Matthew 20:12, commentary and pictures

The first-hired workers complain that those who worked only one hour have been made equal to them, though they themselves carried the heavy labor of the whole day through its heat. They had agreed to a fixed wage and received exactly what was promised, while those hired last made no bargain but trusted the owner to pay what was right. The worth of service to God is measured not by length of time or visible amount, but by the spirit of faith, love, and pure motive in which it is given. Their complaint exposes a grasping, mercenary spirit that bargains for a set sum, prizes its own longer labor, and claims entitlement to more. Yet those who come late in trusting thankfulness, glad simply to be accepted, are by free kindness given the same eternal reward.

Parable Complaint and Setting

The first-hired workers complain that those who came last and worked only one hour have been made equal to them, though they themselves bore the burden and heat of the day through a full day's labor. Their grievance treats equal pay for unequal hours as unfair, measuring the worth of service by its duration and hardship while disparaging the work of the others. The householder answers that he has kept his agreement with them and is free to be generous to the others, so receiving what was promised gives no ground for resenting his generosity.

The early workers had agreed to a stated wage and received exactly what was promised, while those hired last made no fixed bargain but trusted the owner to pay what was right and just. The first received what they had agreed to accept, and the last trusted God to act justly and were rewarded according to his generosity rather than the amount of labor performed. Their complaint therefore exposes a hireling spirit that bargains with God to do a set amount for a set sum, regards its own longer labor as more valuable, expects reward in proportion to work, and considers itself entitled to more than the wage agreed upon. By contrast, workers who will not labor without their own stipulated terms fix their own destiny against heaven and end up last.

The contrast is sharpened because the late workers labored only briefly in the cooler part of the day, while the early workers labored longer through the hottest part of the day. The latecomers had not earned a full day's wages, so their unexpected equal payment rests on the householder's kindness rather than what they earned. The vineyard in the parable represents the world, and the call to the vineyard includes men found standing idle in the marketplace.

The late-hired workers had not refused the first call to work, so the parable does not excuse those who hear the truth and refuse to obey it or who deliberately reject the first call and later repent. It is unsafe to trifle with the first call of mercy.

God's Measure of Reward

The complaint measures fairness by hours worked, treating equal pay for one hour as unjust after bearing the burden and heat through the whole day, yet the agreement was kept and generosity to others was the owner's right. The answer is that worth in God's service is decided by the spirit in which it is offered, not by how long the work lasts. That spirit is faith working through love and purifying the soul, in contrast to a faultfinding and self-exalting claim to greater reward for lifelong service. Self-exaltation of that kind can make those who might have been first become last.

God does not pay His servants according to the amount of labor performed or its visible results, but according to the spirit, motives, and principles brought to the work. Pure motives and a desire to glorify Him determine the reward, rather than any human measurement of one worker against another. Human observers count time and effort, while He looks to what is brought to the task in trust. The first engaged received exactly what had been agreed, while those engaged last made no fixed bargain but trusted the owner to pay what was right and just. Their unexpected full payment therefore displays generosity toward the unworthy rather than earnings calculated by merit.

The latecomers' full wage rests on the householder's kindness, not on what they earned. They were grateful simply to be accepted into service and were surprised by generous payment. Coming late with a sense of unworthiness and gladness merely to be received, a sinner coming to Christ may obtain far more than expected. Christ values that trusting, thankful spirit in which the work is done. Those hired last trusted the master to do what was right, and they were rewarded according to his generosity rather than the amount of labor performed.

The all-day workers would have remained first if they had served with loving trust instead of measuring service by wages and taking pride in their own labor. The late-hired were placed first because they trusted the householder's promise.

Ordinary payment gives according to work done, but God's generous reward is not measured by the amount of labor and is given according to His purpose. The first and the last share the eternal reward by free grace, so no one can claim it as a right or begrudge it to another. This challenges the grasping, mercenary idea that God's favor and the reward of the righteous must be earned by works, presenting free grace as the right principle. The first workers received exactly the sum they had agreed to, while resentment over equal treatment of shorter labor exposes jealousy and the mistaken claim that longer service earns a greater reward.

The householder's treatment of the workers represents God's dealings with the human family. God acts according to the principles of His kingdom rather than human standards, expectations, or ideas of fairness, because His ways and thoughts are higher. With purified hearts the complainers would have recognized generosity in equal wages for the eleventh-hour workers instead of resenting it from selfishness.

Workers called into the vineyard at different times may receive the same reward. God accepts service offered in response to His invitation even when time has been spent in self-serving pursuits, so that those who turn to work for others may share rest, commendation, and eternal life. He honors each according to faithfulness rather than learning or advantage, so differences in capacity and opportunity are no cause for pride, self-exaltation, or dependence on esteem. The heaviest obligation rests where means and opportunity are greatest, with return expected in proportion to entrusted capital, ability, and opportunity, for the smaller vessel is not expected to hold as much as the larger. A day of reckoning will show how accounts stand for the use or abuse of entrusted talent.

Rebuke of Envy and Merit

The complaint exposes an eager, grasping, mercenary hireling spirit that bargains to do a set amount of work for a set sum and then claims entitlement to more than the wage agreed upon. It regards its own longer labor as more valuable simply because it began earlier, values itself above those who enter later, and expects reward in strict proportion to work done. Receiving exactly what was promised does not justify resentment at generosity shown to others, and such a spirit makes workers unworthy of increased wages or the highest place, leaving them last in God's reckoning. The contrast is between demanding wages as an entitlement and trusting the householder to act justly, and servants are warned not to bargain for a fixed reward or treat goodness and liberality as grounds for complaint.

The words reveal pride, self-exaltation, faultfinding, and the habit of comparing one's service with fellow workers while disparaging the work of others. They measure every hour's work with exactness and set the highest estimate on their own services in pride and self-importance, rather than comparing their efforts with the Saviour's work and accounting themselves unprofitable servants. Such claiming of greater reward for lifelong service is not faith working through love and purifying the soul, but a claim to merit by duration and hardship. God rewards service according to the spirit in which it is done and what is hidden from human view, not according to a worker's own estimate of its worth or human rankings for recognition.

With purified hearts the workers would have recognized the householder's generosity in giving the eleventh-hour workers the same wages as those who worked longer, for a pure heart sees generosity rather than grounds for complaint. Their grievance arose from selfishness and the belief that longer service entitles them to greater reward, a spirit that is selfish and unchristlike. Grumbling over wages in God's service therefore merits no sympathy, because the underlying need is a changed heart. The householder's treatment of the workers represents God's dealings with the human family.

Thinking that long service, hardship, and sacrifice entitle workers to greater honor makes them jealous and resentful when the claim is not recognized. Enduring years of hardship and trial while treating work as earning salvation and claiming it merits higher payment than the work of others makes years of hardship unchristlike and untrustworthy. The longer-serving workers correspond to the Jews, who expected greater reward because of many years of service and resented Gentiles being admitted to equal privileges. This warns Christ's first disciples against self-righteousness and trying to earn a place in God's kingdom.

Workers who demand the wages they themselves stipulate and will not labor without their own terms fix their own destiny against heaven and end up last at the close of the day. By contrast, every true, self-sacrificing, faithful worker labors in self-denial and daily cross-bearing to warn the world, and God sends forth His angels with such workers. Workers must not set their own estimate on the value of their labor or judge their own or others' work by human rankings, exalting their own labor and devaluing the work of others in the vineyard. They are to serve with love and dependence on God with changed hearts, for those regarded as first may be placed last and those regarded as last may be made first.

Latecomers Receiving Equal Reward

A sinner who comes to Christ late, conscious of unworthiness and glad simply to be accepted into service, may receive far more than expected, for the full reward rests on kindness rather than earnings and Christ values the trusting, thankful spirit in which the work is done. Such latecomers are surprised by generous payment, having trusted to be dealt with justly rather than bargaining for a fixed sum.

The receiving of as much by eleventh-hour laborers as by those who labored many hours is seen in the dying thief, whose asking was in faith, patience, contrition and earnestness, with full realization that Jesus could save him, with hope mingled with anguish at being eternally lost without salvation, casting his helpless dying soul and body on Christ in consciousness of sinfulness and entire dependence on the mercy of a dying Saviour. People who begin serving Christ at the eleventh hour receive the same reward as those who worked throughout the day, including those who accept the truth and become workers when the final crisis comes. In the perils of the last days men and women will still be brought into the fold at the eleventh hour, and if in earnest the Lord accepts them and works through them, and as they put on Christ their minds are enlarged to give the treasures of heavenly truth to others, and they receive as much as those who first entered the field.

The eleventh-hour laborers are many souls still to come out of the ranks of the world and out of the churches, even the Catholic church, when the crisis over religious liberty is upon them and the season of calamity comes. Their zeal will far exceed that of those who stood in rank and file to proclaim the truth heretofore, for many in Protestant and Catholic churches obey the light to the best of their knowledge more truly than many Sabbathkeeping Adventists who do not walk in the light. These late workers will see the battle coming and give the trumpet a certain sound, come to the front, gird themselves with the whole armor of God, exalt His law, adhere to the faith of Jesus, and maintain the cause of religious liberty, and for this they will receive their penny. People brought into God's work at the eleventh hour are accepted and rewarded for faithful service though they labored only briefly, while those who received greater light and opportunity but turned away may lose their place and crown to faithful latecomers who take their place.

Those called at the eleventh hour may through Christ's grace and faithful presentation of the truth be accounted first, for differing hours of service do not prevent God from granting the same reward. Workers entering at the eleventh hour can be faithful laborers receiving the penny as their reward. Christ welcomes workers who enter late or begin with little experience and who may seem discouraging or unqualified, seeing useful abilities and qualities in them that others overlook, and as they keep learning providence and the Holy Spirit fit them for work within their capabilities and in the place suited to them. The same applies to people who learn at the eleventh hour that Christ has forgiven their sins: it is late, but not too late for wrongs to be made right.

Call to Labor Earnestly

The vineyard is the Lord's work of presenting precious truth to those in darkness for the salvation of souls, including studying the Scriptures, warning sinners, winning souls to Christ, and pointing the unbelieving and desponding heavenward. Every Christian in every sense is to be a devoted, self-sacrificing, consecrated worker in that vineyard, giving self unreservedly and availing every opening to press in the truth. The work is to be done wide awake and zealously, in unison with God and angels moving on hearts and consciences in other nations, following the Saviour's self-denial, sacrifice, and faithful earnest labor. It calls for willing sacrifice, untiring effort, prayerful anxiety and unceasing activity in sowing the seed of truth, without consulting inclination or personal ease, with practical instruction for all who take their stand for the gospel. His servants are called to labor earnestly and persistently for souls, including opening new fields and warning the world, taking up their burdens as sacred service.

There is work for everyone in the Lord's vineyard and none should remain idle, for the work of preparing people for Christ's coming calls for devoted, unselfish labor and God accepts willing service. Each child of God has an assigned task in the Lord's service and is responsible for using abilities and opportunities faithfully, bearing a share of responsibility rather than standing back while others carry burdens. Each follower is to join Christ rather than wait for others to provide help, and persevering effort increases usefulness.

Ministers should give people work in God's vineyard and let them learn through using their abilities, correcting their mistakes and setting them to work again, since the parable includes men who had stood idle in the marketplace. Men of promise and ability when converted must be shown the necessity of unselfish, earnest, persevering labor and be faithfully instructed in the way of the Lord, so faith increases rather than fails and they continue the work, bringing remarkable success in preaching the gospel in heathen lands. Those beginning new work for the Master should receive help from workers with experience of both failure and success, and workers in one part of the field should not act as an independent whole. God has workers in different places, each with a part to do, and their work is to proceed in harmony, not through dependence on a single human center or control by human ties.

The call summons God's servants to enter the cities and work to win souls, and to open new fields wherever they labor, for the Master knows and watches over His workers and calls for more laborers. The church is called to work for youth and children in Christ's spiritual vineyard, and the Lord sees who does this work. God gives people work to do, and those who faithfully do His will serve in seeking the salvation of souls, with youth trained to win souls becoming valuable workers. Missionary service needs many more workers to be trained for it, with souls as their hire.

Labor in the vineyard is gospel work that expresses faith, gives light, bears the burden of souls, and wins people to the truth in daily learning of the most successful way. True laborers are people of prayer, faith, and self-denial who restrain natural appetites and passions, so their lives show the power of the truth they teach and their work is effective. Work in the Lord's vineyard is not to be chosen for personal enjoyment or gain, but workers are to serve wherever needed and to the full extent of ability.

God accepts workers with good abilities into His vineyard, for they are indebted to Him for existence and entrusted talents and owe Him the duty to cultivate and improve them. Even able workers need schooling in the common branches, the truths of God's word for this time, and prophecy to discipline the mind, develop its powers, and direct them understandingly so they become useful in advancing God's glory. Even a few months' instruction that prepares mind and character greatly benefits service.

The penny is given to the laborer, not to the person who loiters in the marketplace, for reward is connected with faithfully doing the work given, and the fruit of that work reveals its character before God, angels, and people. Even the humblest servant can work for others, and the reward is the knowledge of doing right. Faithful service is not measured by much talking or continual argument, but by consistently living out faith.

Service is owed to Christ because He paid for His servants with His blood, calling them to work faithfully with abilities and opportunities entrusted to them. Those who use their powers for selfish financial interests and sell what does not give light refuse to labor in the Lord's vineyard, gain no fitness for gospel ministry, lose time and opportunities, turn aside from convictions of the Spirit, receive a worldly stamp of character, and forget how much they owe to the Lord who gave His life for them.

The setting highlights one vineyard with servants in different parts of a single field, and workers should not let selfish feelings or rivalry over respective parts divide them but work together to warn the careless and save the lost. Christians should value the work in every field and help wherever help is needed, rather than favoring only the interests they oversee. No narrow rules are to be imposed on whom God may call to labor. Those who neglect duty to help educate the young are like idlers, while God's people should work earnestly and make the most of opportunities and resources entrusted to them.

The Lord as householder of His vineyard sees the work to be done, the places where memorials for truth should stand, and the unworked fields destitute of facilities, and requires equity and just judgment from all who serve Him. Means must not be selfishly absorbed in one place or one line to build a larger, mammoth institution hard to keep to a high spiritual standard, but every building must be erected with reference to other places needing similar buildings. Building is to be kept within means and other parts of the vineyard given a chance for facilities, with many small sanitariums, treatment rooms in many cities, and hygienic restaurants teaching health reform, so the way of advance is not blocked and the worldwide work is done.

Workers serving in irregular lines can win souls through self-sacrificing labor and are not to be discounted because they began outside the regular process. When men in responsible positions neglect appeals for destitute fields such as the Southern Field and close their senses to the work they should do, the burden falls on workers in those fields to devise and plan to prepare their own way. Those who understand the necessities of the field have a perfect right to go anywhere in the American field and bring their case directly before the people and solicit means without passing through any office or society.

Labor in the vineyard means putting God-given mental powers and qualities to active use in the Master's service instead of selfishly serving self-interest and gain, with the object to do good and glorify God, which would do much good, while the same qualifications perverted to selfish gain do great harm. The work of communicating heaven's light is not for ministers alone but the responsibility of every church member to take part. Workers are to give themselves fully to the work God sets before them, taking individual responsibility and joining Christ instead of waiting for others. Those called by God feel the weight of the work and carry the message especially to new fields, striving through prayer, holy living, and teaching to raise up Sabbathkeepers, and laborers carry the burden of the church echoing the day's load of labor.

The parable belongs to appeals for workers to renew consecration and serve with greater courage and activity, so more willing laborers may join the Master's vineyard and the time God gives is used for others rather than idleness. To be laborers in the vineyard in the publishing work means praying earnestly in faith for fellow workers not fully in the truth, feeling the worth of the soul for whom Christ died, and handling sacred things with sacredness rather than as common labor. Trifling frivolities grieve angels, and those who are fruitless must consecrate themselves to God and center affections and hopes in Him. God's work needs to be carried forward, the means entrusted to people are to be used to support it, and believers become workers through humble, prayerful labor for others.

Justice and Care for Workers

The burden and heat of the day describes workers who have labored long and sacrificially in difficult places to establish schools, sanitariums, and other branches of the work. Their patient endurance through prolonged hardship and their years of effort deserve due consideration and credit. They are not to be overlooked when another is appointed to take charge, nor displaced without fair regard for what they have borne and accomplished.

Those who bore the burden and heat are faithful longtime workers who carried heavy responsibilities from the early stages when few shared the labor. They labored long, sacrificed much, and served heavily in the work of the message, and their experience is to be used to teach younger workers. For their work's sake they are to be highly esteemed, honored, and respected. They are to receive justice, appreciation, considerate and generous treatment, kindness, encouragement, and support.

Faithful ministers and other servants who have borne the burden until overwork, exposure, age, illness, or failing health leaves them unable to continue have a just claim to care and rest. Their long service and self-sacrifice call for support rather than being left to struggle in poverty. They are not to be made to feel like paupers when age or illness weakens them. Their present frailty does not mean they are of little service, for their past labor testifies to their faithfulness.

Aged, experienced workers who carried the work through years of hardship and stood at the forefront are not to be set aside in favor of younger, less experienced workers. They should receive recognition, respect, and practical help. As they leave active service and can no longer carry their responsibilities, younger workers must be prepared to take their places. God's appointed agents have borne that burden while working with heavenly agencies to advance Christ's kingdom, and believers are called to unite with them. The same image also applies to men who carried the work's burdens and were later disappointed and confused by changes that did not improve matters.

Laborers in the Lord's vineyard who cannot support themselves must be sustained so they can remain at work. Wages in God's cause must not be cut without the workers' consent and without understanding their situation. All arrangements with those in His service are a sacred transaction between man and his fellow man and must be conducted on fair, true, and right principles, with workers having a voice as much as men employed in trade. Cutting wages by selfish counsel turns away from God, reveals selfish character, brings families into strait places and want, gives occasion to tempt and discourage workers, and in some cases drives them from the field. When lack of means presses, the true situation is to be published and the workers asked whether they can do with less, for they are not to be handled as inanimate objects without voice or expression of their own.

Feeling wronged over wages is an evil. Demanding higher and still higher wages and setting a high price on one's own labor misrepresents the self-denial of Jesus Christ, who is the Pattern. Leaders should set a self-denying example in wages from the beginning of their work so that associates with lower wages do not feel wronged. This is necessary because many laborers must be set at work and supported in missionary labor in the Lord's vineyard.