Devotion 9.19.26

Matthew 20

Laborers in the Vineyard

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius[a] a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ 5 So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 

He who is first shall be last and he who is last shall be first. Matthew 19:30

The readings come full circle in this passage today. On Tuesday, we used Isaiah 55 in which Isaiah told Israel, "6 “Seek the Lord while he may be found;

  call upon him while he is near;

7 let the wicked forsake his way,

  and the unrighteous man his thoughts;

let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,

  and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

  neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord."

In the parable, underscoring the last line from his lesson on the "who will be the greatest" lesson, Christ picks up on the theme by teaching a parable of a master (God) who hires people at various hours of the day. At the end of the day, each man makes the same regardless of how long they worked. 

Much like the use of the parable of "The Prodigal Son" used with Psalm 27 this week, Christ emphasizes the Father's joy in our coming to faith regardless of the hour. Today, the master is fairly matter of fact on the question from the worker who questions the equal pay for unequal time. Unlike the father in the prodigal son, who patiently responds to the older son who protests that the younger brother has been faithless most of his life unlike himself, the master replies with a "how sad, too bad, love, dad" kind of answer:

"‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity? 16 So the last will be first, and the first last."

Application

I don't know about you, but I know that we won't truly know whose faith was genuine until we get to heaven. I doubt I'll care if someone I deemed as "late to the game" made it to heaven. In fact, I think I'll rejoice. The issue in front of us is who do these characters represent? 

Protesting older brothers or employees who've been at it longer than those just getting it in life like a younger brother, or an employee who just gets on board but makes the same pay, is usually a person who has been living the life of faith longer, like a teacher of the law or a pharisee. As has been noted, Christ turns the observation or answer to a question on the pharisee when he inserts the person who benefits from their exercise in humility, like a dad whose daughter gets healed on the Sabbath or the disciples who eat heads of grain on the Sabbath.

Lesson

For those of us who have been in the church most of our life, our task is to get God's Word to those who do not know him. Our job is not to judge those who we deem unworthy for whatever reason, because as Christ notes in his Word and in his own words, we all need to turn to him (Christ) because our time on this earth is short. We need to rejoice at the fact that the lost soul proclaims his or her faith.

As Eugene Peterson paraphrases it in The Message:

"Are you going to get stingy because I am generous?’

16 “Here it is again, the Great Reversal: many of the first ending up last, and the last first.”

Pray with me: Gracious God, You are God, and your words are not my ways, so thank you for that. I pray I ask no questions but take your Will to heart because I am not you. I pray I rejoice with you as people are saved by your grace and mercy. Help me to have the courage to speak your Word daily to the lost so that they might join the host of saints in heaven. In Christ's name, Amen.

Hope Men's Ministry is a ministry in service to Hope Lutheran Church and School. Our purpose is to grow, unite, and share God's Word to all men through meaningful activities. These activities center on fellowship, service, conversation, prayer, study and devotion as we seek to become men of God as He created us to be.