others marred their own religious service, destroyed the value of their work, poisoned and killed out of their hearts the holy life of faith and love. To such heaven would be no heaven if they were allowed to enter there, for to the unloving there can be no joy in the love of heaven. "He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

3. The reply of the householder. "Friend," he said. The Greek word is not one which implies affection or friendship, but only knowledge and companionship; it is used by the king in the parable to the man who had not on a wedding garment, and by our Lord in addressing Judas at Gethsemane. The man had received the penny; the payment was according to the agreement; he had no right to more. The apostles would receive the promised reward; but they ought not to seek great things for themselves; they ought not to desire pre-eminence; they ought to trust the bounty and the justice of God. They ought not to boast of what they had done; they ought not to say, "Behold, we have left all, and followed thee;" but rather, as St. Paul said afterwards, "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day." Implicit faith in God"s justice and love is the proper attitude of the Christian soul. His will is sovereign; he distributeth to every man severally as he will; but it is not arbitrary; it is holy and just and good. He knows, as none else can know, all the circumstances, all the surroundings, all the temptations, all the advantages and disadvantages, which must be taken into consideration in any accurate estimate of character. Without this knowledge it is impossible to weigh one man against another, or to balance the relative preponderance of good or evil in each. We cannot have this knowledge. God has it; we must trust his ruling. We must not dare to complain if others, whom we regarded as our inferiors, are put above us or on an equality with us. God has his reasons; he doeth all things well. Perhaps the householder in the parable knew that any addition to the stipulated reward was not deserved; perhaps he knew that it would be misused, that it would in some way do harm rather than good. God, who knows all things, certainly acts always for the best. The Lord is loving unto every man. He maketh all things work together for good to them that love him. This is enough for us to know. We must learn the blessed grace of humility, the holy lesson of contentment. Murmuring there must not be; it shows at once the unworthiness of the murmurers. Envy is an evil thing; it comes from the evil one; it has no place in the kingdom of heaven, for the law of that kingdom is love.

4. The conclusion. The Lord sums up the parable in the words which he had used before. (Mat_19:30) The parable was intended to illustrate their meaning. He now repeats them, "So the last shall be first, and the first last." He does not mean that it will be so in all cases; but that the fact of being first called, or first in other senses, first in station, first in the esteem of men, or even first in outward works, will not necessarily save a man from being last at the end. Many that are first shall be last." The first hired in the parable were last in several respects. They received their reward last; that reward was least in proportion to the time of service; and they were last in good feeling. All the rest were contented; they only were dissatisfied and ungrateful. Then the first places in the kingdom are for those who are first in humility, first in self-abasement, who are willing to be last of all and the servants of all; who recognize their own sinfulness, their unworthiness of the least of God"s mercies; who, far from putting forward a claim to pre-eminence, are content to take the lowest place. Such men may seem last in the eyes of men; they may have been called late in life; they may be very inferior to others in showy qualities; but they are first now in the sight of God; they will be first one day in the sight of men and angels. If the last clause of ver. 16 is genuine in this place, it cannot be taken in the same sense as in Mat_22:14. There the guest who had not on a wedding garment was called indeed to the marriage, but not chosen unto life eternal; he was cast into outer darkness. Here all receive the reward; but few are chosen out, as pre-eminent in holiness, for the highest places in God"s kingdom, to sit on the right and left of the King, or to occupy the twelve thrones of the rulers of the spiritual Israel. God gives these highest distinctions to whom he will, to the lowliest and the most self-denying. But there is no room for ambition in the kingdom of heaven; all the faithful must be content, all will be content with the place assigned to them, for the very lowest place there is a prize unspeakably glorious, blessed above all that we can ask or think.

LESSONS.

1. God"s rewards are of grace, not of debt.

2. Christians must be humble and thankful, not jealous of others.

3. The very lowest place in God"s kingdom is far higher than the best of us deserves.

4. We must obey the calling of God. He has work for every one of us; let us earnestly try to do it.

5. Let us not despair if we are called at the eleventh hour. Only let us do our best. The last may be first.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY Vers. 1-16. The labourers in the vineyard.

This parable is closely connected with our Lord"s remarks in describing the rewards of the kingdom, and it may have been intended to convey a mild rebuke, or at least a gentle warning, to St. Peter, who had asked," What then shall we have?" The apostles are to receive great rewards. But those who, like St. Peter, were called first, are not to assume that they will have any more than those who came in later.

I CHRIST SEEKS LABOURERS FOR HIS VINEYARD. There is work to be done in winning the world for Christ, and in training the Church that its fruit may be brought forth in abundance. For this work our Lord requires labourers. His servants are not to be satisfied with receiving his grace. That grace is given for the express purpose of its being used in his service. Christ calls us that we may serve him.

II CHRIST OFFERS A FAIR REWARD FOR LABOUR. The so called "penny" was evidently the regular wages of the ordinary day labourer. Although Christ might exact service on royal authority, he does not put forth this authority. He accepts each laborer on the man"s free consent, and he offers him all that he could ask for. We talk of the sacrifice and toils of a Christian life. We should be honest to reckon up its gains on the other side.

III CHRIST HIRES LABORERS AT THE VARIOUS HOURS. The Church did not start fully equipped. By degrees the requisite forces have been drawn into the service of the kingdom. Those late hired may represent various classes.

1. The later called apostles. St. Peter will not have pre-eminence because he was called earlier than St. Jude. When St. Paul came his case would be obviously met here. And yet the parallel is not exact, because the later apostles did not have a shorter season of work.

2. The Gentiles. These were called later than the Jews; but they were not assigned an inferior place in the kingdom.

3. The heathen. Even today; at the eleventh hour, some nations are being called in.

4. The aged. One who did not receive the gospel in youth will not necessarily be lower than one who had the privilege of knowing it in his early days.

IV CHRIST REWARDS IN AN UNEXPECTED MANNER. Here we have a description of an equality of payment. Elsewhere there is an idea of diversity, e.g. Luk_19:24-26. Each representation has its own lesson. In the case before us we learn that the final division may not be at all according to our expectation. The obscure may be on a level with the eminent the Gentiles with the Jews, the new mission Churches of India and China with the old Christian Churches of Europe.

V CHRIST HAS A RIGHT TO DEAL GENEROUSLY AFTER HE HAS ACTED JUSTLY. The payment looked unfair. But no one could complain, because every one had what he had agreed to take, and because no one had less than fair wages. Beyond this the householder was free to be as generous as he pleased in the disposal of his own property. Still, one can quite understand the dissatisfaction. People are hurt when generosity does not seem to be equal and fair. It should be noted, however, that the later comers had excused themselves on the plea that no man had hired them. Possibly they were as willing to work all day as those who had done so. Now, Christ judges by the heart and the intentions. W.F.A.

HOMILIES BY MARCUS DODS Vers. 1-16. The labourers in the vineyard.

This parable is one from which we are liable to draw some erroneous inferences unless we mentally hold it in strict connection with the circumstances in which it was originally spoken. When the rich young man turned away sorrowful, our Lord, sympathizing with the severity of his temptation, said, "Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." Peter, seeing that he thus appreciated the difficulty of giving up property and detaching one"s self from the world, suggests that those who overcome that difficulty are peculiarly meritorious. "Behold," he says, we have left all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" But in so speaking, Peter revealed precisely that disposition which most thoroughly vitiates all service for Christ the disposition to bargain, to work for a clearly defined reward, and not for the sake of the work itself, and in generous faith in the justice and liberality of the Master. Read in this light, it is obvious that the parable directs attention to the fact that, in estimating the value of work, we must take into consideration, not only the time we have spent upon it or the amount we have got through, but the motive that has entered into it. An hour of trustful, loving service is of greater value to God than a lifetime of calculating industry and sell-deceiving zeal. While men are applauding the great workers who ostentatiously wipe the sweat from their brows and pant so that you can hear them across the whole field, God is regarding an unnoticed worker, who feels he is doing little, who is ashamed that any one should see his work, who regrets he can do no more, who could not name a coin small enough to reward him, but who is perfectly well assured that the Master he serves is well worth serving. It is thus that the last becomes first, and the first last. That we are meant to see this difference of spirit in the workers is obvious from the terms of their engagement. Those hired early in the day agree to work for the penny. At four or five in the morning no man in the market engages without making his own terms, and striking hands with his hirer as his equal. If he thinks one master"s pay too little, he waits for a better offer; he is not going to work all day to oblige a neighbouring proprietor, but to make a good wage for himself. But in the evening the tables are turned the masters have it all their own way. Possibly these men were the proudest in the morning, and missed their chance; but now pride gives place to hunger and anxious thoughts of the coming night. In no condition to bargain, they go, glad to get work on any terms, not knowing what they are to get, but trusting and grateful; the others went proud, self-confident, mercenary. This prepares us for the striking scene which ensued at the close of the day. Those who had barely got their work begun were first paid, and were paid a full day"s wage. There must, of course, have been a reason for this; it was not mere caprice, but was the result and expression of some just law. It could not be that these late-hired labourers had done as much in their one hour as the others in twelve; for the others are conscious of having done their work well. We are thrown back, therefore, for the explanation on the hint given in the hiring, namely, that the men who bargained are paid according to their bargain; while the men who trusted got far more than they could have dared to bargain for. The principle is more easily understood, because we ourselves so commonly act upon it. It is work done with some human feeling in it that you delight in; that of the man who works not for you, but for his wage, is the work of a hireling, with whom you are quits when you pay him what he contracted to receive. Our Lord does not affirm, however, that all the last shall be first, and the first last, but only that many shall exemplify this reversal. "Many are called, but few chosen.

I IT IS THE FACT THAT MANY WHO ARK FIRST IN MAN"S ESTEEM ARE LAST IN GOD"S RECKONING. We see plainly enough that many who are most diligent in the Lord"s vineyard have a complacency, a consciousness that they are the good workers, which does not at all resemble the humble, trustful, self-ignoring spirit of these late-hired labourers. Perhaps they have once in their life made a great sacrifice as Peter had done, or perhaps they have quickly apprehended the duty peculiar to their own generation, whether it be caring for the sick, aiding the poor, or carrying the gospel to the masses, or subscribing liberally to Church objects. Or perhaps they do the work, not for the sake of the vineyard, but for their own sake either that they may advance their own spiritual state, or win a good reputation, or maintain in their own minds the impression that they are indubitably good labourers. Now, if you deduct all who are working in one or other of these ways, you will come to the conclusion that "many are called, but few chosen;" many working hard, spending and being spent, and yet withal few choice workers, few who appeal to the Lord"s heart and draw out his affectionate response by their lowly, unexpectant service.

II MANY FIRST, BUT NOT ALL THE FIRST, SHALL BE LAST. Some at least of the best-known workers in the vineyard, some who entered it early, and never left it, for an hour, some who scarcely once straightened their hacks from toil and dropped asleep as they came to the end of their task, knowing nothing but God"s work their whole life through, have also wrought in no bargaining spirit, but passed as humble a judgment on their work as the least of their fellow labourers on theirs.

III AND THERE ARE SOME LAST WHO REMAIN LAST. Not all who do little do it well; not all who enter the vineyard late enter it humbled. Mercenariness is not confined to those who have some small excuse for it. Late entrance into the vineyard is to be on every account deprecated, and receives no encouragement from this parable rightly read. Do not think of the work of Christ as a mere extra, which can at any convenient time be added to your other work. It covers the whole of our life. All outside his vineyard is idleness.

This parable may be viewed as the great Physician"s prescription for envy in whatever sphere it is manifested, and may be applied in two ways.

1. Every man of us has as much at least as he deserves. Were God to say, "Take that thine is," in the strictness of just and exact retribution, which of us would willingly stand upon our right?

2. The second is found in these words, "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" You are none the less because another is greater. You are what God sees best to make you, and what the other is he is of God"s goodness. It is at God"s expense, not at yours, that any man is blessed. But the teaching special to this parable is that our Lord measures our work, not solely by the amount done, nor by the skill we show in doing it, but by the spirit we are of in the doing of it. Many of us are called. Many of us are in the vineyard, and have long been so. In what spirit have we laboured? D.

HOMILIES BY J.A. MACDONALD Vers. 1-16. The astonishment of precedence.

The text of this parable is found in the last verse of the preceding chapter. The words are repeated as the conclusion of its argument (ver. 16). Hence the critics say the last verse of ch. 19 ought to have been the first of ch. 20. Yet the last verse of ch. 19 is evidently connected with Christ"s discourse upon the case of the ruler. (cf. Mar_10:31) Note

I THAT PRECEDENCE IS ASTONISHED IN GOD"S GIFTS AND CALLINGS.

1. The Jews were the people of ancient privilege.

(1) Theirs was the "adoption." Nationally they were separated from all the peoples of the earth, and adopted by God as his peculiar treasure.

(2) Theirs was the "glory." In the pillar of cloud. In the cherubim.

(3) Theirs were the "covenants." The first from Sinai the Law. The second from Zion the gospel. (cf. Isa_2:3 Luk_24:47)

(4) Theirs was the "service of God." For ages "Jerusalem was the place where men ought to worship." Levitical rites were instituted and sanctioned against all Gentile abominations.

(5) Theirs were the "promises," viz. on which the covenants were established. They were given to the fathers, and renewed and amplified by the ministry of the prophets. By these God, "rising up early," went into the marketplace to hire labourers for his vineyard. (cf. Jer_7:25) As the day of their visitation wore on, the prophets invited the people at the third, sixth, and ninth hours.

(6) Theirs were the "fathers." They were sprung from Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. They were "beloved for the fathers" sakes.

(7) Theirs was "Christ, as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever". (Rom_9:4, Rom_9:5)

2. Their presumption upon their precedence was rebuked

(1) They believed themselves by it secured against rejection. They overlooked the conditions of their promises. They missed the lessons of their history. They filled up the measure of their iniquity in rejecting Christ.

(a) In his Person.

(b) In his gospel offer of salvation.

Then Christ rejected them. Their place and nation were taken away by the Romans; and they have ever since suffered in captivity.

(2) That the Gentiles should become "fellow heirs" with them so as to leave no difference, (cf. Act_15:1, 9 Eph_3:3-6) was a mystery they would not comprehend. Their anger at the mercy of God to the Gentiles is expressed in the murmuring and evil eye (see Deu_15:9 Pro_23:6 Mar_7:22) of the labourers first called, against the lord of the vineyard, for his goodness to those called at the eleventh hour. Note: The labourers first called bargained (ver. 13) for hire in the spirit of the Law; and the murmur was in keeping with the spirit of the bargain. Those afterwards called worked in faith and love, viz. in the spirit of the gospel. (cf. Rom_4:4, Rom_4:5) God is now taking out of all nations "a people for his Name.

(3) The Christian Churches were first formed among the believing Jews, but since the destruction of Jerusalem, these have become absorbed in the Gentile Churches afterwards founded.

(4) Amongst the Gentile nations there is one destined in the order of providence to stand out in contrast to the rejected Jewish nation. (see Mat_21:43) Can Britain be that distinguished nation?

II THAT PRECEDENCE IS ASTONISHED IN GOD"S RECKONINGS.

1. Consider the lessons of the marketplace.

(1) All sinners are "idle," or do nothing to purpose, before God calls them to work in his vineyard. Those who desire to labour in his cause should be found in the marketplace where the Master seeks his labourers in the appointed means of grace. God does not commonly find his labourers in the slums of the city. Another master finds his willing slaves in the walks of wickedness. (see Jos_24:15)

(2) Some are called in the morning of their days, as the Baptist and Timothy. (see Luk_1:15 2Ti_3:15) Some in the meridian of life. Nicodemus may be born again when he is old.

(3) Let not the sinner plead to his distraction the mercy of the "eleventh hour." Can the pleader say, with the men in the parable, "No man hath hired us"? The thief on the cross was a singular and extraordinary example, and may be in his conversion accounted with the miracle of the rending rocks and opening graves.

2. Consider the lessons of the vineyard.

(1) There is work in the Church for every qualified labourer. All are qualified by accepting the Householder"s conditions.

(2) The work is pleasant. We are called into the vineyard of the Church to weed and dress, to plant and water, to fence and train. The training of living growths is not dull work. The production and maturing of immortal fruits for the service and glory of a gracious Master is inspiring service.

(3) The time for vineyard work is short. One day, at most, to be followed by the "night in which no man can work." The eleventh hour of life may be earlier or later. It was early to Thomas Spencer, Henry Martyn, Kirk White, Robert McCheyne.

(4) Every labourer has his hire.

3. Consider the lessons of the reckoning.

(1) God gives to every one his right under the agreement he has made with him. (see Rom_3:5, Rom_3:6) The heavenly reward will be given to all who seek it in God"s way, without reference to time or accidents. Further than this we must not insist upon the equality of wages. (see Luk_19:12 1Co_3:8)

(2) God exercises a free and sovereign grace beyond his engagements of promise. It would be sad for the best of us were he to limit us to our merits. Then the highest creature must go away into nothing; the wicked into misery.

(3) The goodness of God will astonish some who have come in late to find themselves preferred before others who have laboured long. Some who followed Christ when first he preached afterwards became offended and walked no more with him. Paul was as one chosen out of due time, yet he came not behind the chiefest of the apostles, and took the throne forfeited by Iscariot.

(4) Many who occupy the first rank here for culture, standing, and influence, will there be last. Galilaeans, in these respects inferior to the scribes and priests, were chosen to be the inspired teachers of the gospel. The lowest will in many cases be preferred to the self-righteous Pharisee. (see Mat_8:11, 12 21:31, 32 Luk_7:29, 30 13:28-30) The disciples evidently thought the advantages of the rich in favour of salvation were such that if they should fail, there could be little hope for the poor; but were "astonished exceedingly" to hear the teaching of Christ. (see Mat_19:23-26) John Newton said, "When I get to heaven I shall see three wonders. The first will be to see many persons there whom I did not expect to see; the second will be to miss many whom I did expect to see; the greatest wonder of all will be to find myself there. J.A.M.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That some of those who were first called may yet be last, our Lord confirms by the following parable: of which the primary scope is, to show, That many of the Jews would be rejected, and many of the Gentiles accepted; the secondary, That of the Gentiles, many who were first converted would be last and lowest in the kingdom of glory; and many of those who were last converted would be first, and highest therein. The kingdom of heaven is like - That is, the manner of God's proceeding in his kingdom resembles that of a householder. In the morning - At six, called by the Roman and Jews, the first hour. From thence reckoning on to the evening, they called nine, the third hour; twelve, the sixth; three in the afternoon, the ninth; and five, the eleventh. To hire labourers into his vineyard - All who profess to be Christians are in this sense labourers, and are supposed during their life to be working in God's vineyard.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

vineyard

See, Isa 5:7; Mat 21:28-33; Joh 15:1-5 (See Scofield "Mat 28:19").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.

v. 1. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard.

This parable is often called the parable of the hours, since the length of the working-day is an important item in the lesson of the story as told by Jesus. He had been discussing the reward of mercy which was to be given to those that would be firm in the confession of His name, but had added the warning against a foolish depending upon personal merits before God, since this involved the danger of losing the reward. His Church as it appears before men, as its work is being carried out before them and for their salvation, is like unto the ruler of a house, either the housefather or the manager of an estate. Such a one might be found almost any morning, in the very earliest hours, as he was obliged to go out and hire laborers, in order that the ripe fruit might not spoil for want of grape-pickers. Similar cases can be found in great number just before the harvest season in any country.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

A two-fold sense and interpretation is given of this parable; but both analogical.

One of which relates to the calling of the Gentiles. The Jews were the first people that God had in the world: they were hired into the vineyard betimes in the morning, the Gentiles not till the day was far spent; yet shall the Gentiles, by the favour and bounty of God, receive the same reward of eternal life, which was promised to the Jews who bore the heat of the day, while the Gentiles stood idle.

In the other analogical sense we may understand all persons indefinitely called by the gospel into the visible church, those that are called last, shall be rewarded together with the first; and accordingly the design and scope of this parable, is to shew the freeness of divine grace, in the distribution of those rewards which the hand of mercy confers upon God’s faithful servants.

The vineyard is the church of God, the husbandman is God himself; the labourers are particular persons.

God’s going at diverse times into his vineyard, imports the several ages of man’s life; some are called early in the morning, some at noon, others at night. Now when God comes to dispense his rewards, those that entered first into the vineyard and did most service for God, shall be plentifully rewarded by him; and such as came in later, but did faithful service, shall not miss of a merciful reward.

Learn, 1. That so long as a person keeps out of Christ’s vineyard and service, he is idle. Every unregenerate man is an idle man.

2. That persons are called by the preaching of the gospel at several ages and periods of life into God’s vineyard; that is, into the communion of the visible church.

3.That such as do come, though late, into God’s vineyard, and work diligently and faithfully, shall not miss of a reward of grace at the hand of free mercy.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [C. The Rich Ruler].

C. THE RICH RULER. PERIL OF RICHES. REWARD OF SACRIFICE. PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD. (In Peræa.) aMATT. XIX. 16-XX. 16; bMARK X. 17-31; cLUKE XVIII. 18-30.

b17 And when he was going forth into the way, abehold, bthere ran acame bone ca certain ruler bto him, and kneeled to him, and asked aand said, csaying, bGood Teacher, awhat good thing shall I do, that I may have bmay inherit cto inherit eternal life? [The action of this young man in running and kneeling shows that he was deeply anxious to receive an answer to his question, and also that he had great reverence for Jesus. He seemed to think, however, that heaven could be gained by performing some one meritorious act. He made the mistake of thinking that eternal life is a reward for doing rather than for being, a mistake from which the Roman Catholic Church [543] developed the doctrine of "works of supererogation."] 19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good save one, i even God: aWhy askest thou me concerning that which is good? One there is who is good [To the address of the young man, viz.: "Good Master," Jesus replies, "Why callest," etc., and to his question, "What good thing," etc. Jesus replies, "Why askest," etc. The ruler using the inconsiderate, conventional language of the thoughtless, had taken an unwarrantable freedom with the word "good." Jesus shows that if his language had been used sincerely it would have committed him to a declaration of great faith, for he had addressed Jesus by a title which belongs only to God, and he had asked Jesus the question concerning that of which God alone was fitted to speak. As the ruler had not used this language sincerely Jesus challenged his words. The challenge showed the ruler that he had unwittingly confessed the divinity of Jesus, and thus startled him into a consideration of the marvelous fact which his own mouth had stated. This is done because the young man would need to believe in the divinity of Jesus to endure the test to which he was about to be subjected-- 1Jo_5:5.] but if thou wouldest enter into life, keep the commandments. [By referring the ruler to the commandments, Jesus not only answered the question as to obtaining life, but he emphasized the confession of his divinity contained in the question, "Why askest," etc. God, who knows what is good, had revealed that good in the commandments which he had given. Yet the ruler had asked Jesus to be wise above God's revelation, and to propound a law or rule of goodness in addition to that already given, and of such a nature as to more fully insure the attainment of life by obeying it. The ruler's question reveals that common weakness in man which prompts him to look to his fellow-men for religious and moral instruction; forgetting that only God can propound the absolute standards of goodness. We should note, too, that the young man, being under the law given through Moses, was bidden to attain life by keeping the law. After the death of Christ a new law [544] was given. Had the man waited until that time, he would have been directed to this new law, and obedience to it would have been required. Compare Act_2:37, Act_2:38, 2Th_1:8, et al.] 18 He saith unto him, Which? And Jesus said, c20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do aThou shalt cnot commit adultery, Do aThou shalt cnot kill, Do aThou shalt cnot steal, Do aThou shalt cnot bear false witness, bDo not defraud, a19 Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [The ruler still sought for some prominent commandment, but was referred to the last six of the Decalogue, these being at that time more frequently violated than the first four. For the last commandment, "Thou shalt not covet," Jesus substitutes its equivalent, "Do not defraud," and "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," the last being a summary of all the six-- Rom_13:9.] b20 And he a20 The young man saith bsaid unto him, Teacher, cAll these things have I observed from my youth up. awhat lack I yet? [He had kept these commandments as far as he knew his heart and as far as he understood their import.] b21 And Jesus cwhen he heard it, blooking upon him [gazing earnestly and searchingly at him] loved him ["agapan." See Jam_2:10], go, sell that which thou hast, csell all bwhatsoever thou hast, cand distribute bgive cunto ato the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. [The command to sell all is not a general one, but a special precept needed in this case, 1. To dispel the ruler's self-deception. On the negative side his character was good, but on the positive it was deficient. He had done his neighbor no harm, but he had also done him very little good. 2. To show impartiality. The invitation of Jesus shows that the ruler desired to be in some manner a disciple, and hence he is subjected to the same [545] test which the other disciples had accepted, and of which Peter soon after speaks. Paul also was rich in self-righteousness like this man, but cheerfully sacrificed all, that he might follow Christ ( Phi_3:6-9). Moreover, the reference to treasure in heaven and the invitation to follow Christ tested the ruler's obedience to the first four commandments of the Decalogue as condensed in the great summary or first commandment. ( Mat_22:37, Mat_22:38.) Though the ruler perhaps did not fully realize it, those who heard the conversation must afterwards have been impressed with the great truth that the ruler was called upon to make his choice whether he would love Christ or the world, whether he would serve God or mammon. The whole scene forms an illustration of the doctrine expressed by Paul, that by the law can no flesh be justified ( Rom_3:20), for perfection is required of those who approach God along that pathway; those, therefore, who have done all, still need Christ to lead them.] a22 But when the young man heard that saying, cthese things bhis countenance fell at the saying, che became exceeding sorrowful; band he went away sorrowful: cfor he was very rich. bhe was one that had great possessions. [He was not offended at the extravagance of Jesus' demands, for he was not one of the most hardened of the rich. He belonged to that class which hold Christ and their wealth in nearly an even balance. The narrative shows us how uncompromisingly Jesus held to principle. Though the ruler was sorry to turn away, and though Jesus loved him, yet the Lord did not modify his demand by a hair's-breadth to gain an influential disciple.] c24 And Jesus seeing him blooked round about, and saith asaid unto his disciples, bHow hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! aVerily I say unto you, It is hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. [ 1Ti_6:9, 1Ti_6:10, 1Ti_6:17-19. It should be remembered that Judas heard these words only a few days before he sold his Lord.] b24 And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in [546] riches to enter into the kingdom of God! [The possession and use of riches is permitted to the Christian, but their possession becomes a sin when the one who owns them comes to trust in them or in any way suffers them to interfere with his duties toward or relations to God.] a24 And again I say unto you, c25 For it is easier for a camel to enter in bto go through a needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. [The needle's eye here is that of the literal needle, and the expression was a proverbial one to indicate that which was absolutely impossible. Lord George Nugent (1845-6) introduced the explanation that Jesus referred to the two gates of a city, the large one for beast of burden, and the small one for foot-passengers. This smaller one is now called "The Needle's Eye," but there is no evidence whatever that it was so called in our Saviour's time. In fact, as Canon Farrar observes, we have every reason to believe that this smaller gate received its name in late years because of the efforts of those who were endeavoring to soften this saying of Jesus.] a25 And when the disciples heard it, they were astonished exceedingly, c26 And they that heard it said, bsaying unto him, aWho then bThen who can be saved? a26 And Jesus blooking upon them saith, c27 But he said, bWith men this is impossible, but not with God: for all things are possible with God. cThe things which are impossible with men aree possible with God. [The Jews were accustomed to look upon the possession of riches as an evidence of divine favor, and the heads of the apostles were filled with visions of the riches and honors which they would enjoy when Jesus set up his kingdom. No wonder, then, that they were amazed to find that it was impossible for a rich man to enter that kingdom, and that, moreover and worse than all, riches appeared to exclude from salvation itself: that even this virtuous rich man, this paragon of excellence, could not have eternal life because he clung to his riches. But they were comforted by the assurance of Jesus that though the salvation of some men might present more difficulties than the salvation of others [547] --might, as it were, require a miracle where others only required simple means, yet the gracious, mighty God might still be trusted to overcome the obstacles. It is impossible for any man to save himself, so that in every case of salvation God is called upon to assist man in accomplishing the impossible. God can so work upon the rich man's heart as to make him a dispenser of blessings.] a27 Then answered Peter c28 And bbegan to say unto him, aand said unto him, bLo, we have left all, cour own, band have followed thee. awhat then shall we have? [The negative conduct of the rich man reminded the disciples of their own positive conduct when confronted with a similar crisis ( Luk_5:11), and the "all" which they had left was by no means contemptible, though perhaps none of them could have been said to have held great possessions. The mention of treasure in heaven, therefore, set Peter to wondering what manner of return would be made to them to compensate them for their sacrifice.] 28 And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that ye who have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. [By the term "regeneration," Jesus in this case means the period in which the process of regenerating men would be in progress; i. e., the period of the mediatorial reign. After his ascension Jesus sat upon his throne ( Act_2:33-35, Heb_1:13, Mat_25:31, 1Co_15:24-28). And on the day of Pentecost next following, he began this process of regeneration. Having enthroned himself, Jesus enthroned the apostles also, not as kings but as judges, having jurisdiction over all questions of faith and practice in the earthly kingdom. During their personal ministry, they judged in person; and since then they judge through their writings. True, we have written communications from only a part of them, but judgments pronounced by one of a bench of judges with the known approval of all, are the judgments of the entire bench. Moreover, the passage must be construed metaphorically, for the apostles are [548] judges in the church of Christ--the true Israel--and not over the literal twelve tribes of Jacob. And again, the twelve who then heard Jesus speak were not all enthroned, Judas having fallen from his position before the day of enthronement, and Matthias and Paul were afterwards added to the group. Jesus here causes the number of the judges to correspond to the number of the tribes, to indicate that there will be a sufficiency of judgment commensurate to the need.] 29 And every one { bThere is no man that ahath left houses, bhouse, cor wife, or brethren, bor sisters, or mother, or father, cor parents, bor children, or lands, for my sake, amy name's sake, band for the gospel's sake, cfor the kingdom of God's sake, 30 who shall not receive manifold more in this time, and in the world to come eternal life. b30 but he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come ashall inherit eternal life. [The rewards of Christian self-denial are here divided into two parts--the temporal and the eternal. The earthly joys--the rewards "in this time"--shall outweigh the sacrifices made for the kingdom. The return, of course, will not be in kind, houses for house, and fathers for father, etc., but spiritual relationships and blessings which compensate abundantly for whatever has been resigned ( Mat_12:49, 1Ti_4:8). But these joys shall be mingled with the bitterness of persecution, for no pleasure is perfected in this world, but only in the inheritance which lies beyond-- 1Pe_1:4.] 30 But many shall be last i that are first; and first that are last. b31 But many that are first shall be last; and the last first. [The promise of large recompense which Jesus had just given was apt to tempt some to labor not for love, but for the rewards which might be reaped thereby. Jesus corrects this spirit by the statement, and the parable that follows which illustrates it, and which ends with the same sentiment. See Lev_19:13, Deu_24:15], the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward [his overseer], Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. [Thus following the order indicated by Mar_7:22, 1Sa_18:9, Pro_23:6-8, Pro_28:22, Deu_15:9). The lord had done no wrong to those who had labored longest, for he had paid them what they had bargained for and earned. If he chose to be generous with those whose misfortune had prevented them from being hired earlier in the day, no one had any just cause to murmur.] 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last [The meaning of this parable has often been misunderstood by those who fail to note the maxim with which Jesus begins and ends it. This maxim acts as a safeguard in the interpretation of it; the parable also in turn guards against misunderstanding the maxim. The maxim can not be applied to Judas; for, though he then stood high in honor and afterwards fell into disgrace, yet he stands outside the pale of the maxim as interpreted by the parable, for in the parable both the first and the last were received and rewarded by their master, while Judas was rejected of Christ and received no reward. The term "last," therefore, must be applied to those who were included among the accepted laborers, and not those who were excluded from that class. In the parable, the denarius or shilling stands for the gift of [551] eternal life. The vineyard represents the Lord's field of work in the world. The evening is the close of the Christian dispensation, and the coming of Christ to judgment. The parable as it unfolds and develops suggests that in no case was the reward earned by the inherent merits and toil of the laborers, but was rather bestowed because of a desire on the part of the householder to that effect, just as eternal life is bestowed, not by merit, but by covenant grace ( Rom_2:6, Rom_2:7, Rom_4:3-5, Rom_5:16-21). The main object of the parable is to show that longer labor does not necessarily, as the apostles and others might think, establish a claim to higher reward. Degrees of difference there no doubt will be, but they form no account in the general covenant of grace in which the one great gift is offered to us all. As the gift can be no less than eternal life, there must of necessity be a difference in the ratio of service which is rendered for it, since it will be bestowed on the octogenarian and the child, upon Paul who made good the confession of his faith through years of toil, and the dying thief who passed to his reward while his voice of confession was, as it were, still ringing in the ears of those who heard it ( 1Co_15:8-11, 2Ti_4:6-9). The murmuring and envy of those who had labored longest is merely part of the parabolic drapery, introduced to bring out the answer of the householder, and to make plain the point to be illustrated. There will be no envy among those who inherit eternal life. By thus speaking of the envy, however, and showing how ineffectual it was, Jesus warns us to be prepared not to cherish it. The parable is not intended to teach that the characters of men will be exactly similar in the world to come. Paul will not be Peter, nor will Martin Luther be identical with Hugh Latimer and John Knox. God may award eternal life to the character which we are forming, but we should be careful what kind of character we bring to receive the gift. The lesson is that works are valued qualitatively and not quantitatively. Nor may the parable be rightly used to encourage hope in death-bed repentance. It certainly does teach that, however little the labor which a man does in the Lord's vineyard, he will receive the final reward if only he [552] be really in the vineyard; that is, if he be really a child of God. But whether a man who repents on his death-bed actually becomes a child of God is a different question, and is not touched by the parable. Certainly the eleventh-hour laborer who had stood idle all day only because no man had hired him, and who came into the vineyard as soon as he was called, can not represent the man who has been called by the gospel every hour of his life, but has rejected every call until his sun has sunk so low that he knows he can do but little work when he comes. In order to represent this class of sinners, the eleventh-hour men should have been invited early in the morning, and should have replied, "No, it is too early; we will not go now." Then they should have been invited at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, and should have made some equally frivolous excuse each time, then, finally, at the eleventh hour, they should have said, "Well, as you pay a man just the same for an hour's work as for a day's work, and as we are very anxious to get your money, we believe we will now go." Had they acted thus, it is not likely that they would have found the vineyard gates open to them at all. Yet such is the sharp practice which some men attempt in dealing with God.]

[FFG 543-553]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Chapter 20

We may remark that, when the Lord answers Peter, it was the consequence of having left all for Christ upon His call. The motive was Christ Himself: therefore He says, “Ye which have followed me.” He speaks also of those who had done it for His name’s sake. This was the motive. The reward is an encouragement, when, for His sake, we are already in the way. This is always the case when reward is spoken of in the New Testament. [59] He who was called at the eleventh hour was dependent on this call for his entrance into the work; and if, in his kindness, the master chose to give him as much as the others, they should have rejoiced at it. The first adhered to justice; they received that which was agreed upon; the last enjoyed the grace of his master. And it is to be remarked that they accept the principle of grace, of confidence in it. “Whatsoever is right I will give!” The great point in the parable is that-confidence in the grace of the master of the vineyard, and grace as the ground of their action. But who understood it? A Paul might come in late, God having then called him, and be a stronger testimony to grace than the labourers who had wrought from the dawning of the gospel day.

The Lord afterwards pursues the subject with His disciples. He goes up to Jerusalem, where the Messiah ought to have been received and crowned, to be rejected and put to death, but after that to rise again; and when the sons of Zebedee come and ask him for the two first places in the kingdom, He answers that He can lead them indeed to suffering; but as to the first places in His kingdom, He could not bestow them, except (according to the Father’s counsels) on those for whom the Father had prepared them. Wondrous self-renunciation! It is for the Father, for us, that He works. He disposes of nothing. He can bestow on those who will follow Him a share in His sufferings: everything else shall be given according to the counsels of the Father. But what real glory for Christ and perfection in Him, and what a privilege for us to have this motive only, and to partake in the Lord’s sufferings! and what a purification of our carnal hearts is here proposed to us, in making us act only for a suffering Christ, sharing His cross, and committing ourselves to God for recompense!

The Lord then takes occasion to explain the sentiments that become His followers, the perfection of which they had seen in Himself. In the world, authority was sought for; but the spirit of Christ was a spirit of service, leading to the choice of the lowest place, and to entire devotedness to others. Beautiful and perfect principles, the full bright perfection of which was displayed in Christ. The renunciation of all things, in order to depend confidingly on the grace of Him whom we serve, the consequent readiness to take the lowest place, and thus to be the servant of all-this should be the spirit of those who have part in the kingdom as now established by the rejected Lord. It is this that becomes His followers. [60]

With the end of Mat 20:28 this portion of the Gospel terminates, and the closing scenes of the blessed Saviour’s life begin. At Mat 20:29 [61] begins His last presentation to Israel as the Son of David, the Lord, the true King of Israel, the Messiah. He begins His career in this respect at Jericho, the place where Joshua entered the land-the place on which the curse had so long rested. He opens the blind eyes of His people who believe in Him and receive Him as the Messiah, for such He truly was, although rejected. They salute Him as Son of David, and He answers their faith by opening their eyes. They follow Him-a figure of the true remnant of His people, who will wait for Him.

Footnotes for Matthew Chapter 20

59: Indeed, reward is in scripture always an encouragement to those who are in sorrow and suffering by having from higher motives entered into God’s way. So Moses; so even Christ, whose motive in perfect love we know, yet for the joy set before Him endured the cross despising the shame. He was the Leader and Completer in the path of faith.

60: Observe the way in which the sons of Zebedee and their mother come to seek the highest place, at the moment when the Lord was preparing unreservedly to take the very lowest. Alas! we see so much of the same spirit. The effect was to bring out how absolutely He had stripped Himself of everything. These are the principles of the heavenly kingdom: perfect self-renunciation, to be contented in thorough devotedness; this is the fruit of love that seeketh not her own-the yieldingness that flows from the absence of self-seeking; submission when despised; meekness and lowliness of heart. The spirit of service to others is that which love produces at the same time as the humility which is satisfied with this place. The Lord fulfilled this even unto death, giving His life as a ransom for many.

61: The case of the blind man at Jericho is, in all the first three Gospels, the commencement of the final circumstances of Christ’s life which led on to the cross, the general contents and teachings of each being closed. Hence He is addressed as Son of David, being the last presentation of Himself as such to them, God’s testimony being given to Him as such.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1. For the kingdom of heaven. This parable is added to illustrate what was said just before, in the last chapter. A man that is a householder. The householder represents God, the vineyard is the kingdom of Christ, the laborers his disciples. Went out early in the morning to hire. Said to be a common custom in the East. Unemployed laborers gather in the market place of the villages, waiting for an employer.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus tells a parable about a landowner who hires workers, to illustrate how God will reward those who belong to the kingdom of heaven.

For the kingdom of heaven is like

This is the beginning of a parable. See how you translated the introduction to the parable in Matthew 13:24. (See: Parables)

After he had agreed

"After the landowner had agreed"

one denarius

This was the daily wage at that time. AT: "one day's wages" (See: Biblical Money)

he sent them into his vineyard

"he sent them to work in his vineyard"

translationWords

kingdom of God

vineyard

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

1–16. THE PARABLE OF THE LABOURERS IN THE VINEYARD

Peculiar to St Matthew

1. ὁμοία γάρ ἐστιν κ.τ.λ. There are many possible applications of the parable, but the only true explanation of its meaning to the disciples at the time must be reached by considering the question to which it is an answer. The parable is addressed solely to the disciples. The thread of thought may be traced in this way: It is impossible for a rich man, one who trusts in riches, to enter the kingdom of heaven. The disciples, through Peter, say ‘We at any rate left all and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?’ Our Lord’s answer is (1) partly encouraging, (2) partly discouraging.

(1) All who have in a true sense given up all for Christ shall have a great reward (ch. Mat 19:28-29).

(2) But (Mat 20:30) priority of time is not everything. The parable is given in explanation of this point. Not only will the disciples not be the only called, but they may not reach a higher place or a higher reward than some who follow them at an apparent disadvantage. Still all who work shall have their reward. But they must beware of a spirit very prevalent among hard workers, and not think too much of their own labours, or be displeased because others are equally rewarded.

Possibly the element of time is introduced to illustrate in a parabolic form the apparent degrees of service, and to signify that no man can estimate the comparative merit of work for God.

ἀνθρώπῳ οἰκοδεσπότῃ. Cp. ἀνθρώπῳ ἐμπόρῳ, ch. Mat 13:45. ἀνθρώπῳ βασιλεῖ, ch. Mat 18:23.

ἅμα πρωΐ. This unclassical use of ἅμα with an adverb is modelled on such classical expressions as ἅμα ἕῳ, ἅμα ὄρθρῳ: cp. the late forms ἀπὸ τότε, ἀπὸ πέρυσι, and the classical ἐς ἀεί, ἐς ἔπειτα, ἐς ὀψέ. Winer, p. 525 and note 5.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For [γαρ] . Explaining and confirming Mt 19:30.

Early in the morning [αμα πρωι] . Along with the dawn. "Here (at Hamadan, in Persia), we observed every morning, before the sun rose, that a numerous band of peasants were collected, with spades in their hands, waiting to be hired for the day to work in the surrounding fields. This custom struck me as a most happy illustration of our Savior 's parable, particularly when, passing by the same place late in the day, we found others standing idle, and remembered the words, 'Why stand ye here all the day idle?' as most applicable to their situation; for on putting the very same question to them, they answered us, 'Because no man hath hired us. '" (Morier, "Second Journey through Persia," cited by Trench, " Parables. ")

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.