Matthew 20:1, commentary and pictures

The verse opens the parable of the kingdom as a householder going out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard, where the householder is God and Christ the Master, and the vineyard is His work and field of gospel labor in the world. Those hired first bargain for a stated wage while those hired later trust him to give what is right, showing that the kingdom does not pay by worldly standards of work accomplished or visible results. Eternal life is God's free grace and cannot be earned by works, length of labor, or amount accomplished, so first and last share the same reward and long service gives no claim to preference or higher place. What counts is the spirit of service, with God valuing trusting faith, gratitude, humility and love over a mercenary spirit that makes terms with Him, envies others, and grumbles at His liberality. The eleventh-hour workers are poor sinners long delayed yet coming in humble penitent faith, like the dying thief, and also those coming out at the end during the crisis to exalt God's law with a zeal exceeding those long in the ranks. The hiring is a call for every Christian, man, woman and youth, to cooperate willingly with God in earnest self-denying effort wherever they are, until the work encircles the world.

Parable Story and Symbols

The kingdom of heaven is pictured as a householder who goes out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. He hires again at later hours through the day, even to the eleventh hour, and at evening pays beginning with the last hired. Those who labored only briefly receive the same as those who bore the burden all day, and those hired first complain that equal payment makes them equal to the latecomers. The householder answers that he has kept his agreement with them and has the right in goodness to do what he chooses with his own, and the parable closes with the last made first and the first last, and with many called but few chosen.

The householder is God and Christ the Master in His dealings with humanity, calling laborers into His vineyard at different times and promising each what is right. The steward who pays the workers is Christ, and the laborers are His hired servants accepted into His service and entrusted with weighty responsibilities, including those called at the eleventh hour. The hiring follows the custom of employers finding day laborers in the marketplace, engaging them at different hours. Even those summoned late are assured they will receive what is right, and none who serve with trusting gratitude is to grasp for greater wages or higher place or begrudge the Master's goodness to others.

The vineyard is His work and field of labor, the gospel ministry and the world calling for workers. It is God's great moral vineyard of the world and the church, now calling for workers in foreign lands and in every place of usefulness. It embraces its cities, villages, towns, and destitute fields where people are to carry His message and work for Christ. Entrusted property is to be used to advance that work, and true service in it does not exalt self or disparage others.

Those hired first bargain for a stated wage, while those hired later make no terms but trust the householder to give whatever is right. Their reward therefore rests on his generous purpose rather than on the amount of labor performed. The first receive what they agreed to, and the last leave their payment to the householder trusting him to act rightly and justly. This difference of arrangement explains why equal payment is not unfair, for He keeps His agreement while remaining free to be generous to the others.

The kingdom does not follow worldly or fixed human standards of payment according to work accomplished or its visible results. It is not governed by ordinary human rules or by copying other householders, but follows God's higher principles and purpose. Christ worked steadily according to His own purpose and the laws of that kingdom. God values the spirit brought to the work, rewarding according to gracious purpose and delighting to honor gratitude and humble trust, with love to God and others rather than eagerness for compensation as the motive for service.

Reward by Grace Alone

The parable lays out the right principles of divine favor and reward, showing that eternal life is God's free gift of grace and can never be earned by works. The grasping hope of gaining righteousness as payment for a stated amount of work is mistaken, for no laborer can claim the reward as debt or right or stand above another. The first-hired workers who claimed preference because of long service and hardship valued reward above the privilege of serving Christ, and their complaint exposed self-advancement, distrust of God, and jealousy toward others. So too the first-called Jews regarded years of service as grounds for greater reward and resented equal privileges given to Gentiles, and the disciples were warned against self-righteousness and the belief that human effort earns a place in heaven.

God rewards according to His own gracious purpose and liberality, not according to human merit, length of labor, amount accomplished, capacity, or learning. His kingdom does not follow worldly standards of payment according to work accomplished or visible results, but follows higher principles, for Christ worked according to God's purpose rather than copying other householders. The first workers agreed to a stated wage while those hired later trusted the householder to give whatever is right, so their reward rested on his generous purpose rather than on the amount of labor performed. Purity of motive, an earnest desire to glorify God, and fidelity matter more than capacity or learning, bringing the faithful worker the same reward as one who accomplishes more, and differing advantages are no cause for pride or self-exaltation.

The first and the last share the same eternal reward, and therefore the first should welcome the last rather than resent equal treatment. The Master calls laborers into His vineyard at different hours and promises each what is right, keeping His agreement with the first while He may give equally to those hired later, and workers must not grasp for greater wages or higher place or begrudge His goodness to others. Those who accept truth and become workers with Christ at the eleventh hour receive as much as those who labored many hours, even amid crisis and deceptive miracles. The dying thief on the cross is such an eleventh-hour laborer, who in faith, patience, contrition and earnestness, fully realizing Jesus could save him and that without Jesus he would be eternally lost, cast his helpless dying soul and body on Jesus and received the same reward as long labor.

Long service, hardship, and years in the work give no claim to preference, greater reward, higher place, or greater recognition. The belief that long service earns salvation is exposed as false, and the faultfinding spirit growing from it shows faith must work through love and purify the soul. Accepting the invitation in theory is not enough, and self-exalting, faultfinding workers may be placed last, while service joined to Christ does not seek to exalt self.

The reward is for faithful, fruitful, obedient work, not for idleness or mere profession, for the laborer who receives the penny is contrasted with the person who loiters in the marketplace. All time and ability are entrusted by God, eternal life is His gift on condition of entire obedience, and each worker is accountable with the amount expected in proportion to ability, means, and opportunity, to be revealed in a day of reckoning. Verses 1-8 promise wages for work done in consecrated cooperation with Christ, bringing closer sympathy with Him and growth in spiritual life and knowledge of His sacrifice, but those wages are received later. Purity of motive and earnest desire to glorify God determine the reward rather than mere amount accomplished, and even the humblest servant finds reward in the knowledge of doing what is right, with fruit showing the character of faithful work.

Faithful Spirit Versus Bargaining

The worth of service is measured by the spirit in which it is given, not by how long a person has worked. God does not reward simply by the amount of labor or its visible results, but by the spirit brought to the work. What He values is trusting faith, gratitude, humility, and love to God and others, rather than eagerness for compensation. Those accepted late, aware they have not earned their reward, serve with gratitude and humble trust, and God delights to honor that spirit.

Service is to be done in trusting faith without bargaining for a fixed reward, as if the Master would not deal fairly. Workers are to trust Him to give what is right and to deal fairly and rightly, rather than insist on wages they themselves stipulate. It is not to be done in a self-congratulatory spirit, with self-praise or desire to appear clever, nor by comparing labor and wages with others. True service is driven by love, dependence on God, and cooperation with Him, not by wages, and it does not exalt self or disparage others.

The first-hired workers represent the hireling, mercenary, self-seeking spirit. They make terms with God, working for a stated reward in exchange for a stated amount of work, and will not work without the wages they themselves stipulate. They treat their own labor as more valuable than that of those who come later, value the reward above the privilege of serving Christ, and claim preference and greater reward because of long service and hardship, expecting honor for it. Though they may regard themselves as first, those who serve with this spirit are counted last, and at the close of the day they find themselves last.

When all receive the same wage according to the householder's goodness and his right to do what he chooses with his own, the early workers' complaint exposes envy at others receiving equal pay, though the agreement with them has been kept. Complaints about supposed unfairness, faultfinding, suspicion, and grumbling arise from selfish, unpurified hearts. Such selfishness keeps workers from recognizing the householder's liberality and generosity to those hired at the eleventh hour, and persistent murmuring shows the heart needs to be changed and purified. A purified heart sees His action as generous, while turning His goodness into an occasion for complaint proves the need for a purified heart.

The saying that the last will be first and the first last warns against this mercenary spirit and against grasping for greater wages or higher place and begrudging the Master's goodness to others. It rebukes jealousy, suspicion, claims of merit, self-righteousness, self-advancement, distrust, self-exaltation, and belittling others. The first-called Jews regarded their years of service as grounds for greater reward and resented the Gentiles receiving equal privileges, and the first-called disciples are likewise warned against supposing human effort earns a place in heaven. Long service does not entitle anyone to greater recognition, for all time and ability are entrusted by God; God rewards according to the spirit in which workers serve, and self-exalting, faultfinding workers may be placed last. Accepting the invitation in theory is not enough, for faith must work through love and purify the soul, and service joined to Christ does not seek to exalt self.

Those hired late leave their payment to the householder, trusting Him to act rightly and justly. They expect little and are content if Christ will receive them, thankful for the opportunity to serve. They come as poor sinners who long delayed and neglected service but at last come in humble, penitent faith and obedience, and their surprise and gratitude at full pay show kindness they know they did not earn. Their trusting faith leads to their being placed first, and Christ accepts and graciously rewards them.

Yet the later hiring does not excuse those who hear the first call and refuse, neglect, or trifle with it. Those hired at the eleventh hour had been unemployed because no one had hired them, and had not refused an earlier call; they were still unhired when the householder found them. Those who refuse and later repent do well to repent, but it is unsafe to reject the first call of mercy and trifle with it.

Eleventh-Hour Workers Identified

The eleventh-hour workers are poor sinners who long delayed entering Christ's service and neglected that service, yet at last come in humble faith, thankful simply for opportunity to serve, leaving their reward to Christ, expecting little and content if He will receive them, and then surprised by generous payment they know they have not earned. Their surprise and gratitude display the householder's kindness, for Christ accepts such late entrants and graciously rewards them, showing that trusting gratitude is what counts in His service.

The dying thief on the cross is such an eleventh-hour laborer, receiving as much reward as those who labored many hours. In faith, patience, contrition and earnestness he cast his helpless dying soul and body on Jesus, fully realizing Jesus could save him, with hope mingled with anguish at knowing that without Jesus he would be eternally lost.

Eleventh-hour workers also are people who receive light late, who may come from great error and have had few opportunities, yet consecrate themselves to God's work, remain faithful to principle and duty, declare the whole counsel of God, and receive the reward for faithfulness. While they are brought in late, those with greater light who reject Christ and their privileges leave their place vacant and lose their place and crown.

They include many souls still in the ranks of the world and in the churches, even the Catholic church, who will come out at the end and join God's work. When the crisis over religious liberty and the battle for truth is upon them and the season of calamity comes, they will see it coming, come to the front, give the trumpet a certain sound, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, exalt God's law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty. Their zeal will far exceed that of those who have long stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth, including Sabbathkeeping Adventists who do not walk in the light.

They are people who enter when the work has become harder and people more resistant, yet remain faithful and receive their penny. When workers leave or die the Lord calls others, including the young, to take their places and continue His work. House-to-house Bible work will prepare many to make right decisions during the crisis, even amid Satan's deceptive miracles, so that accepting truth and becoming workers with Christ at the eleventh hour they receive the same reward as those who served throughout the day.

The call to work applies with particular force near the close of earth's history, for Christ as householder comes to His people throughout the ages calling laborers into His vineyard. The hiring pictures God calling workers to warn the world, sending His angels forth with every true, self-sacrificing, faithful worker, while men and women fix their own destiny as candidates for heaven or for hell. Those first called who will not work without wages they themselves stipulate find themselves last at the close of the day.

Universal Call to Labor

The verse calls every Christian, every church member, men, women, and youth to be a worker in the Lord's vineyard, with no idlers and no excuse for ease or pleasure. Each has a task and portion to tend, each is given work and responsibility, and all are to serve willingly, wholeheartedly, to the utmost of ability. Every accountable person can do good work by using opportunities to help suffering people, and every believer who knows the truth has work bringing people out of darkness and establishing them in truth. Those who work for God are responsible to use all their abilities in the best service they can offer, in unison with heavenly messengers, and God accepts willing service given with humility, faith, energy, perseverance, and decision. The call is for more willing workers in the Master's field of service.

Hiring laborers means God calls for human cooperation and supplies character and ability for service, for He does nothing without it. God as householder calls men to whom He has given ability to accomplish the great work to be done in the Master's vineyard. Each is responsible for serving rather than waiting for others to help, and no one is to remain idle. Those entrusted with responsibilities are supplied with the character needed to serve, using abilities, influence, and time in God's service, including work for others beyond one's own household and efforts to save souls. The work before workers calls for strength from God, inviting them to join themselves to Christ and unite their weakness with His strength, gathering with Him rather than scattering.

Labor in the vineyard means willing sacrifice and faithful, earnest, unselfish, persevering effort that does not consult inclination or personal ease. It means being wide awake and zealous for the salvation of fellow men, availing of every opening, pressing truth upon those in darkness whose hearts God and angels are troubling, and sowing beside all waters with prayerful anxiety and unceasing activity. It includes visiting and helping the sick and discouraged to find faith in Jesus, bringing people out of error and establishing them in truth, with even unpleasant duties and the risk of disappointment or rebuffs giving no justification for leaving people in darkness. It calls for devoted, self-sacrificing men and women who give themselves unreservedly and imitate the Saviour's example of self-denial, sacrifice, and faithful, earnest labor, serving willingly and with humility, faith, energy, perseverance, and decision. Everyone who takes a stand for the gospel must be given practical instruction in this work, and men of promise and ability when converted must be shown its necessity, so that faith increases and the work continues when teachers leave for another place.

Being hired means being like Jesus in mind, thoughts, words, and actions, keeping free from every worldly entanglement and bound to the living Source of all power in order to represent correctly what it means to be a Christian. Those who truly labor there are people of prayer, faith, and self-denial who restrain natural appetites and passions. Their lives give evidence of the truth they share and show its power, and their work is effective. Duty is to be done carefully and intelligently, without working unwisely to destroy or overweary nature and become unfitted for good work for the Lord, with the shepherd of the flock to lead and guide in the vineyard's various departments where every soul is called into active labor.

The work is to be taken up wherever people are without waiting for a regular process or appointment, even in what are called irregular lines and through self-sacrificing effort. The Lord has a vineyard everywhere with work to be done, and each is to take up the work right where he is, stepping out of the regular lines to do self-sacrificing work that wins souls to the Lord. Those hired into the vineyard look for a place to work for the Master and come to help, prepared to practice self-denial, determined not to fail nor be discouraged, willing to work without paid passage or large wages and without being carried financially or spiritually, cooperating with others as long as they cooperate with God. Those who do this learn by experience what it means to be laborers together with God, visiting and laboring for souls where they are and entering new fields and lifting the standard in new territory.

The vineyard is large and is to be cultivated, so many laborers are needed for work throughout the field, with workers in different fields and places. His work is not confined to one central institution or controlled by human ties, and no part of the field should regard itself as independent, with those beginning new work to receive help from workers with experience. Those who are truly converted care about the work throughout the vineyard, not only the institution or branch they oversee, and are ready to help wherever help is needed. There are to be no idlers, and God's servants must constantly enlarge the circle of their efforts, constantly doing more, never less, winning sinners to the Saviour, sowing truth beside all waters, visiting place after place, raising up churches, setting members and new converts to work, and then passing on to other equally important fields in the regions beyond, until the work widens and broadens to encircle the world.

Fields and Forms of Labor

Preparing workers for the vineyard requires schooling that disciplines the mind, develops its powers, and directs them with understanding, including the common branches of education, Scripture study, present truth, lectures upon the prophecies, practical training, manual labor, and daily experience. God accepts to labor those with good abilities who serve intelligently, cultivate and improve entrusted talents, and gain knowledge of important Bible truths so they can best represent the religion of the Bible and promote His glory. Young men who consecrate themselves unreservedly and use powers of mind in His service as earnestly as in serving themselves become earnest, persevering, successful workers, intelligent in spiritual knowledge, turning minds into a heavenly channel, walking in light from one degree to another until they can warn sinners, explain Scripture, turn sinners to Christ, point the unbelieving Heavenward, and take hold of any line of work. Everyone taking a stand for the gospel must receive practical instruction in willing, sacrificial, earnest, unselfish, persevering effort that sows truth with prayerful anxiety and unceasing activity, and men of promise and ability when converted must be shown its necessity so faith increases and work continues when teachers leave. Preparing and training people for home and foreign mission fields supplies the vineyard's need for many workers.

The call to labor in the vineyard applies to young men and women, including the ministry, with more workers needed. Instead of pursuing pleasure or remaining indifferent, youth are to serve faithfully, do the Lord's will, seek and save souls through soul-winning, missionary letters and literature, and prayerful sharing of truth, as labor leading to eternal life and the King's commendation. Christ welcomes beginners and those who seem unlikely, unqualified, discouraging, or with little education into neglected fields, seeing developable abilities where others overlook them. As they commit themselves, keep learning humbly, and give themselves to the work, He fits them for suited places through providence and gives power to speak and serve through the Holy Spirit, calling young and old from ordinary work to carry the closing gospel message.

The summons applies to entering cities, towns, villages, and new fields with the warning message, proclaiming mercy throughout the world, educating members to serve, giving Bible readings, holding meetings, raising churches, and working with God to win souls. Those called must respond with their whole being, act with renewed courage and zeal, labor faithfully while opportunity remains, continue until the work is thorough, and make the most of remaining time after long delay, because neglect can leave souls lost. The vineyard includes the home, where older members patiently teach younger children and share knowledge God has given, and where those with great light do duty in educating youth, giving faithful home training, cooperating with school workers in education dearest to the Saviour's heart, and using facilities within reach. A mother remaining with her children through poverty and a harsh, godless husband's opposition to train them, pray with them, and counteract evil teaching performs true vineyard labor rather than leaving family for other work, while neglecting parental duty to train youth is being little better than idlers in the vineyard.

Circulating publications and canvassing is vineyard labor in the field of soul-saving work, including canvassing with books that express faith and give light to buyers. Laboring thus means bearing the burden of souls and learning daily the most successful way of winning people to truth, which gives fitness and experience for the gospel ministry. Making books available at low prices brings light to those who might otherwise not read them, so circulation should not be hindered. Turning to selling books and pictures that do not express faith and give no light because pay is better, using God-given powers for selfish interests while forgetting debt to the Lord who gave His life, is refusing to labor in the vineyard, losing time and opportunities, failing to gain fitness for ministry, turning from the Spirit's convictions, and taking a worldly stamp of character. The Lord knows and watches laborers wherever placed, and church and institutions are to send them out and support their work with sympathy and opportunities to grow.

Entrusted property, abilities, means, and opportunities are to be used while living to advance the vineyard and place the work on a proper basis in every place. When abilities given by God are used for selfish gain rather than His service they are perverted and can do great harm. The householder requires equity and just judgment, forbidding absorbing a large amount of means in one place or one line while other fields are destitute, unworked, and without facilities. Every building must be erected with reference to other places needing similar buildings, giving other portions a chance through many small sanitariums, treatment rooms in many cities, and hygienic restaurants, rather than heaping over-abundance in expensive buildings in one place and blocking advance by selfish use of means. Serving in work still waiting to be done is reason to spend less on costly clothing and direct money to the cause and into the treasury.

The Southern field and work among colored people in destitute regions belong to the vineyard that must be done. Capable colored youth, given every possible advantage and proper training, can become useful medical missionary evangelists among their own race, including conducting sanitariums at times with white workers' assistance, and workers are to be trained and encouraged with patient, persevering effort. Laborers are workers who understand necessities of the field, while stewards are men in responsibility who should heed appeals and prepare the way with interest and help; if stewards neglect and close their senses, laborers are free to devise and plan, go anywhere, bring their case directly before unsealed hearts, and solicit means without passing through office or society. Medical missionaries are to work today to save souls especially in neglected fields rather than settle near established sanitariums for personal profit. Workers trained in their own languages are to take places quickly among foreigners who do not know present truth, whom providence brings to doors so they learn truth and carry it to others in their languages, extending the message to all nations, with souls won as their hire.

Ministers should give idle people a share in the work, put them to work, correct mistakes, and let them learn use of abilities by exercising them, since many are hindered by being kept from practical service for further education. Those truly called to proclaim the message bear its burden and work especially in new fields with effort, prayer, holy living, and teaching to raise up Sabbathkeepers, rather than spending most time among believers already understanding it or concentrating on favored churches, though some may assist without being called to serve wholly as traveling teachers. The vineyard is the gospel ministry in its various lines worldwide, the highest of all work, blessed above all enterprises, never to be looked upon as inferior or belittled, so to ignore it is to ignore Christ. Young men must not be deterred from entering or drawn from where God bids them walk, even by glowing representations of medical lines when God bids them to ministry, but answer as whole armies of large-hearted, large-minded workers with deep love for Christ and truth to strengthen outposts as faithful sentinels, preparing for service, preaching the Word, and trusting God to sustain and guide.

Dealing with laborers over wages is a sacred transaction between man and fellow man on fair, true, and right principles, giving the employed voice in wage decisions rather than handling them as voiceless objects, since their work through God brings means into the treasury to sustain the cause. Cutting wages without consent and without understanding their situation is unjust and unrighteous, reveals selfish character, brings families into strait places, want, and oppression, and tempts, discourages, and drives workers from the field. Some in Vermont wrongly believe they are called to vineyard work and should give up that belief when it burdens the church instead of exercising care for their own families. The Master's provision of a place to serve appears in opportunity to continue in another part of the great harvest field without sacrificing life and health. Gifts to Jesus through offerings that send workers to those for whom He died support sending laborers to bring people to Him. Laborers also represent those who after finding truth become intelligent helpers, whose faith and works show labor for them has not been in vain.

Those who have received truth consecrate themselves and work with Christ wholeheartedly with self-denial, sacrifice, and faithful effort for others' salvation, growing in spiritual life, knowledge, sympathy with Him, and understanding of His work and sacrifice, with promised wages received later. People united with the Saviour become valuable workers prepared to win souls. Office and publishing workers labor in the vineyard in sacred work for salvation of souls, to be done earnestly and faithfully rather than as ordinary employment, laboring for souls including those not fully in truth who are to be prayed for and cared about, with fruitless workers called to consecrate themselves and center affections and hopes in God.