The Workers in the Vineyard

Matthew 20:1-16

“The Kingdom of heaven is like this. Once there was a man who went out early in the morning to hire some men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them the regular wage, a silver coin a day, and sent them to work in his vineyard. He went out again to the marketplace at nine o’clock and saw some men standing there doing nothing, so he told them, ‘You also go and work in the vineyard, and I will pay you a fair wage.’ So they went. Then at twelve o’clock and again at three o’clock he did the same thing. It was nearly five o’clock when he went to the marketplace and saw some other men still standing there. ‘Why are you wasting the whole day here doing nothing?’ he asked them. ‘No one hired us,’ they answered. ‘Well, then, you go and work in the vineyard,’ he told them. “When evening came, the owner told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with those who were hired last and ending with those who were hired first.’ The men who had begun to work at five o’clock were paid a silver coin each. So when the men who were the first to be hired came to be paid, they thought they would get more; but they too were given a silver coin each. They took the money and started grumbling against the employer. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘while we put up with the whole day’s work in the hot sun – yet you paid them the same as you paid us!’ ‘Listen, friend,’ the owner answered one of them, ‘I have not cheated you. After all, you agreed to do a day’s work for one silver coin. Now take your pay and go home. I want to give this man who was hired last as much as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?’” And Jesus concluded, “So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last.”

What is the vineyard?
Answer: Israel, heavenly Jerusalem (present), House of Israel or House of David
Isaiah 5:7 – Israel is the vineyard of the Lord Almighty.
1 Kings 12:26-27 – He said to himself, “As things are now, if my people go to Jerusalem and offer sacrifices to the Lord in the Temple there…” (TEV)
(NIV) Jeroboam thought to himself, “The kingdom will now likely revert to the House of David.”
Galatians 4:26 – But the heavenly Jerusalem is free, and she is our mother.
Note: In this passage, Jesus was talking about the heavenly Jerusalem and not the physical territory.

What are the wages?
Answer: eternal life
John 4:36 – The one who reaps the harvest is being paid and gathers the crops for eternal life.

What is, “So those who are last will be first, and those who are first will be last.” mean?
Answer: humility
Matthew 18:4 – The greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the one who humbles himself and becomes like this child.
Matthew 23:11-12 – The greatest one among you must be your servant. Whoever makes himself great will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be made great.
Interesting fact: Numbers 12:3 – (Moses was a humble man, more humble than anyone else on earth.)