Divine Generosity – Matthew 20:1-16

The rich young ruler (Matthew 19) had given much thought to how to acquire eternal life but upon seeking help from Jesus he refused to accept Jesus’ answer and walked away unbelieving. The thief on the cross being crucified beside Jesus did believe, but at the very last moment possible. There’s no chance to be saved once you die. So here’s a man who was a disciple for literally a matter of hours before dying. What is the reward for this man?

Jesus addresses this issue in a parable.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” (Matthew 20:1-16 ESV)

Jesus has a response to Peter’s question about what reward would there be for those who, unlike the rich young ruler, have given up everything for the kingdom.  He says that they will be rewarded position and provision.  But then he adds that some who were considered first (like the rich ruler) would end up being last and the last first.  The key is not how one performs but one’s faith.

He has another example of this in his parable of the day laborers.  There have always been laborers who did not have a regular job but who would hire out to anyone who needed labor on a daily basis.  Jesus tells of a man who hired such laborers early in the day to work his vineyard but when he continued to see men idle looking for work he kept hiring throughout the day.  The “master of the house” had the intent of being generous to these poor souls who lacked employment and gave them the same pay for working fewer hours.

From our perspective it might have been more prudent to pay the first hires first and send them on their way so they wouldn’t see what the next later hires were paid, but the master paid in reverse order and that highlighted to the first hires his desire to be generous.  This is a parable so the issue isn’t what is socially expedient but on the lesson of the master’s generosity.  God is that generous Master who will give eternal life even to the one who would appear to be last. 

Even if a person repents in the last hour of his life he or she still gets eternal life.  The wages paid are not based in one’s works, like the rich young ruler thought, but on the basis of God’s generous grace.  This is not an encouragement to wait until the last moment because such is not promised us. We don’t know that we can remain hardened to the gospel, live as we want, and then find repentance in our hearts at the end.  Rather, this is an encouragement that eternal life is available for all, even those who seem unlikely to be its recipients.