The Parables of the Lord Jesus Christ
6 - The Workers in the Vineyard
This time we are looking at another of the parables of the Lord Jesus Christ. You will find it in the New Testament of the Bible, in Matthew chapter 20 verses 1 to 16. It is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. From the previous talks in this series you will have discovered that these stories were told by Jesus to bring home to his listeners some important spiritual lessons. Although the parables are set in the time of Jesus and the incidents relate to situations prevailing then and in that culture, the lessons that come from them are very clear even in our day.
In the last verse of the previous chapter Jesus makes this statement: "But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first." In this parable of the workers in the vineyard He explains what this means. He sums it all up in chapter 20 verse 6 with the words: "So the last will be first, and the first will be last. Many are called but few are chosen."
The parable is all about the owner of a vineyard and the men he employed to work for him. At the end of the day they are all rewarded for their work. The parable is actually about what will happen when God's reign in its final, earthly phase is unfolded. It is effectively a picture of the Day of Judgement. Because, at the end of the day, we must all appear before God.
This landowner is clearly a wealthy man with an estate that included a large vineyard requiring many workers to look after it. In this parable Jesus is telling us something about God. He is reminding us that God is the owner of everything and the right to rule is His, not ours. Now this landowner would have had a steward, or foreman, whose responsibility is was to care for the vineyard. However, he himself is so interested in it that he goes out at daybreak to hire the workforce personally. He meets some unemployed men and agrees with them the terms of employment. He offers them the standard daily wage for a soldier or a workman. The terms may have been discussed, but the workers do agree to his offer. We read that "he agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard."
Later, at nine o'clock that morning, he goes looking for more workers because the vineyard needs many men to attend to it. In the marketplace idle men are chatting together and the landowner approaches them. There is no discussion or agreement concerning wages. The men agree to go and work in the vineyard and trust their employer to be fair to them. They raise no objections and ask no questions, they just go and do their work. And the same thing happens again at mid-day, at three o'clock and at five o'clock, almost at the end of the day. To the men at five o'clock the landowner says, "Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?" They reply, "Because no-one has hired us." So he says to them, "You also go and work in my vineyard and whatever is right you will receive." And so they go without further discussion.
Now wages were usually paid at the end of the working day, but there is something strange and unusual in this story. The owner gives very clear instructions to his foreman. We read them in verse 8: "The owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.'" So along come the men who have worked for only one hour and they are paid. Then come those who have worked for only two hours and so on until those who had started work right at the beginning of the day are paid their wages. Those who had worked hard all day had to see exactly how much the others were paid who had worked only a part of the day. Normally this would never happen, but the usual order is completely reversed. Jesus is emphasising the point He has already made, that the last will be first and the first last. So the workers who had been toiling all day long, and had to wait to the very end, must have been very disappointed. That is not all. There is another surprise for them. The latecomers receive a denarius for just one hour's work, the same as those who had worked all day. As you might imagine, they immediately complained to their employer. "Why should we only get the same money for a full day's work, and in the heat of the day, as these men who have only worked for one hour?"
And now comes the real meaning of this parable - the main lesson to be discovered. In taking the story through to the evening, or the end of the day, Jesus is pointing us to the evening of the world's history. In other words the great day of the final judgement and the revealing of God's kingdom in all its glory. Remember the context of this parable, going back to the end of chapter nineteen where Jesus is replying to a remarkable question by Peter: "We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?" He received an equally remarkable answer. There is a special promise to the disciples: "You who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." There is also a promise for all who suffer loss for his sake: "they will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life."
Remember that Peter was a Jew and like most Jews he did not understand God's purposes concerning the salvation of the Gentiles. We read in Acts chapter 10 verse 28, that it took a strange vision from heaven to make him understand that God's plan of salvation is for all nations. Peter and his fellow disciples were apt to be rather proud of their sacrifice for Christ's sake and the Lord knew this.
In calling the world to a knowledge of Himself, God exercises free, sovereign and unconditional grace. He calls nations to be saved at his own time and in his own way. This is seen in his calling of Israel to be his own chosen people at the "beginning of the day." We see some Gentiles called later as Paul took the Gospel into Asia minor and Europe. And down the centuries, as time has passed, we see other nations around the world called into God's kingdom. There are those yet to be reached and saved, some as it were at the end of the day, just before Christ returns. Are these to be any less blessed than those called centuries ago? Of course not!
So, listen carefully to the landowner's reply: "Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?" The price was agreed and there was nothing unfair about that. They must accept the will of their employer and not resent his goodness to those who came later to the work. This parable is reminding us that God is really very kind, very merciful and very gracious to undeserving sinners no matter who or where they are. It reminds us that God is sovereign and is in full control of every situation. His will is best and He is very just and very fair in all his dealings with mankind.
We also discover from this parable that in calling individuals as well as nations, God is sovereign and accountable to no one else. He has mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom He will have compassion. That is found in Exodus chapter 33 verse 19. In this parable some were called at dawn, others at mid-day, still others in the evening. So some are called of the Lord early in life, like Timothy, and work for the Lord for a lifetime. Others are called at "the last minute" like the thief on the cross. Perhaps you came to Christ in your teens or perhaps in your fifties. Maybe in the autumn of life He called and saved you. All are equally justified and accepted, and will be found at Christ's right hand on the last day. This does not mean, however, that all the saved will have the same degree of glory. The inheritance of all believers is sure, "kept I heaven" for us as Peter reminds us in his first letter. But Paul told the Corinthian believers that "each will be rewarded according to his own labour." This is not to say, and this parable does not teach this, that we are saved by working for the Lord. We are justified, not by the things we do, but by our faith in Christ. When we are called into Christ's vineyard, we work for Him in response to his love for us so as to please Him.
The fact is that none of us deserved that the Lord Jesus should die for us on the cross. So whether you have been a Christian all your life, or whether you have only recently come to Him, or whether you are nearly at the end of your life, the great thing is that God has been merciful to you and has saved you. So never question the goodness of God to others, but thank Him for his grace towards you.