“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. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 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?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 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.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.”
Matthew 19:30 and 20:16 bookend the parable with the principle that the last will be first and first last. The parable itself explains what this means — that God will reward based on His own criteria and not based on those we think He should use.
a denarius a day - "A good and normal wage for a rural worker. Additional workers were hired at about 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m." (Ryrie)
Christ now proceeded to teach through a parable the basis on which rewards will be apportioned in the millennial kingdom.
Matthew 19:30 and 20:16 bookend the parable with the principle that the last will be first and first last. The parable itself explains what this means — that God will reward based on His own criteria and not based on those we think He should use.
a denarius a day - "A good and normal wage for a rural worker. Additional workers were hired at about 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 5 p.m." (Ryrie)
Christ now proceeded to teach through a parable the basis on which rewards will be apportioned in the millennial kingdom.
do you begrudge my generosity? - "This is the point of the parable: God's grace and generosity know no bounds, and man's ideas of merit and earned rewards are irrelevant." (Ryrie)
"We would have to acknowledge that he [the householder] was both fair and gracious. He had a right to do what he had so graciously done. By this parable the Lord desired those who had asked what they would receive to learn the lesson that they were to work in the vineyard and leave their reward to Him. He would be just and fair, and He could also be counted on to be gracious. he had a right to do as He chose in dispensing the rewards. Their responsibility was to labor faithfully for Him, not with a view to the reward, but to please the One who had sent them to labor in the vineyard. They were also to trust the graciousness of the One who had commissioned them to be fair in the reward." (Pentecost)
"We would have to acknowledge that he [the householder] was both fair and gracious. He had a right to do what he had so graciously done. By this parable the Lord desired those who had asked what they would receive to learn the lesson that they were to work in the vineyard and leave their reward to Him. He would be just and fair, and He could also be counted on to be gracious. he had a right to do as He chose in dispensing the rewards. Their responsibility was to labor faithfully for Him, not with a view to the reward, but to please the One who had sent them to labor in the vineyard. They were also to trust the graciousness of the One who had commissioned them to be fair in the reward." (Pentecost)
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