Unwanted Items-The Unwanted Salary

Unwanted items-the unwanted salary

Introduction: Have you ever been so angry with your employer that you threw your pay away? Something like that happened in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20)!

(Full disclosure: Sermon Central has previously accepted a message on this text in my “Go Thy Way” series. This work here is only intended to be an illustration, not a complete message.)

Text: Matthew 20:1-16, KJV: 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. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.

8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

In the immediate context (Matthew 19), Jesus had just completed His conversation with the “rich young ruler”, who had run to Jesus but walked away, sadly, when Jesus explained the terms and cost of discipleship. Peter had then stated (complained?) that they, the Twelve, had left everything to follow Him and Jesus replied with this parable.

The focus of this illustration is the concept that some of the workers, in this story, got what they wanted but still weren’t happy! The first few verses tell how a certain landowner sought men to work in his vineyard because it was harvest season (apparently). He and a group of men bargained (!) for a day’s wage for a day’s work and then went into the vineyard.

Jesus went on to say that the landowner needed more and more people so went to find more people to do the work. Eventually, the work-day drew to a close and the landowner called his steward, or foreman, to pay the men. Starting with the newest, then on down the line to the original group of hired men, each man received a “penny” or denarius, per some translations. Each “penny” or denarius was equal to a day’s wage for a day’s work.

Now, you and I would likely think, “I got what I agreed to get” and then, maybe, have gone home after perhaps stopping to get some groceries at any of the markets if they were open. For the later- and last-hired, this full day’s wage might have seemed like a dream come true—they finally had some money so they could purchase essentials, and the like. And, I’d like to think, you and I would be happy, no?

But not so for at least one of the first batch hired before the work started. One, in particular, seemed to be the voice of the group and complained to the landowner, saying in so many words, “Those guys you hired last got the same pay as we did, but they didn’t have to put up with the same stuff that we did.” The hidden message, as I see it, is. “Yes, we agreed for so much but we deserve more!” And, I think, all of “Group 1” or the original hires waited to see just what, if anything, the landowner might say in return.

And those men were in for a surprise. The landowner simply said, “Friend (no harsh words here), I’m not doing anything wrong. Didn’t you agree for a penny for a day’s work? (They might have more or less grudgingly muttered, ‘Yeah, we did’ or similar words).”

Then comes, to me, the surprise of this story: the landowner says “Take what’s yours and go your way!” What some translators and commentators point out is that the word “take” could actually mean “take up”, as if these workers had thrown their pay on the grass or ground!

Now wouldn’t that be something! I mean, just imagine how Joel or Saul or Jacob or whatever the men were named came home and told his wife, “Oh, honey, I just showed that boss of mine what he could do with his money! Some of the other guys and me, why, we started work about 6 am, put in a whole days’ work, got off at 6 pm, and when he gave the folks hired after us the same pay as what we agreed to, I showed him! I threw his lousy penny back at his feet! Yeah, I showed him, all right!”

We probably don’t want to know what the wife might have said!

To be sure, there are some occupations that believers might well question if this is really the position the Lord wants us to be in. Each one of us must answer for ourselves before the Lord some day. But here, where there was honest work and an honest wage, I have to think that somebody would be worse than angry if he threw his pay on the ground!

Unwanted salary? That seems to be the case here. My prayer is that we’ll always accept the good things our Lord wants to give us, and reject anything the Devil offers us. Please choose the best!

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV)