September 24, 2023

He Taught Them Many Things in Parables

The Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1-16, Matthew 20:1-16, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for their vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, the landowner sent them into the vineyard. 3 When the landowner went out about nine o’clock, they saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 When the landowner went out again about noon and about three o’clock, doing the same. 6 And about five o’clock the landowner went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7 They replied, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ The landowner said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to the manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But the landowner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’[a] 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

That's not fair!" Maybe our thinking is wrong rather than the landowner’s actions.  God's ways are not our ways. What does that mean in this parable?  Do we grudgingly labor for the Lord in order to be paid later or do we gladly labor in God’s vineyard because doing so is “payment in full” already?  What is our motive for doing what we do for God and others?