Jesus taught a parable in Matthew 20:1-16, that “the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard.” A denarius is a standard daily wage.
The landowner returned at 9:00am and 12:00pm and 3:00pm and hired more workers. He returned again at 5:00pm—just an hour before quittin’ time–“and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’”
Jesus continued the parable: “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last groupto the first.’ When those hiredabout the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius!”
You can imagine what the other laborers were thinking. “When those hiredfirst came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked onlyone hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’”
The landowner answered, “‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’”
We learn that God will reward all His laborers. Jesus repeats a statement at the beginning and end of this parable: “So the last shall be first, and the first last.” Clearly, the parable serves as a response to Peter’s concern in the previous paragraph (Matthew 19:27-30). Peter had said to Jesus, “Behold, we have left everything and followed You; what then will there be for us?” Jesus promised a reward to His apostles, but also to “everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name’s sake.” Jesus wants Peter to know that his reward shall be great, but so will the reward of the least significant Christian in the kingdom of heaven. The reward is “eternal life!”
We learn that God’s grace is not fair—in our favor. If we found out that an employee hired in November got the same Christmas bonus as those who worked all year, we would complain too! But when God rewards one generously doesn’t leave less for everyone else. God has an unlimited store of grace. So what if a person converted late in life goes to the same Heaven as a person faithful since childhood? So what if a foul murderer is forgiven alongside a nice gossip? Of course grace is not fair. If it were fair, it wouldn’t be grace. It would be justice. Thanks be to God that we do not receive from God’s hand what we deserve! All of us who enter His service are recipients of His generous grace.
We learn that it’s not too late to be saved. If you are fifty, sixty, or a hundred, so long as you draw breath, God still wants to save you. Do not fear that your limited time to serve the Master puts you outside His mercy.
Now, be careful; this parable is not recommending putting off an appeal to God’s mercy at a death-bed conversion! You’ll notice that the workers standing idle in the parable hadn’t turned down the offer to work; instead, no one had offered to hire them. These men illustrate, not so much the rebel who scoffs for decades at the Spirit’s call to salvation, as the ignorant person who didn’t hear the call.
Don’t put it off. First, you are not guaranteed to live to old age. Second, your heart may not be thinking spiritual thoughts as you mature. Third, living for Jesus is not a bad thing; there is so much blessing you’ll miss if you wait.
—John Guzzetta