Matthew 20:1–16

“Indeed the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³He also went out about the third hour and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. ⁴To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing. ⁶When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’ ⁷“They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ ⁸When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’ ⁹“When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. ¹¹After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: ¹²‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ ¹³“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. ¹⁵Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶In the same way, the last will be first, and the first, last.”(EHV)

Does God owe you? Sometimes people think He does. Jonah did. And He felt God was unfair in treating the Ninevites well, since according to Jonah’s thinking they all deserved to die in a fireball, unlike himself. We heard that “God relented from the disaster which he said he would bring on them, and he did not carry it out. ¹ But to Jonah all this seemed very bad, and he became very angry. ²He prayed to the Lord, “Lord, … I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abounding in mercy, and you relent from sending disaster. ³So now, Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ‘It’s not fair! The Ninevites had it coming!”

But what about Jonah who ran away from God and had to be cast into the sea, swallowed by a great fish, and vomited out on shore before finally consenting to do his job? Didn’t he realize he had it coming? But instead, he received God’s mercy.  

That’s what Jesus’ parable is all about. God owes us nothing but punishment and destruction, but instead He pays us “The Wages of God.”

God Puts Us to Work

Jesus tells us a story today to teach the truth about work in the kingdom of God and God’s way of paying wages. It’s the story of a vineyard. It’s the story of workers, some of whom are hired early in the day, some later. Christ Himself is the owner of the vineyard. The vineyard is His kingdom, and those who aren’t in His kingdom are the ones who are idle. There’s a very interesting and important truth in that—a truth that God states plainly in the book of Hebrews, namely: “Without faith it is impossible to please God” (11:6). In other words, if you are not a believer, you are contributing nothing to the one thing that lasts, the kingdom of God. The other fellows in the parable, even the ones who get sour at the end, are at least working. That’s where we fit in. At some point, God found you and me standing idle in the marketplace and called us into His kingdom through the Gospel. And now by faith, it is possible for you and me to please God and be productive. God has put us to work.

“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. ²After agreeing to pay the workers a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³He also went out about the third hour and saw others standing unemployed in the marketplace. ⁴To these he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will give you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did the same thing.

When were you called? Many of you were already called early in the morning. You were carried by your parents to the baptismal font when you were too young to even remember that day. Your sins were washed away, and you were put on a path to productivity in the kingdom that has lasted your whole life. Others of you were called at the 3rd, 6th or 9th hour and became believers later in life.

⁶When he went out about the eleventh hour, he found others standing unemployed. He said to them, ‘Why have you stood here all day unemployed?’ ⁷“They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ “He told them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’” Like other pastors, I’ve had the wonderful joy of seeing people come to faith in nursing homes very, very late in life as I’ve had the chance to share the word in simple services and sermons. They were “hired at the 11^th hour” so to speak.

Those who labored in the vineyard all day in the parable spoke of their vineyard work as a “burden” in the “scorching heat.” Jesus is very honest in telling us that it’s not always easy being one of His disciples. Didn’t we just a couple weeks ago hear Jesus say, “If anyone would follow me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me”? Being a faithful worker for the Lord means putting Him first in our lives—always, even when it hurts. It means working hard to make the Boss look good: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). It means standing up for principle, even against peer pressure. It means not making compromises that go against your faith. It means putting other’s needs ahead of your own. As Christ’s vineyard workers, we strive to make the most of every opportunity He gives us to witness to our faith. And when our Great Employer calls a meeting each week, we get there on time to hear what He has to say. Besides, there’s always good food there—food for the soul.

Plenty of times, though, we have fallen down on the job. Maybe we’ve even tried to run away from it the way Jonah did. But this Master, the vineyard owner, is also our merciful Savior-God. When we ask for forgiveness, He relents as He did with Nineveh. He forgives and forgets all our sins. And when then we ask for a do-over and strength to work harder, He mercifully powers us up again. That’s what Paul meant when he wrote, “I can do all things through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13).

This is no time to walk off the job like Jonah. When the vineyard owner went out looking for workers, he hired them on the spot. They didn’t hem and haw. They went straight to the fields and got to work. How long will such a Great Employer be around?  In the parable, he only came around four times hiring. The harvest is now. Once the grapes are picked, it’s too late. How long will the harvest last? Christ could return this afternoon. My life or yours might end tonight or tomorrow. “No one knows the day or the hour.” Whoever walks off the job early misses out when the paymaster comes. Even when the work gets hard—especially then—we need to encourage one another and remain faithful to the end. Soon enough the whistle will blow.

Dear friends, we’ve been employed—given something profitable to do with our lives, namely to live for God in everything we do! We’ve been called like Jonah to share the truth with others—even Ninevites—all because, as Paul quotes God in our epistle, “I will show mercy to whom I show mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion” (Romans 9:15).

God Graciously Gives Us Wages

But don’t make the greedy mistake some of the workers in the parable did when it came time to stop working and get paid.

⁸When it was evening, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last group and ending with the first.’ ⁹“When those who were hired around the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰When those who were hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But they each received a denarius too. ¹¹After they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner: ¹²‘Those who were last worked one hour, and you made them equal to us who have endured the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ ¹³“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not make an agreement with me for a denarius? ¹⁴Take what is yours and go. I want to give to the last one hired the same as I also gave to you. ¹⁵Can’t I do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

For three chapters, Jesus has been answering a bigger question, occasioned by the disciples arguing over which of them was the greatest. In Matthew 18, Jesus placed a little child in front of them and said, “Amen I tell you: Unless you are turned and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. ⁴ Whoever humbles himself like this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven  (Matthew 18:3–4). The disciples’ whole argument about who is greatest was predicated on the idea that, somehow, at least a little bit, we earn grace from God. But if it’s earned, it’s not grace.

The men in the parable who were hired early in the morning agreed from the outset with the landowner on a denarius a day. That old Roman coin equaled a good day’s pay, a genuine “living wage”—more than enough for a person to have food, clothing, and housing to live comfortably. God has signed a contract with us, you could say, to give us a living wage. In this life, He gives us just what we need—our daily bread. But then He promises us retirement benefits that are out of this world—a perfect eternal life with Him in heaven. He generously gives the same pay package to those who have been believers their whole lives and those who become believers later in life.

It’s only possible to complain about “The Wages of God” if you think you actually earn all that. But when it comes to salvation, it’s all a gift. Even the ability to work is a gift. Whoever winds up being called greatest in heaven—that’s a gift, too. It’s a gift to be a martyr. It’s a gift to suffer poverty as a Christian. It’s a gift to be a church janitor or a pastor. Whatever our position in life, it’s a gift. Whatever you do for and in the Kingdom is a gift. And whatever you get from God on the Last Day is a gift. Everything is a gift of grace.

The men in the parable accused the master of being unjust. In God’s case, that’s a very good thing for us sinners, since “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”? (Romans 6:23). The pay we deserve is indescribably awful. But what we actually receive is the opposite of what we deserve. We deserve the “wages of sin”—“death.” Instead, we get “The Wages of God”—eternal life.  “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (20:16). Christ came to bring grace, not petty payments for services rendered. Thank God he didn’t come to give us a just wage! Instead of charging us God pays us! He gives us the totally undeserved gift of eternal life, all the while providing for us richly and daily on the road to heaven. And He’s even given us the dignity of a job, a job serving Him. Those are  “The Wages of God.” Amen.