Matthew 20:1-16

Laborers in the Vineyard

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ² When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. ³ And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; ⁴ and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. ⁵ Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. ⁶ And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he *said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ ⁷ They *said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He *said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’

⁸ “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard *said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ ⁹ When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. ¹⁰ When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. ¹¹ When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, ¹² saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ ¹³ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? ¹⁴ Take what is yours and go, but 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 what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ ¹⁶ So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

You’ve been out on the field most of the game. You’re considered a star player. You’ve been giving it your all. The score is tied despite all your effort. There’s only a few minutes left in the game and the coach replaces you, the star player, with someone who’s only played a couple of games. And, you guessed it, he scores the winning goal. He only played a few minutes, but he’s the one being celebrated. Jesus wants us to understand that no one has a “special place” ­— you can’t earn it, you can’t buy it, you can’t make deals for it. The Gospel is for everyone — equally.

While that means there are no “stars”, it also means that there are no passive spectators. Whether you’ve served God for 5 hours, 5 years or 5 decades…you’re a child of God participating in His Kingdom work.

Prayer: Lord, help me to be humble, to work whole-heartedly for You, and to play whatever position I am given.

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB © The Lockman Foundation (www.lockman.org)