parable of the workers

This is a very important parable. It is possible to interpret it in terms of Israel and the Gentiles (as Gundry, e.g., holds). The vineyard is often used as a symbol for Israel (e.g., Isa. 5:1–7); those who take the parable this way argue that Israel is like the men who worked all day, while the Gentiles are symbolized in those who came later and were admitted by God’s grace. Others point out that there is always a tendency for those who have been followers of Christ for a long time to be suspicious of those who come later. This applies to Jews and Gentiles, but it also applies to the Twelve and to later believers, and it is not difficult to see this tendency at work in the church of all ages. The parable warns us that priority in time means little. But it seems better to interpret the parable as putting emphasis on the truth that God acts in grace toward us all. There is a tendency in the human race to think of salvation in legal terms. There is no heresy as widespread as the one we can put simply as “If I live a good life, I will go to heaven when I die.” It is natural for us to think that we can earn our salvation. But the consistent teaching of Scripture is that we are sinners; we all fall short of the standard we ought to have attained, and thus we have no claim on salvation. But as in this parable the workers who came late had no claim on a full day’s wage though they got it, so sinners have no claim on salvation. Salvation is always a work of grace. That God does not treat us on the basis of justice is a fact for which sinners must be truly grateful. The parable emphasizes the place of grace (eleven twelfths of what the last comers received was unearned!).

I do not know of any way of bringing out the point of this parable better than referring to a parable uttered by the rabbis (as far as our information goes, it was later than New Testament times, but, of course, we have no way of knowing how long it was passed on by word of mouth before it was recorded). It concerns a king who hired workmen to work in his vineyard. One of them worked skillfully, and the king took him by the hand and spent most of the day talking with him. When the laborers were paid, this man received the same as the others. They grumbled and said, “We toiled all the day, whereas this man toiled for two hours, and yet the king has given him his full wage!” The king said to them, “What cause have you for grumbling? This man in two hours did more good work than you in a whole day” (Eccl. Rab. 5.11.5; McNeile cites it from Jer. Ber. 2:5c, and it is found also in Cant. Rab. 6.2.6). Clearly the story made quite an appeal to the rabbis, and we can understand that. The natural man assumes that reward is geared to merit. Jesus is pointing out that God does not deal with us on the basis of merit but of grace. The love of God in all its fulness is poured out on sinners, and they receive infinitely more than they deserve. The parable underlines the truth that God’s way is always the way of grace.

16. Even so aligns the next piece of teaching with the parable, as Jesus repeats essentially what he had said in 19:30. Because God acts in grace and we so easily think in terms of merit, there will be many surprises for us all in the end when God’s will is seen in its final working out. Human rankings will avail nothing at that time, and there will be those we have made last who will be first, and, of course, the reverse phenomenon will also take place.¹

The Greatness of God’s Grace

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, ⁴ and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise.
⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ ⁷ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

⁸ “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ ⁹ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. ¹⁰ But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. ¹¹ And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ ¹³ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. ¹⁵ Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ ¹⁶ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.”

—Matthew 20:1–16

This is a unique parable of the kingdom of God, presenting the nature of God’s grace. The story appears to further answer Peter’s question as to what the disciples would receive by leaving all to follow. The employer illustrates the acts of God, sending laborers into his vineyard all through the day as he finds them unemployed in the marketplace. At the end of the day he paid the last first, an aspect of the story arranged for emphasis. Jewish law required that payment be made when the day ended (Lev. 19:13), so that the family could eat. The employer had agreed with the earlier laborers for the full day’s wages of one denarius. But he gave those who came in the last hour the same wage! His compassion recognized that it took just as much bread to feed their families as it did the families of those who had worked the whole day.

The conclusion in verse 16 is a statement of unexpected generosity. This is the emphasis to which the story progresses. This final statement is similar to the concluding statement of the preceding section (19:30), but with the additional sentence, “Many are called, but few are chosen.” A pattern of picking up at the end of a section the idea from its introduction can be found eleven times in this Gospel. While the concluding sentence is not in many of the ancient manuscripts, if we see it as Matthew’s statement, it emphasizes a distinction between the calling of all of the workers and of the chosen ones who sensed the meaning of grace.

Grace is God’s graciousness, His steadfast love and mercy extended to all alike. The story illustrates that not all respond alike to His goodness, but some compare and evaluate their own “goodness” and thereby fail to understand God’s graciousness. The fact that all of us alike are sinners places us together without distinction or degrees of need for God’s gracious acceptance. Equal pay for unequal work was totally unexpected, and regarded by the laborers as unacceptable. While this story answered Peter’s question, it also answered the murmurings of the Pharisees over Jesus’ act of accepting tax collectors and prostitutes into the kingdom. The words, “You have made them equal to us” (v. 12) reflects this idea. The story of the two prodigal sons in Luke 15:11–32 is similar, for the prodigal in attitude could not respect the grace of the father in accepting the prodigal of waste.

In verse 13 the employer answered one of the persons who complained, using the word, “friend,” an expression used three times in Matthew by Jesus, and in each case the person is in the wrong (see 22:12 and 26:50). His answer was that the employer had paid according to the agreement and his generosity was not cause for jealousy among others.

There is a story in the Talmud which is similar but with a very different conclusion. I share it here to emphasize the contrast with Jesus’ teaching on the grace of God. A distinguished scholar, Rabbi Bun bar ‘H’ijja died at an early age in a.d. 325, on the same day his son was born, who was subsequently known as Rabbi Bun II. At his funeral his former teachers gathered to pay tribute, and Rabbi Zera gave the funeral oration in the form of a parable. Life is like a king who hired a great number of laborers; two hours later he inspected and saw one who surpassed the others. He took him by the hand and walked up and down with him until evening. When the laborers came for their wages, each received the same, upon which the others murmured, saying, “We worked all day, while this man worked only two hours and you have paid him a full wage.” But the king said, “I haven’t wronged you. He has done more in two hours than you have done during the whole day.” Rabbi Bun had done more in his twenty-five years than many achieved in a longer life span. The point is valid, but quite different from Jesus’ emphasis in the parable of God’s grace.

It is never easy to outline a parable. The points lifted from the story must support and clarify its primary intent, and they must move to that conclusion. (1) The calling to service is in direct relation to the need; (2) the reward for service is a gracious meeting of our needs; and (3) the integrity of service will respect the integrity of grace in meeting needs equally²

Believing tax collectors, prostitutes, criminals, and social outcasts will have the same heavenly residence as Paul, Augustine, Luther, and Wesley. There are no servant quarters or lower-class neighborhoods in heaven. Everyone will have a room in the Father’s house specially prepared for him by the Son (John 14:2). Every believer is a part of the church, which is the bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2, 9), every believer is a child of God and a fellow heir with Christ (Rom. 8:16–17), and every believer is blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3). It is not that every believer receives an equal part but that every believer receives equally the whole of God’s grace and blessing. Just as hell is the total absence of God, heaven is the total presence of God. And every one of His children will enjoy equally the fullness of His presence there. Everyone who belongs to God has all of God. That great reality is summed up in the truth of John’s marvelous declaration, “We shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2).

From this parable flow many spiritual principles that are closely related to the central truth that the gift of eternal life is equal for all believers. First is the principle that God sovereignly initiates and accomplishes salvation. The landowner went out looking for workers, and it was he who asked them to labor in his vineyard. And because God does the seeking and the saving in His own initiative and power, we have no demands on His special favor or privilege. Every person who believes has first been sought out by the Father and given to the Son (John 6:39). And whether He sought us early in our lives or late, and whether we answered His call early or late, all merit and glory belongs to Him.

A second principle is that God alone establishes the terms of salvation. Because the laborers in the vineyard came at different times, they worked a different number of hours, and we can assume they worked with many different degrees of productivity. But they did not receive different pay The measure of God’s gift of salvation is not maps merit or accomplishments but His own grace, which does not vary.

A third principle is that God continues to call men into His kingdom. He keeps going back and going back into the market places of the world calling men to Himself. And He will continue to call until the last hour of this age. The night of judgment is coming when no man can work, but while it is day, the Father will continue to draw men to Himself. “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working,” Jesus said (John 5:17), because the Lord does not wish “for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9).

A fourth principle is that God redeems everyone who is willing. “The one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out,” Jesus said (John 6:37, 39). All the laborers who went to the vineyard recognized they were needy They had no hope of work except what the landowner would give them, and they received it gladly and thankfully They had given up dependence on their own resources and looked only to him.

A fifth principle is that God is compassionate to those who have no resources and acknowledge their hopelessness. He reaches out to those in need who know they are in need. When the men in the last group told the landowner they were standing idle because no one would hire them, he hired them. And when anyone comes to God knowing he has no other prospect for life but Him, the Lord will always lovingly and mercifully accept that person for His own.

A sixth principle is that all who come into the vineyard worked. They may have come at the last hour, but they worked. Even the penitent thief on the cross, who died within hours if not moments after confessing his faith in Christ, still testifies today to the saving grace of God. The history of the church is replete with stories of those whose deathbed conversions were used by God to lead others to Himself.

A seventh principle is that God has the divine authority and ability to keep His promises. At every hour of the day that the landowner went to the market place, he hired all who wanted to work, and at the end of the day there was no shortage of funds to pay each one the full amount. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was sufficient to pay for the sins of the whole world, from the Fall of Adam until the day of judgment. If any person is not saved it is because he will not be saved. Man’s sin can never outstrip God’s grace, because where sin increases, grace increases all the more (Rom. 5:20).

An eighth principle is that, just as God always gives what He has promised, He also always gives more than is deserved. The 6:00 a.m. workers were envious of those who came at 5:00 p.m. because, in their selfish view, they deserved to be paid more. But the landowner was no more obligated to hire the first workers than the others. He would have been entirely justified to have passed them all by, and all of them were paid more than they were worth. In an infinitely greater way, no believer is qualified to receive God’s least favor, much less salvation, and even the best person by human standards is blessed immeasurably beyond what he could possibly deserve.

A ninth principle, which is a corollary of the previous one, is that humility and a genuine sense of unworthiness is the only right attitude in which a person may come to the Lord. Like the eider brother who was resentful when the prodigal son returned home and was royally received by their father, the early workers lost some of their humility at the end of the day because of their jealousy. But they had come to the vineyard in the same attitude of submissiveness in which the others came.

A tenth and final principle is that of God’s sovereign, overarching grace. From beginning to end, the parable pictures God’s divine, boundless grace. The men’s work had absolutely no relationship to what they were paid. Even less do men’s works of supposed righteousness have any relationship to what they receive through faith in Jesus Christ. Just as sin is the great equalizer that causes every man to “fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23), God’s grace is the great equalizer that removes sin and makes every believer equally acceptable to Him in Christ.³

But this may be, and commonly is, applied to the several ages of life, in which souls are converted to Christ. The common call is promiscuous, to come and work in the vineyard; but the effectual call is particular, and it is then effectual when we come at the call.

First, Some are effectually called, and begin to work in the vineyard when they are very young; are sent in early in the morning, whose tender years are seasoned with grace, and the remembrance of their Creator. John the Baptist was sanctified from the womb, and therefore great (Lu. 1:15); Timothy from a child (2 Tim. 3:15); Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth. Those that have such a journey to go, had need set out betimes, the sooner the better.

Secondly, Others are savingly wrought upon in middle age; Go work in the vineyard, at the third, sixth, or ninth hour. The power of divine grace is magnified in the conversion of some, when they are in the midst of their pleasures and worldly pursuits, as Paul. God has work for all ages; no time amiss to turn to God; none can say, “It is all in good time;” for, whatever hour of the day it is with us, the time past of our life may suffice that we have served sin; Go ye also into the vineyard. God turns away none that are willing to be hired, for yet there is room.

Thirdly, Others are hired into the vineyard in old age, at the eleventh hour, when the day of life is far spent, and there is but one hour of the twelve remaining. None are hired at the twelfth hour; when life is done, opportunity is done; but “while there is life, there is hope.” 1. There is hope for old sinners; for if, in sincerity, they turn to God, they shall doubtless be accepted; true repentance is never too late. And, 2. There is hope of old sinners, that they may be brought to true repentance; nothing is too hard for Almighty grace to do, it can change the Ethiopian’s skin, and the leopard’s spots; can set those to work, who have contracted a habit of idleness. Nicodemus may be born again when he is old, and the old man may be put off, which is corrupt.

Yet let none, upon this presumption, put off their repentance till they are old. These were sent into the vineyard, it is true, at the eleventh hour; but nobody had hired them, or offered to hire them, before. The Gentiles came in at the eleventh hour, but it was because the gospel had not been before preached to them. those that have had gospel offers made them at the third, or sixth hour, and have resisted and refused them, will not have that to say for themselves at the eleventh hour, that these had; No man has hired us; nor can they be sure that any man will hire them at the ninth or eleventh hour; and therefore not to discourage any, but to awaken all, be it remembered, that now is the accepted time; if we will hear his voice, it must be to-day.⁴

ng His discussion with His disciples about the difficulties of rich individuals making it into the kingdom of heaven, Jesus told yet another kingdom parable, the parable of the workers in the vineyard. Though this parable is somewhat enigmatic upon an initial reading, it teaches us a profound lesson about the nature of God’s grace.

Jesus began by saying, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” (v. 1). The time had come for the owner of a vineyard to harvest his grapes. The permanent workers on his farm were not numerous enough to complete the harvest in time, so when harvest time came, as many farmers did in the ancient world and still do today, he went looking for day laborers he could hire. Such laborers customarily came to the marketplace in the hope that they would be chosen to labor that day and would gain the standard pay for a day’s work in Israel, which was one denarius. So, Jesus said, “when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard” (v. 2).

However, it seems that his initial trip to the marketplace happened before all of the available laborers had gathered there, and the owner was not able to secure enough of them to complete the harvest as soon as he hoped. Therefore, Jesus said: “And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise” (vv. 3–5). The owner kept checking the marketplace throughout the day, and every time he found a few available workers, he sent them off to his vineyard with the promise to pay them “whatever is right.”

So zealous was this landowner to complete his harvest, “about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive’ ” (vv. 6–7). “The eleventh hour” was about 5 p.m., quite near the end of the workday, but the owner found a few men available even then, men who had not been hired to do any work all that day. So, he sent them to his vineyard with the same promise.

So far, this is a happy story. The economic system of the day seemingly worked to perfection. The labor pool supplied abundant workers and the landowner employed them steadily. His harvest moved forward and the laborers earned their daily bread. A happy ending seemed certain.

But it was not to be. Jesus said: “So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius” (vv. 8–10). The owner of the vineyard paid everyone the exact same wage. The people who had worked for an hour received a denarius. Those who had worked for three hours received a denarius. Those who had worked for six hours received a denarius. And those that had been there all day received a denarius.

That seemed unfair to those who had worked the longest: “And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day’ ” (vv. 11–12). The men who had been there all day felt the wages were unfair, for they had borne the brunt of the labor in the heat of the day, while some had worked only a short time in the cool of the afternoon. They believed that if the latecomers received a denarius, they were due more.

So, the owner addressed these grumblers, these malcontents: “But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ ” (vv. 13–15). The owner simply pointed out that he had fulfilled his end of the deal they had struck in the early morning. I would guess that he reminded them how happy they had been in the morning to have a day of work ahead of them and the prospect of a denarius at the end of it. They had been satisfied with the deal at that point and had gone to work for the owner of their own volition. But then they saw others get the same wage for less work, the issue of fairness arose with a vengeance.

A Parable on Sovereign Grace

This parable is not about grapes. It is about grace. It is about the mercy of the living God. It is about the grace of the One who owns the vineyard and who, in His mercy, gives benefits to people who have not earned them. In the parable, those who came later in the day had no possible way of meeting the normal requirements to make a denarius. However, the owner of the vineyard gave them the denarius anyway. The first group received justice. Every group thereafter received mercy and grace. But those who received justice complained that they were victims of injustice and that the owner was not fair.

Furthermore, I believe this parable is about sovereign grace, that is, the biblical doctrine of election. We read in the Scriptures that God from all eternity has decreed by His grace alone to save certain people from their sins, not because they deserve it or have earned it, but that His mercy might be made manifest. He chooses to save some and leaves others in their lost condition to receive whatever justice requires.

The Apostle Paul develops this teaching clearly in the eighth and ninth chapters of Romans. He cites the example of Jacob and Esau, of whom God decreed that the older (Esau) would serve the younger (Jacob) before they were born or had done anything good or evil. This was so “that the purpose of God according to election might stand” (9:11).

Having said this, the apostle anticipates a response, the response of protest that every sinner gives to God’s electing grace: “That’s not fair.” Paul asks rhetorically, “Is there unrighteousness with God?” (v. 14). How does he answer? Does he say: “Well, maybe there is a little bit of unrighteousness. Maybe every now and then God does something that is a little bit unfair and unjust, but in the main He’s a pretty good God”? You know that is not what Paul says. He answers his own rhetorical question with an emphatic denial: “Certainly not!” Other translations read, “By no means!” “May it never be!” and “God forbid!” What could be more unthinkable than to imagine for a second that there might be a gap in the righteousness of God, as if somehow the perfect righteousness of God could suffer a defect. Paul then reminds his readers what God revealed in the Old Testament through Moses: “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion” (v. 15). He concludes, “it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy” (v. 16).

At Saint Andrew’s, the congregation where I preach, we print the five “solas” of the Reformation in the bulletin each week. These great mottos of the Reformers are sola fide, justification by faith alone; sola Scriptura, the authority of the Scriptures alone; soli Deo gloria, to God alone the glory; solus Christus, salvation through Christ alone; and sola gratia, salvation by grace alone. We have not really understood the gospel until we understand that we are saved by grace alone, not by grace plus merit, not by faith plus works, and not by Christ’s righteousness plus our own righteousness. If we do not embrace sola gratia, salvation by grace alone, we really do not embrace sola fide, justification by faith alone, because the faith by which we are justified is the gracious gift of God (Eph. 2:8), not something that we produce out of our own sinful flesh.

But we have the idea that if God gives His saving grace to one person, in order to be just, He must give the same grace to that person’s neighbor. However, if God is required to give His grace to anyone, it is not grace. That is the whole point of this parable. The owner said, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?” In other words, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy.”

Grace and Justice, but No Injustice

In the parable, a large group of the workers received grace. One group received justice. However, no one received injustice. But the workers who labored all day thought they received injustice. They thought the owner owed them something.

If we were to try to list everything God owes us, it would be the easiest task we were ever assigned, one we could complete in record time. The truth is, He owes us nothing except His wrath as punishment for all our sins. A much more challenging assignment would be to try to write down all the things we owe God. We would never complete that task. We are much in His debt for our offenses against His righteousness. Yet He still freely gives us good gifts each day, each hour. Everything that we have comes from Him, not because we have earned it but because He mercifully provides it.

If there is any sentiment that has no place in the Christian heart, it is the sentiment that God owes us something. He owes us nothing. The only title we have is to our sin, unless in His mercy He bestows the title of the kingdom of God freely upon us. That is what He has done for everyone who has believed.

So, Jesus capped this parable by saying: “So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen” (v. 16). First He repeated the point He made at the end of His teaching on rich men: in the kingdom, many who are now last will be first and many who are now first will be last (19:30). Then He declared, “many are called, but few are chosen.” The general call of the gospel goes forth to all nations, tribes, and tongues, but only those who are regenerated by the Spirit respond to it. It is they who were chosen before the foundation of the world. It is they who receive God’s unmerited grace.⁵

1 Morris, L. (1992). The Gospel according to Matthew (pp. 504–505). Grand Rapids, MI; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press.

2 Augsburger, M. S., & Ogilvie, L. J. (1982). Matthew (Vol. 24, p. 18). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Inc.

3 MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1985). Matthew (Mt 20:13). Chicago: Moody Press.

4 Henry, M. (1994). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible: complete and unabridged in one volume (p. 1715). Peabody: Hendrickson.

5 Sproul, R. C. (2013). Matthew (pp. 584–588). Wheaton, IL: Crossway.