Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 20:1-16

Gracious Landowner

I. God gives what we can never earn, but not what we’d ever expect; we must see that it’s God who seeks us out and puts us to work according to His great grace

a. In order to help elucidate this complex Kingdom concept, Jesus tells His disciples a story about a landowner, who went to the marketplace to identify and hire laborers for his vineyard. On his first trip, near 6 a.m., he identified workers, agreed with them on the standard rate of one denarius for the day’s work, and sent them to his vineyard. Continually desiring more workers, he returned around 9 a.m., again at noon, a fourth time around 3 p.m., and lastly at 5 p.m., with only one hour left in the working day. Each time he identified men who were “standing idle” and hired them. However, when he hired the second through fifth groups, they didn’t contract their compensation, they agreed to whatever he thought was “right”, which ultimately turned out to be one denarius. Of course when pay time came, the first group of workers hired becomes upset when all the laborers after them, even those who only worked one hour, got the same daily wage as them. Of course the landowner is God, and the vineyard is His Kingdom, and the work is the harvesting to be done in it. It’s not a standard employment situation, it’s a parable, but we still bristle at the outcome, and feel sympathetic towards the original workers. They didn’t get what they deserve, the got cheated! But the only reason these men had a wage to complain about was because they were hand selected by the landowner and responded to his offer of employment. He didn’t put out a general call for anyone who wanted to work to be at the vineyard first thing in the morning, first come first hired. He came to the marketplace himself, all throughout the day, and hand selected those to whom he offered work. The first group negotiated a contract with the landowner, all the rest trusted the landowner to compensate them fairly. These last men actually viewed the work they had received as a gift, and not an entitlement to a wage! The landowner sought out workers for his vineyard, but the Owner of the universe, values us, and seeks us out for His Kingdom. In Christ, we’ve been paid a wage we can’t earn, salvation and citizenship in His Kingdom as co-heirs with Him. It’s incalculably value and so it is the priceless gift. If we’ve truly and properly responded to the One who seeks us out and puts us to work in life for Him, we’ll have no concern over what we deserve or what we’ve earned, our motivation will be to perform a work of love for the One who sought us and bought us; and every task, small or large, significant or insignificant, will take on new meaning and purpose. Jesus is telling a story that targets the motivation of our hearts and the understanding that guides our lives in work and all things. (Vv. 1-16; John 3:16; Rom. 3:23-27; 4:4-6; 6:23; 12:1-3; 1 Cor. 6:20; 7:23; Gal. 2:20; Eph. 2:8-10; Phil. 2:1-8; Col. 3:23-24; Heb. 6:10; 1 John 5:3)

II. God gives what we can never earn, but not what we’d ever expect; we must trust God who rewards graciously according to His great goodness

a. As long as the first group of workers only knew their wage agreement with the landowner, they were satisfied, and the later groups had already resolved to work for whatever wage seemed right to the landowner. But when Jesus flipped the script, and the landowner called his foreman to begin paying them with the last ones hired, and it became evident that all would be compensated equally, grumbling ensued. Of course Jesus didn’t tell this parable to illustrate how we should conduct business. He’s illustrating His truth which brackets this parable, that in the Kingdom, the last will be first and the first will be last. The first group hired wanted to “get what they deserved” and made an agreement to that end. When they questioned the landowner, he reminded them that they got exactly what they thought they deserved and agreed upon. Could they fault him for his extreme generosity with assets that belong totally him? He offered all the men the same job, and they all accepted, but the last groups put their faith in the landowner to treat them justly and fairly, and he did far more than that. The first group wouldn’t have questioned the landowner’s generosity if it had come to them, but his goodness came to the wrong people because it didn’t come to them. The eye is the window to the heart, and the eyes of these men reveal their envious and jealous hearts. We’re all prone to envy. But what Jesus is illustrating with this parable is that the God who owes us absolutely nothing, has given us absolutely everything; the God from whom we can never earn anything because we can’t afford it, paid it all for us and gives us more than can ever even expect! So we must trust His grace and goodness, and seek to serve Him with our whole hearts and lives. (Exod. 20:17; Deut. 24:15; 1 Sam. 16:7; Matt. 6:22-23; 22:36-40; 1 Cor. 4:5; Phil. 3:20; 4:4-13, 19; Col. 3:1-4)