In Matthew 20 is an account of a businessman who did strange things. Early in the morning he went out looking for workmen to hire and made a contract with some for a fair salary, which is called a “penny” in verse 2.
A few hours later, about 9 a.m., he went out again and gathered more fellows and promised to give them what was right. (verse 4) He sent still more workers into his vineyard at noon and 3 p.m.
Just one hour before sun down, about 5 p.m., he went and hired another group and sent them to work. Then this strange thing! He paid the fellows who worked only an hour a full day’s pay — the same as he paid the others. This created jealousy in the others. To these he spoke sharply, “I’m the boss. I can do with my property what I will; I’ve kept my agreement with you.”
What is this about paying people at the eleventh hour as much as those who worked all the way through? Jesus’ story is to teach us how God acts. He is in some ways like this strange-acting landowner. In order to understand the true meaning of this parable, the setting must be noted in the previous chapter.
The rich young ruler had come to Jesus saying, “Lord, I want life everlasting.” Jesus answered him, “You have to sellout completely and follow me.” Jesus loved him, we are told. However, this young man had his eyes upon his possessions and he loved them, so he went sorrowing away from Jesus to his possessions. Then Peter asked, “Lord, we’ve given up everything and followed you; what are we going to get out of this?” Jesus explains in verse 28 and following, that such “shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But, many that are first will be last; and the last shall be first.”
Jesus then proceeds to teach Peter and the others a further lesson on how God surprises us by reversing the expected — so read on into the next chapter, our text. The story finishes in verse 16 with, “The last shall be first and the first last.”
What is this point He is making in the parable of the vineyard manager? It is not simply that in the judgnent day everyone will get paid the same. The Lord is saying rather, when people line up for judgment, there will be those standing proudly at the head of the line to whom He will say, “Go to the end of the line.” And, “You there in the back, come forward.”
Here the Lord touches the deep heart attitudes of His own people. He is teaching us about fidelity to opportunity. We see basically two kinds of people and God’s response to them.
First, there are those hired earlier and sent to work. They bent their backs in the vine-yards of the Lord and gathered grapes.
Second, there are those found at the eleventh hour still in the public square (verse 6), and He askes them, “Why are you standing here idle?” This is not a rebuke. They reply, “We don’t have a job.” When people are out of work and are seeking employment, they will go right to work without a contract. In their hopelessness, Jesus finds them just before sundown and without any bargaining they went directly to work.
Apparently, the landowner knew what was in all these people, and it turned out that he was right. The earlier workers were gripers and critical. What is in the heart counts. It is not your production, nor your prominence (the first shall be last) but it is how true you are to the opportunity and the call God gives you. What kind of a heart do you have before your God? The Lord looks on the heart.
The dramatic hour arrives in verse 8 — “evening came.” (The eleventh hour is 5 p.m., and now it is 6:00 — SUNDOWN!) Here are the sobering shadows depicting the end of history. All history is compressed here in a single day. Then at this dramatic moment, the Master returns to the scene. He orders the stewards, “Call to the laborers and give them their hire.” What are you going to have in that day when the Lord returns again?
Then the Master makes the unusual decisions that almost appear eccentric: “Begin with the last one. I want to reward them first. They wanted work. I barely got to them, but they served me well. Now, I will pay them the full day’s wage.” In Psalm 18:25,26 the Psalmist writes of God, “To the faithful you show yourself faithful, to the blameless you show yourself blameless, to the pure you show yourself pure, but to the devious you show yourself shrewd.” This means that if a man is hard in his heart, God is going to be hard toward him. God’s ways will even appear crooked to a crooked man. God’s judgments of people are a very, very accurate index as to how they have lived and thought. And, you know, the manager was right!
The first ones hired were critical of the master who hired them. They murmured against the good man and were jealous. Seeing their blind ignorance, he said to them, “Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money?” They did not understand the sovereign control of God. God has absolute right over us. We are His. We owe Him the service.
Next the Lord asks, “are you envious because I am generous?” They misunderstood His grace as well as His sovereignty. Because of their meanness of heart, those first contracted are fired. “Take what is yours and go!” (verse 14) The other group is favored as He pays them a full day’s wage. (verse 9)
When this is applied to life, there are lessons for two classes of people. There are those like the rich young ruler who are turning away from God. They want a life of ease — to be free of the burden of the harvest. They back away from a call of God and want things of this world. Friend, there are riches in heaven. Be honest, do you really seek them? Will you be something outstanding for a few years on earth and then hear the Lord say, “Go to the end of the line!”
Still further, there are lessons here for those who are honestly trying to serve God. There are lessons here for you, too. This parable teaches that He is interested in more than the amount of work you produce for Him, but He looks into the attitude of your heart. He is not interested. in simply getting your grapes; He wants to get rid of your gripes!
I would like to say a word now to the teachers of the churches, to the officers, to the pastors, to the shepherds, to all of the faithful, to the missionaries. The Lord is looking on your heart, not just how crowded your schedule is. He would rather have a man who has very small opportunities but is faithful in them than to have a proud complainer.
Perhaps some of you have been like the prodigal son: “I am not worthy to be counted your son, just let me in somehow. I’m hungry, Lord.” And a great feast is spread for you!
Others, I fear, will be like the older son who could not understand it all and complained against his Father: “You never blessed me like that, and I have been faithful in the fields all these years .”
Friends, that is the kind of God we have. At this eleventh hour enter in, be saved, give your life to Jesus Christ. He is Lord of the harvest, Lord of the land you live on, Lord of your life — whether you have acknowledged Him or not. Then, if there is in any of our hearts the inclination to complaining, God forgive us and cleanse us. He has the right to do what He wills. The right to command us and have our allegiance. Should our hearts be evil because He is so good?