(Full Disclosures: This message is based on a message preached at First Baptist Church, Chamois, MO, on 3-5-2023. This is not an exact transcription. Further, Sermon Central has a message based on this text called “Go Thy Way-The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard” but this is a completely different message and focus.)
Introduction: Last Sunday we looked at the rich young ruler, and the dark side of love. That was because he loved his stuff more than his soul, and when Jesus told him what he needed to do, he didn’t do it. True, he came running to Jesus, but he walked away when Jesus got too personal and too close to comfort, in his opinion.
It was right after this that Jesus remarked that it was very hard for a rich man (or, woman, for that matter) to enter the Kingdom of God. It was after this, when the rich man walked away, that Jesus told this parable. Let’s look at the text:
Text: Matthew 20:1-16, NASV: 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 marketplace; 4 and to those he said, ‘You go into the vineyard also, 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.’
8 “Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group to the first.’ 9 When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 And so 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 who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat.’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 want to give to this last person the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ 16 So the last shall be first, and the first, last.”
<opening prayer>
Jesus told this story not long after the rich young ruler walked away sad after running to Jesus, concerned about how he would inherit eternal life. One of the conditions, which Jesus laid on the ruler, was to sell all he had and give alms. I remember a saying, something along the lines of “those with little feel the need; those with much feel naught but greed.” He had plenty of “stuff” but that was the problem: he wanted his stuff more than he wanted to obey the words of Jesus.
Now, one of the reasons why the disciples, especially Peter, remarked, “We left everything to follow You, so what about us?” was that this wasn’t the first time Jesus had issued that challenge back in Luke 12, when the Lord had finished His parable of the Rich Fool. We’ll not go there at this time but it’s always a good passage to read, and heed.
All right. We’re now at the point where Jesus told this parable about something that most Jews would be very familiar with, and that was vineyards. I remember reading in some of the commentaries that the soil of Israel was very good for growing grapes, not so much for grains. We shouldn’t be surprised; after all, the Parable of the Sower and Seed (Matthew 13) explains how hard it was to get any kind of a decent crop at all!
But going back to vineyards. There are various descriptions about how big the vines grew and how much space each vineyard would need. One of the teachers observed that during grape harvest season (usually in our September time frame) the towns were deserted because most everyone was out harvesting grapes. Grapes, by the way, had other uses besides, well, grapes and wine; some of course became raisins: Abigail gave David and his men one hundred “clusters of raisins (1 Samuel 25:18)” and later the people of Israel ate raisins in abundance when David was made king over all Israel (1 Chronicles 12). They even knew how to boil down grape juice to make a type of honey! Grapes, then, were very valuable indeed.
With that background in mind, the disciples probably had a working knowledge, at least, of how important grape harvest was to the people. Jesus began with a familiar sight, a landowner (“goodman” in the KJV was simply another word for landowner) who knew it was harvest time. He also knew there was no way he could harvest all the grapes by himself even with the regular staff or employees, servants, and so forth. He needed help and he knew it. Otherwise, the grapes would decay or rot on the vine and a lot of good stuff would go to waste.
Jesus related how the landowner himself went out to the marketplace and hired (emphasis: hired) a number of men to work in the vineyard. The term “early in the morning” usually meant just at sunrise or shortly afterwards, with the actual work beginning about 6 AM and ending about 6 PM. They didn’t have daylight savings time (and I’m pretty sure they were glad about that!) so if I’m not mistaken, it would be getting dark (this was about sunset) but not too dark for the men to get back to their homes.
It became clear to the landowner he needed more help, and fast, otherwise he’d lose some of the crop, at least. He then, about three hours later (about 9 AM) went out and hired, sort of, another group of men. I add that qualifier because these men didn’t agree to any set amount, just willing to take what they would get for at least a few hours of work.
And as the day wore on, it became even more obvious that more help was needed, soon. The landowner went back to the marketplace at noon (the sixth hour) and 3 PM (the ninth hour). Like the others, these men didn’t make any attempt to negotiate a “deal” for the work—they just went into the vineyard and got to work.
As incredible as it sounds, Jesus added two more wrinkles to the story. First, He related that even two hours later, or 5 PM—one hour before the end of the workday—the landowner still needed more workers and, there were some men who were there! The text shows how the men replied “Nobody hired us (looking at you, landowner, sir)!” when there were other calls or, we might say, recruitment for working in the vineyard. Without missing a beat, the landowner said, “You, too, go into the vineyard”. Note that nothing is said here about any payment.
But the workday wasn’t over just yet. There was more to come, and come it did.
“Evening” in verse 8 means sundown or twilight. Apparently it was becoming dark, but there was still enough light for the men to receive their pay. The vineyard owner/landowner decided to put things in reverse order: those whom he had “hired”, for lack of a better word, were going to be paid first. These men had no idea, probably, how much they would get but they knew that a little bit of something was always better than a whole lot of nothing any day of the week.
Jesus doesn’t give any details as to how each man was paid. Some of the commentators think each worker went to a table or desk and received his pay for the day. Again, the men who went to work in the vineyard, except for the ones hired at the start of the day, had no idea how much they would receive, only “whatever is right”.
Now imagine their surprise when these latest-hires get a full day’s pay! There are various opinions as to why this happened but the most obvious reason is in verse 14—the landowner was not only rich but generous. And some of the workers, as we’ll see in a moment, couldn’t handle either of these qualities.
Apparently the other groups received the same thing, and as the coins changed hands (the word translated “denarius” or ‘penny” in the King James Version) represent a day’s pay for a day’s work. The first batch of workers, who had agreed—and it’s anybody’s guess how much haggling took place before they closed their mouths and went to work. Now, these men had already agreed for a denarius early in the morning but as they saw others get the same pay for less work, they began to think, “If they got this much, we should get more, too!”
That wasn’t going to happen. They received their coin but instead of saying “Thanks” or “We’ll be glad to work for you again”, or something positive, they began to grumble! They looked at the landowner and said, “You made us equal to those who only worked one hour. We put up with the burden and the scorching heat.” This is a fair point, as there was, and still is, an east wind called a “sirocco” that is hot, and even worse, brings sand and dust with it. The closest I ever came to this was when I lived in New Mexico and saw an occasional sandstorm, and also in southern California where there were “Santa Ana” winds. This happened when sand began to whirl upwards, like a cyclone, but I have no idea where the dust went when the wind was over. The first time I saw one of these, I wondered if this was how the Rapture might take place, with a “Santa Ana” in place for every believer! That’s a joke, of course. Besides, we’re still here and I have yet to hear the sounds Paul mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4!
Showing true greatness, the landowner responded to the leader, perhaps, of the first group. He said, “Friend (oddly, the same word Jesus used of Judas when Judas betrayed Jesus), I’m not doing you any wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius for the day’s work (paraphrased)? Then (no record of the grumblers saying anything at this point) take what’s yours (after all, I gave it to you, and I kept my end of the bargain) and (get this) go! If I want to give the same to this last man the same as you, it’s none of your business!”
Jesus closed the story, not with the reaction of the grumblers, or the other hires, or anyone else in the story. He simply said, “The last shall be first and the first last.”
You may be asking me, “Okay, but what does all this mean to me?” I have to tell you, there are a lot of interpretations about this story. The primary application is for the Apostles, who may have thought they deserved something better or something greater because they were among the “first”. After all, they were among the few men of history who walked with Jesus on a regular basis during His days on earth.
But there are a few other possible ways to interpret this parable. One that seems almost too clear to miss is that people come to Christ at various stages of life. Some are born again or saved at a very young age: six, seven, eight, for example. Others come to Christ as teenagers (I went to school with one such high school student. His life before and after was proof positive Jesus had changed him.) Still others come to faith in their twenties, thirties, and even later. A pastor’s wife I knew once told me about a man who became a believer in Jesus after his believing wife had died. This man was 92!
We could say that the various hours in the day reflect the ages when people get busy for the Lord. This wouldn’t be true necessarily in the Lord’s era, when He walked this earth, as the priests began serving around age 30 and retired about age 50 (Numbers 4, various verses). Yet it would be true as Peter was probably middle-aged, and even young people like Rhoda of Acts 12 were believers. Truly, it’s never too soon but someday it could be too late to work for the Lord.
And we’ll close with this possible interpretation. Let’s say the days when Jesus walked the earth with the Apostles, and the first few years of the Church, are the “early in the morning” period. As the years go by, more believers come to faith in Christ, and saints die off, there’s going to be a need for more workers in the vineyard.
Every day brings us a fresh set of opportunities to serve the Lord—but each day also brings us closer to the end of our earthly journey. Jack Mortensen was president of a Christian radio network and hosted a daily program over the station near my hometown. He would close his broadcast every day by saying, “Live every day as if it were your last, for someday, it will be.” Let’s head for the vineyard and get to work for the LORD!
Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Version of the Bible (NASV).
