Matthew 20:1-16 Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
Jesus introduces this parable saying that the kingdom of heaven is like this. That's an impressive, if not disturbing introduction to this particular parable for many reasons. I believe that the kingdom of heaven in Matthew's gospel applies directly to the church. If this is true, what might Jesus be telling us?
This parable is easily misunderstood and misinterpreted. For instance: Can you imagine being envious of someone who lives for the devil for most of their lives and finally comes to Christ at the end and is saved? Some see this idea in this parable. A darker question is: Would some of us prefer such a scenario for our own lives? For example: Maybe I can sow my wild oats and enjoy sinful pleasures for most of my life and avoid all that Christian duty stuff and church commitment, but close to the end, I'll repent and still avoid hell! That thought says that abundant life is actually outside of Christ and not within the borders of the kingdom of heaven. The prophet Malachi deals with this. Perhaps you have been there. Is anyone here growing weary of working for the Lord and getting discouraged?
I must admit that in my childhood I remember many of my friends got to stay home on Sunday nights and watch Walt Disney while I was dragged to church by my parents for another boring church service. I remember thinking, why do we have to always miss the good stuff?
Can any of you relate?
Does this parable address any of this? Is Jesus saying that working for the kingdom is like hard labor in the hot sun out in the fields while living in the world is like hanging out with your friends in the market place sipping coffee while you wait for a gig? Is that his message here? I would argue that THAT thinking completely misses the point of the parable, but points to another problem of the heart that is answered in other scriptures.
So what is going on here? Jesus is talking about the kingdom of heaven, and making points that we need today. Let's look at it carefully and let the words of Jesus sink in and show us something can help us. Think with me about Jesus' words here.
1. The landowner goes out to hire men to work in his vineyard. Do these men want to have this job? Absolutely! They have come out early in the morning hoping to find work so that they can feed their families and make enough to live on. The landowner doesn't have to twist their arms to get them to come! They WANT this job. They NEED the pay! The landowner agrees with them for a denarius, or a day's wages. It is a fair wage and, glad to get it, they go out to his fields to work, blessed with the security that they and their families will eat and have enough to live on today. They are happy to give a day's work for a day's wages. It's all fair and square.
If you were to interview any of them as they head off to the vineyard to work, which do you think they would be: aggravated or thankful that they had a paying job today? Of course they would be thankful! The landowner has blessed them by giving them this opportunity. Do you think that they would look on other men who were not hired as better off or worse off than themselves? Again, it's a "no brainer." Of course they would consider themselves as better off than those standing around waiting and hoping for a job! They are secure in the employment of this landowner. Glad to have the job. The concept of wishing they could be among the unemployed instead of having this work would be totally foreign to them.
2. But the parable continues. Jesus says that the landowner keeps going out every few hours and finding others who are standing around unemployed. When he sees them, he sends them out to his vineyard to work saying, "Go work for me and I'll pay you what is right." He doesn't tell them how much they will get, only that it will be "right." Would you like to know the Greek word here that is translated "right"? Some of you scholars might find this interesting. The word translated "right" is the same word for righteous or just. All the landowner is offering these men who are hired later on in the day is what would be fair pay for their time. They do not expect to receive a whole day's wages, but only what is right.
3. Then comes the final part that creates the tension and will later give heartburn to the workers who were hired early on. The landowner goes out at about an hour before quitting time and sees still others standing there. Have they been there all day? Yes. That's what the landowner asks. Do you think they were happy and enjoying standing around all day without work? No way! Remember, this was long before welfare and social security. Listen to the landowner's question. Why have you guys been standing here idle all day? It is clear that this is his first encounter with them today. He didn't see them before this and they didn't just get here after a lazy day at the club or McDonalds. These men have been looking for work all day and no one hired them. They might have been worried about feeding the family, wondering what they would say to the wife and kids when they had to go home that evening empty handed.
Those were the days when Jesus taught them to pray: Give us this day our daily bread. Those people understood hunger. Having something to eat was a real and present issue. We are so blessed. We have so much. But even we can understand the problem of unemployment.
One of the worst things that can happen to a man is that he be without a job. Not just a paying job, but something that he does for work. Immediately after creating man, God put him in the garden to tend and care for it. When a man is without work it is demoralizing and debasing. Men were created by God in His image and after His likeness, and God is a worker! God made us to work. We are His workmanship created for good works which God has prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Eph. 2:10. We are instructed to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in us, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. Phil. 2:12-13.
For six out of seven days on the very first week, what did God do? He worked. His day of rest was actually quite unique! God wants us to follow the rhythms and pattern of His activity. Six days of work and one of rest. This is a divine model, not just a good suggestion. The Sabbath rest of God is a huge concept in both the old and new Testaments. But even more so is the work and working of God! Jesus said, "My Father is always at his work to this very day and I too am working." John 5:17. It is against our very human nature to not work. We are designed for it. Men, particularly, find fulfillment and identity in their jobs. It gives us purpose, security, and we tend to measure our success by our jobs. That's part of why the end of this parable hits home.
4. At the end of the day the landowner calls in the workers and lines them up to be paid, starting with the ones who had been hired last and had only worked an hour. Now these workers needed a full day's pay just to make enough to live on. But fair is fair, right? In the kingdom of heaven you get what you deserve, right?
How many of us who are living for God and serving Him think that we are earning our way into heaven? I mean, when you stand there before the Judge of all the earth and give an account for your life, do you think He will say, "Congratulations! You did it! Come on into heaven, because you deserve it!"? Surely no one here thinks that, do you?
Now that doesn't mean we haven't heard the call of our Lord and answered it and entered the fields of labor for the King of kings. I'm not saying that we shouldn't live our lives in Christ worthy of the calling we received and in such a way that our Lord will say: Welcome, you who are blessed by my Father! Enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the earth! For I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you came to me. Remember, God didn't call us into salvation in Jesus Christ so that we would hang out as spiritually unemployed but draw a heavenly check just the same. Jesus didn't come here and die on the cross so that we could relax and sit back at ease and not follow His example. Jesus is our mentor as well as our master. What he did, we are called to do. It's part of the blessing of transformation into the image of Christ. Those who think salvation means we don't have a job are dead wrong. That's not the point of the gospel or this parable or the grace of God. Whoever will not work for the Lord will not eat at the feast in glory!
But each one who receives the call and enters the vineyard also receives the reward. Let me address the problem I started with. For those who think they can live for the devil for a while and then repent and be saved, think again. Those who were hired the eleventh hour were waiting all day for this. They would have taken the job in the morning if they had the chance. If you hear the voice of God calling you into his vineyard and refuse to answer, God doesn't work like you think. If the landowner offered to hire the morning crew and they refused, do you think he would come back in the evening and say, "Well, there's only one hour left, but if you'll just come on out, I'll pay you just the same." I don't think so. God's word says that if you refuse to listen and go on sinning willfully after coming to a knowledge of the truth, it is worse for you. Listen to Hebrews 10:26-31.
Jesus parable is about men who wanted to work! They were waiting, hoping to be hired. They knew that their livelihood depended on being employed. When the landowner hired those men in the evening, they entered the fields and did as much as they could during that hour's work! But here's the point: They did it without expecting to receive as much as those who had labored all day. They could not have known that the landowner would surprise them by his gracious generosity. But he did. He gave them a full day's pay for an hour's work. He knew that if they could have, they would have worked for him all day. There's a huge difference in that and one who would like to get out of work but get the reward. That's a heart problem that will bring wrath from God, not grace.
Soooo, why does the parable end like this? Why is envy even seen in a parable about God's grace? That contrast is part of the point Jesus is making. God's grace is based on God's own generosity, not on our hard work or earnings.
Titus 3: 4But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7so that, having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.
Ephesians 2: 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Luke 17: 7"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? 8Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? 9Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? 10So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' "
God's value of people has less to do with performance (think about what Jesus has just taught on greatness and little children) than it does about the heart and commitment of whoever hears the call whenever they hear it and answer it.
The worldly attitude of performance based value can create pride and envy. Pride says: I am greater than others. Envy says: No fair! They are getting more than me! Or more than they should! Jesus parable shows us that the reward in the kingdom of God is based on God's gracious generosity that creates opportunity for all who will hear and come follow Jesus Christ.
