No 16

(The Labourers in the Vineyard)

The Gospel of Matthew tells of a parable that Jesus spoke comparing the kingdom of heaven to a landowner who went to hire labourers in his vineyard. The text can be found in Matthew 20 verses 1 to 16. There are many startling truths in this parable. When the landowner pays all the labourers that same wage even though some had only worked 1 hour, there seems to be room for a grievance on the part of those who had worked the full day. But Jesus did not say that the kingdom of industry was like this, He said the kingdom of heaven is like this. There is no room for pride in heaven and no man can judge a late response to the Gospel by another man.

If we compare other persons in Scripture to this model, we see that there are many similarities to this application. Here are a few: a) The most prominent one is the criminal on the cross (Luke 24:42) and if we compare someone like Job to him, we realize that God blesses everyone who exercises faith. b) Another example is Stephan (Acts 7) who was martyred for his faith; he was a relatively new believer. If we compare him to Abraham who lived his whole adult life by faith in God, again we see how God honours true faith in all walks of life.

Once, there were two life-long friends; one was a Christian and the other was an atheist. All his life, the Christian preached and lived the Gospel in full view of his best friend. His sincerest desire was that his best friend become a believer in the true God. The Christian died and at his funeral, his best friend was profoundly convicted of his sin and became a believer. It is never too late for someone to turn to God. The above parable ends with the following exhortation “Thus the last shall be first and the first last”(v16).