A Super-Generous God, Parable of the Vineyard, Matthew 20 1-16

Daniel Gabriel Rossetti

Matthew 20

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

¹ “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ² He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

³ “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ⁴ He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ ⁵ So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. ⁶ About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

⁷ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
The workday ended at 6. It was divided into 4 3-hour increments from 6 to 6. The workers were desperate enough to continue waiting for work near the end of the workday.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “When evening came, 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.’

⁹ “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. ¹⁰ So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ¹² ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

¹³ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. ¹⁵ Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

¹⁶ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

A parable of the Kingdom. Everyone who turns to Jesus gets Jesus, whether they work much, or work little.

Their reward rests upon the mercy of the King, not their deserts.

The sinner who humbly repents at the eleventh hour, on the cross, gets the same reward as the one who followed Christ from his youth.

Why?

Because the King is generous.

But as David said, “You are indeed just, Lord, if I contend with thee.” Those who have followed Christ for longer have known him for longer. And Christ is the reward.

It was not the fault of the workmen who have stood around all day that they were not hired. Perhaps they were older, weaker, less pushy, less attractive. They were however willing to work, and so they were rewarded for their willingness.

Those who come to faith later are rewarded just as much as those who have followed Christ from their youth.

NIV The main point is the sovereign graciousness and generosity of God extended to latecomers (the poor and the outcasts) into God’s kingdom. It is addressed to the grumblers who just cannot handle this amazing expression of God’s grace. They almost certainly represent the religious leaders who opposed Jesus.

Jesus is affirming that God’s generosity is more abundant than anyone would expect. All the workers except the first got more than they deserved.