Lesson 3 - Matt. 20:1-16 - PARABLE OF LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in Matt. 17:1-9, we studied one of the most fascinating events in the NT: The Transfiguration of Jesus Christ on top of a mountain, when He appeared to Peter, James, and John in His glorified state, standing in company with Moses and Elijah, and they heard the voice of God Himself proclaim from a dazzling cloud, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" (17:5). From this, we learned that the chief purpose of the Transfiguration was confirmation: To confirm (1) that Jesus Christ was in fact the Son of the Living God; (2) that Jesus was the Messiah predicted in the OT; (4) that the Messiah would have to suffer and die; and the kingdom of God promised in the OT would be delayed until Jesus returned to establish it. We also learned that one of the main purposes of the Transfiguration was to help Jesus' inner-circle of disciples to understand why their Lord and Master would have to suffer and die before His resurrection.
This week, In Matt. 20:1-16, we'll study Jesus' "Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard." Both Chapters 19 and 20 emphasize and demonstrate that the rules by which the Kingdom of Heaven operates are utterly distinct from those that govern our world. Jesus has already told His disciples that they will be richly rewarded in the Kingdom for all they've given up to follow Him. In the final two verses of Chapter 19, He tells them: "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last; and the last, first" (Matt. 19:29-30). This parable illustrates and explains what Jesus meant in those verses.
Read Matt. 19:1-7 - THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE A LANDOWNER
1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And so they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?' 7 They *said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He *said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'
v. 1: "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard." - The parable begins well: The landowner simply goes out very early in the morning to find laborers to work in his vineyard for a day.
v. 2: "When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard." - He next hires laborers who agree to do a full day's wok for a "denarius," the standard wage for a day's (12 hours: 6:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m.) work in those times. So far, so good.
vv. 3-4: "And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, 'You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.' And so they went." - This would be 9:00 a.m. The landowner goes back to the marketplace to hire additional laborers to work in his vineyard but indicates that he will pay them "whatever is right" rather than a specified wage. We might perceive this crowd as less energetic than the earlier group.
v. 5: "Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing." - The "sixth" and "ninth" hours would be 12 noon and 3:00 p.m. The amount of their wage wasn't brouht up .
vv. 6-7: "And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, 'Why have you been standing here idle all day long?' 7 They *said to him, 'Because no one hired us.' He *said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'" - The 11th hour is 5:00 p.m., from which we derive the adage "waiting until the 11th hour" as putting off something we need to do until the last minute. When asked why they had waited so long, they claimed that "no one hired us." Most employers would be skeptical about this group, thinking they might be lazy or irresponsible. Like the two previous groups, the landowner makes no mention what they might expect to be paid.
Read Matt. 20:8-12 - CALL THE LABORERS AND PAY THEM THEIR WAGES
8 "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.' 9 When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'
v. 8: "When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, 'Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.'" - Now remember what Jesus said at the end of the previous chapter: "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first" (19:30). In this parable, the workers hired last will get paid first and the all-day workers will get paid last, which was the opposite of the way it was usually done.
v. 9: "When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius." - What? The last group of workers are paid a denarius, a full day's wage, even though they had worked only for one hour! Who are these one-hour workers in relation to God's kingdom? Those who repented on their deathbeds? Yes! Those who battled addiction all their lives ? Yes! Those who wasted the best years of their lives and only came to Jesus in their last withered years?" Yes! Tax collectors? Yes? Prostitutes? Yes! Would you be willing to trade your life with any one of them? No!
v. 10: "When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius." - These are the go-getters, the people who showed up early and worked like beavers all day long. This landowner has repeatedly demonstrated that he's a generous person. Yet, when they line-up to get paid, they receive just one denarius like everybody else. Bummer!
Read Matt. 20:11-15 - FRIEND, I AM DOING YOU NO WRONG
11 When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.' 13 But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'
v. 11: "When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner," - The "it" is the one denarius they previously agreed to accept for a day's work. The landowner completely fulfilled his end of the bargain, but after they had observed the undeserved grace the landowner showed to the late-comers, these early workers felt that they had been short-changed, so they "grumbled." The word used for grumbled (Gk. gogguzó [gong-good'-zo]) means to hold a smoldering dissatisfaction. While Christians who have worked long and hard as disciples honestly want God to show mercy to people who are less fortunate, they can mistakenly allow themselves to feel that God should reward their faithful service with extra blessings. But in this parable, Jesus says no: They will get their one denarius like the convicted felon who gave his life to Jesus in his prison cell only a few days ago.
v. 12: "saying, 'These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.'" - The short answer to this complaint is that we are all equal at the foot of the cross. This verse would remind the Christian Jews in the early church that Gentiles Christians were in every way "equal" to them as members of the church and should not be made to submit to Jewish customs and religious rituals.
v. 13: "But he answered and said to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius?'" - Notice that the landowner politely refers the complainers as "friend." Even though they show him no gratitude, he does not to them respond in kind. He has shown grace to the late-comers, and now he shown grace to the grumblers as well. The landowner's generosity toward the late-comers has taken absolutely nothing away from those who came early.
v. 14: "Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you." - The landowner has not short-changed the early workers but has paid them exactly as originally agreed. And the landowner doesn't condemn them for their complaint, but acknowledges that the denarius now belongs to them and that they are free to leave with it. The implication is that they are free to go with the wages they rightfully earned, but that they are not free to dictate what the landowner can do with the rest of his money. If he chooses to be especially generous with the eleventh-hour workers, he will do so, and he does.
v. 15: "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?'" - These two questions go right to the heart of the parable. The basic truth we derive from it is that God is sovereign. In this parable, the vineyard represents God's Kingdom, the landowner represents the LORD Himself, the early workers represent the covenant Jews, and the later workers the Gentiles. The LORD extended His grace to the Jewish people over a period of centuries, going back to the time of the Exodus. But, at the present time, the Jews needed to understand and accept that the LORD's generosity-a metaphor for His grace-is the LORD's to give, and because He is sovereign, He's free to extend His grace to whomever He chooses whenever He pleases. In the context of the New Covenant, the LORD, as God the Father, is still the sovereign owner of the vineyard, and Jesus Christ, God the Son, as the Messiah, has been appointed to extend God's offer of grace to all people through the message of the gospel. When Paul spoke of the gospel bringing salvation "first to the Jew" in Rom. 1:16, he alluded to the favored relationship the Jews had with the Messiah. Jesus, the Christ, was the Son of David, and fulfilled the hope of the Messiah for whom the Jews had been waiting (Luke 2:38). Thus, when the gospel of Christ was first proclaimed, the Jews initially had precedence. We see this precedence at work in Paul's first missionary journey. Every time they came to a new city, Paul and Barnabas would preach in the synagogue to the Jews in that city. In Antioch of Pisidia, when they faced intense opposition from the unbelieving Jews, the two missionaries said to them, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first; since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles" (Acts 13:46).
Read Matthew 20:16 - THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST, AND THE FIRST LAST
16 So the last shall be first, and the first last."
v. 16: In the final analysis of this parable , the message of verse 16 , "the last shall be first, and the first last" (NASB 95), means that no matter how long or how hard a Christian believer may work during his or her lifetime, the reward of eternal life will be the same given to all-an eternity of joy and happiness in heaven in the presence of God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The thief on the cross (Luke 23:39-43), whose life of service was limited to a moment of repentance and confession of faith in Christ, received the same reward of eternal life as the apostle Paul and all the other saints. While Scripture also teaches that there are different rewards in heaven for different achievements, the ultimate reward of eternal life will be achieved equally by all who believe. (see Heb. 11:26).
APPLICATION-Understanding How God Governs His Kingdom
1. The Lord is sovereign over His kingdom. Because He's the landowner, He can pay people whatever He wants to pay them as long as He deals with them fairly. No one in this parable could accuse Him of being unfair. He owed no one an explanation of His dealings with the other workers in the vineyard. He arranged for the first workers to be paid a day's wages-that was fair. But to the other workers, out of His generosity (grace), He paid them more than they deserved.
2. Everyone who serves the Lord will receive their fair share. The workers either got what they agreed to, or they got more. In fact, the latter workers who came to work without a specified wage had to trust that the landowner would deal with them fairly. And because they trusted in His fairness (his grace), they were rewarded with the same wage that the first group had received. Jesus no doubt introduced this standard to emphasize the premise that the last shall be first.
3. The Lord deals with all of His faithful servants by the extension of His grace. Until the workers were approached by the landowner, they had no work (were lost). Had He had not found them and invited them to enter his vineyard, they would have left with nothing. No person of faith can complain that such a gracious provision is unfair. Everyone should be grateful that God provided them with the opportunity to be of service to Him.
