‘The Last Shall be First and the First Last’ – Matthew 20:1-16 – God’s Perspective
Matthew 20:1-16 contains the parable of the laborers. This passage was our morning reading for my son and I. I loved to hear his thoughts on this parable as it is certainly a difficult pill for some to swallow. Here is the entire passage:
Matthew 20:1-16
20 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.
This parable illustrates the point that “the last shall be first, and the first last“. After reading through the first part of the parable, up until verse 12, I asked my son how he felt about that payment received by each laborer. He immediately picked up on the apparent injustice in the payment. He said, “That’s not fair. The ones who worked longer should have received more but their reward as the same!”
It is true that on the surface and from the point of view of the laborers, the vineyard owner does seem to be unfair. However, when the vineyard owner speaks his side, we see that he is not at all unfair. In fact, from his perspective, his payment makes sense. He brings up 3 points: 1) the initial laborers agreed to the payment before working, 2) the reward belongs to the owner, so he is able to decide how to give it, and 3) the laborers should be glad that the owner is good to others (in other words, be happy for the other laborers who received more than they deserved).
Applying this parable to the kingdom of heaven, we see that the vineyard owner is God, the laborers are people, and the vineyard is the God’s harvest/will. I think that this parable teaches us the importance of proper perspective. God calls everyone to come and work for Him. Some accept the call early and spend their whole lives working for God. Others accept the call halfway through or at the end of life. Their work for God is good, but certainly not as extensive as those who began working earlier. Either way, the reward, everlasting life, is the same.
From the perspective of us, the people working for God, it may seem that we deserve more or that those who accept Jesus late in life and only spend a small amount of time working for God deserve less. However, that perspective is short-sighted and incomplete.
1. When we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, we agree to the covenant.
When we come to Jesus, yes, salvation is a free GIFT! But, the acceptance of that gift requires action on our part. By accepting salvation (eternal life), we become God’s child and agree to follow Him (keep His commandments). As Jesus says in verse 16, “…for many be called, but few chosen.” He calls everyone to come to Him but it is up to us if and when we do that.
We all agree to the same reward: everlasting life with Jesus Christ in heaven. We all receive the same reward.
2. We don’t get everlasting life based on what we do, but on what Christ has done!
The reward was won by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, and therefore, it is HIS to give away as He sees fit. We cannot decide how a reward is given when we don’t even own the reward. When we view life as the first laborers, we are doing so by believing that we own the reward and that we are entitled to it. No one deserves heaven. We all deserve hell. But, God, in his loving mercy, has provided a chance for us to still achieve everlasting life through His Son, Jesus Christ. If we really believe salvation is a GIFT and not an entitlement, then we will be so thankful for our own salvation that we don’t even need to worry about how much someone else receives.
3. We should rejoice when we see others accept Christ and get rewarded with eternal life.
Heaven rejoices anytime someone decides to follow Jesus! So should we! Jesus describes this in Matthew 18:10-14 with the example of the one sheep that goes astray from the shepherd. The shepherd rejoices over finding the lost sheep even more so than the 99 sheep that did not get lost.
If our concern is for the kingdom of heaven and not ourselves, then we should hope for more people to join the kingdom of heaven. We want more voices singing in the choirs of heaven! How selfish it is to diminish heaven so that we can feel better about ourselves.
Jonah is an Old Testament prophet who struggled with this same issue. He is best known for the 3 days in the great fish, but the story of Jonah is about so much more! He was swallowed by a great fish, but that occurred because he didn’t want to obey God by going to Nineveh to preach to the Assyrians. Later on in the book of Jonah, we find out why. He didn’t feel as though they deserved mercy from God. On the surface, Jonah has a point. It is true that the people of Nineveh were thoroughly evil and plagued God’s people, the Jews.
However, God corrects Jonah’s thinking. When Jonah finally obeyed God and preached in Nineveh, the people there repented and turned to God. But…Jonah was ANGRY: “but it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.” (Jonah 4:1). In fact, he was so angry that in Jonah 4:3 he says, “Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live.” He decides to set up a booth outside of the city to await their destruction because Jonah believed that destruction was what Nineveh deserved.
God decides to teach Jonah a lesson. He causes a plant, a gourd , to grow over Jonah and provide him shelter from he hot sun. Jonah was grateful for the plant. But, God destroyed the gourd and the sun beat down on Jonah and caused him to faint. Jonah was upset that the gourd was killed. So, God chastises him:
Jonah 4:10-11
10 Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:
11 And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?
Jonah loved the gourd when it benefited HIM even though he did nothing to cause it to grow. But Jonah would not have love for fellow human beings because they did not benefit HIM. However, those people belong to God and God loves them. From God’s perspective, each person is valuable and each person is called to repent. He is glad when they do and so should we. We should want what God wants.
I have heard people discount Christianity on the concept that a serial killer could spend most of his life hurting others but then accept Christ at the end and go to heaven. In truth, a lot of Christians have trouble with this! It is a hard pill to swallow. It does seem unfair…from OUR perspective. But when we look at it from God’s point of view, none of us deserve heaven without Him.
So, let’s rejoice when anyone comes to join the kingdom of Heaven. Let’s pray for everyone to answer Jesus’ call, even the most degenerate people! After all, it isn’t about us but about God! We serve a MERCIFUL God! AMEN!