To fully appreciate this text, we must reflect back on the end of chapter 19. The rich young ruler came to Jesus asking what he must do that he could inherit eternal life. Jesus touched on his weakest point. He said to give all that he had to others and follow him. This was too much of a demand and the rich young ruler turned away in sorrow. In response to what they just witnessed, the disciples asked, “Who then can be saved?” In conjunction with that question Peter asked, “what shall we have therefore?” Then Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like a man who hired workers to go into his vineyard.
Keep in mind the phrase, “kingdom of heaven.” Our entire text rotates around those words. The householder went out into the marketplace at various times of day so that he may hire workers to go to his vineyard. Our first notice is that the householder struck an agreement with those he originally met to be paid a penny which was probably equal to a soldier’s salary. After that, he did not state how much you would pay workers. Instead, the workers trusted him by saying he would pay for what was right.
To gain an understanding of the rest of our text, we remind ourselves again about the kingdom of heaven. The original workers who worked all day can be compared to the Jews who had a covenant relationship with God as children of Abraham.(Ephesians 3:6) Thereafter, all the other workers went into the vineyard at various hours and did so on the basis of faith which can be a comparison to Gentile believers that were seen as secondary members of the church.
Those who went to work at various hours can also remind us of believers who came into the kingdom at various times of their life. Even the men who worked only one hour at the close of the day are an indication of who were afflicted by a disjointed family life or by the unsatisfactory experience in a certain religion. These men had to deal with misconceptions and perverted understanding of theology or the lack of exposure to any biblical theology or physical safety.
These people had little opportunity to understand what it is to know Christ personally. They may have been fine, upright, standing citizens. They may have tried their best to be good people and should be applauded for their efforts. However, the question remains, “how much good must we do so that we would inherit God’s favor?” This is an impossible challenge because any deserving of God’s favor in heaven would be based on the work of a person, not on the accomplished work of Jesus on the cross who died for our sins.
Since all the other groups of men who went to work in the vineyard did so without being guaranteed a certain wage. This is a tremendous picture of trust and an equally tremendous picture of God’s grace. At the end of the day, all workers receive the same amount of payment. Except for the first group, the others enjoyed the grace provided for their acceptance of responding to the call. The payment in the form of a penny can be compared to eternal life. These workers responded in faith to a reward far beyond what they deserved. It was a reward provided by the husbandman (Or God) not on their efforts or work. The side story to this is we can never earn the opportunity to go to heaven. Paul said, “by grace are ye saved and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God least any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8)
Those who murmured are, of course, from the first group who had a prearranged amount of salary but expected more since they worked more hours. These we already have indicated are the Jews who rejected Christ as the Messiah demanding that their religion should be protected and observed. Scripture tells us that someday some people who are Jews will learn the truth and accept Jesus as the Messiah.
In response, the husbandman declared his own prerogative to do what he decided and not from pressure of others. God is the origin of grace and thankfully to him we could know that he has in store much more than we would expect similar to the other workers of the day. Our text concludes with two statements. He said, “the first shall be last.” Heavenly merits gained by believers will not be the result of their good work. There is the poverty-stricken mother who constantly prayed for her son that he would become a Christian. She was oblivious to any recognition from God because she did the work of the dutiful Christian mother. There may be a famous preacher or writer or teacher who excels in his efforts while congratulating himself. He may be first on people’s recognition list, but he likely or possibly could be last on God’s list.
The second thing in that verse says, “many be called, but few chosen.” The gospel message goes out to all mankind. Their response determines how God chooses them to enjoy his grace and mercy. They may be called. That does not necessarily mean they will have a right standing before God. Let us look at these words in Matthew with great appreciation mainly for how it depicts the grace of God. We can take comfort as we labor for him in this world he notices. He cares. To be part of those working in the vineyard for him, we must first recognize Christ as the son of God who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead. Then we must recognize our own sin and any efforts that we make is ineffective for our salvation. Our hope, the grace we receive from him is solely based on who God is and what Christ has done for us. We ask God’s forgiveness and for him to dwell in our life.
Christian Writer 