Matthew 20:8, commentary and pictures

At evening the lord of the vineyard orders his steward to call the labourers and pay them their hire, beginning with those hired last and ending with the first. The vineyard is the world and the work of saving souls, the householder is God and Christ who directs the work on the principles of His kingdom, and the steward who calls and pays is Christ, under whom men in trust also serve as stewards. The reward is given by generous purpose and not by amount of labour, time, or merit, so those hired last receive a full day's wage they know they have not earned, while those who bargained for a stated sum receive exactly what was agreed. The complaint of the first hired exposes a grasping, jealous, hireling spirit, for no one earns a place in the kingdom or has ground to boast, begrudge another, or claim preference for long service and hardship. The eleventh-hour workers show those saved very late and the thousands who accept truth near the close of the work, coming from the world and the churches to fill places left vacant and in the final crisis to exalt God's law with a zeal exceeding that of those who long proclaimed it.

Evening Payment Ordered

At evening the lord of the vineyard tells his steward to call the labourers and give them their hire, beginning from those hired last and ending with those hired first. The payment is made at the close of the working day, and this order sets up the contrast between the late-hired who receive a penny and those hired earlier. Each worker receives the agreed wage, and the later-hired receiving the same as the others provokes the complaint of the first workers. That resentment exposes a grasping, mercenary spirit toward the owner's generosity, while the owner does no wrong in giving generously from his own. The same vineyard work is applied to Christian service, where workers should begin where they are rather than wait for a regular process, and those who take up self-sacrificing work can win souls and learn by experience what it means to labor together with God.

The payment closes the workday, and those who answer the call to labor will receive their wages in due time. Faithful workers may look forward to the evening reckoning at the end of the warfare as the time of reward and welcome to the joy of their Lord. That work is entire consecration to God, spending powers of mind in His service rather than in serving self and acquiring property, studying the Scriptures, becoming intelligent in spiritual knowledge and the things of the kingdom, warning sinners and winning souls to Christ, turning sinners to Christ and pointing the unbelieving and desponding heavenward, and walking in the light from one degree of light and strength to another. Working with Christ in this way draws people into closer sympathy with Him and helps them grow in spiritual life and understand His work and sacrifice for humanity. Those who merely loiter in the marketplace do not receive the penny, for the reward is connected with faithful labor, while workers entering the Master's vineyard to labor for those who do not know the truth are given souls for their hire.

Apart from the evening order, the vineyard and its labourers themselves carry the call to service. Christians as workers in the Lord's vineyard are to labor zealously for the salvation of others and follow the example of self-denial, sacrifice, and faithful work. Workers entrusted with sacred responsibility, such as those in the Office, are laborers in the Lord's vineyard responsible for the salvation of souls, and those who have been unfruitful are called to consecrate themselves and center affections and hopes in Him. The workers include missionaries who must be trained and sent to serve in home and foreign fields, under a Lord who watches over those in His vineyard and cares for those laboring in His service for the saving of souls. The call also sees qualifications in people who may seem discouraging or unpromising, and those who keep learning can be fitted through providence and empowered by the Holy Spirit for work within their abilities.

Figures in Parable

The vineyard is the world and the Lord's great work of saving souls, a large field calling for labour to win others and to prepare people for Christ's coming, in which none should remain idle and every believer has part. To labour in it means willing sacrifice and faithful, earnest, persevering work for the salvation of fellow men, sowing truth with prayerful anxiety and unceasing activity, especially by opening new fields rather than remaining where churches already have much light. It embraces ministers and men of promise and ability when converted, who must work unselfishly for others, and it embraces those whom Christ fits for service within their abilities, giving them power through the Holy Spirit as they keep learning, even when they at first seem discouraging. Studied with the other parables that use the same figure, its lesson applies even to schools, where faithful cultivation of the land by students and disinterested care of the buildings takes away the love of sports and amusements that perplexes school work.

The householder, the lord of the vineyard, is God and Christ, overseeing the work and directing His steward to call and pay the labourers. He continually calls labourers at different hours through the ages, with special force near the close of earth's history, and He watches to see who is doing the work He requires in His spiritual vineyard. His dealings with humanity follow the principles of His kingdom, for His ways and thoughts are higher than human ways and standards, and Christ works not according to human opinion or example nor by human measures of fairness. He sees all the work to be done and directs how means and labour are to be shared, marking the places where memorials for truth should stand and the fields unworked and destitute of facilities. The vineyard is therefore His work in many places, where He teaches, leads, and guides workers, requiring equity and just judgment and forbidding the absorbing of much means in one place or one line, so that other parts may have facilities such as small sanitariums, treatment rooms, and hygienic restaurants in many cities, with every building erected with reference to other needy places and with responsibility not concentrated in one human center.

The steward who carries out the householder's direction to pay the workers represents Christ. Men in responsible positions are also His stewards over the work under Him, charged to heed appeals for destitute fields such as the Southern field, to keep their senses open, to give interest and help where demanded, and to make special effort to prepare the way for workers and direct labour. If those stewards neglect this duty, workers who understand the necessities of the field have full right to bring their case directly before the people and solicit help, to go anywhere in the field to call for means without its passing through any office or society, and to devise and plan to prepare their own way, for the Lord's work in His vineyard must be done. In this setting the labourers are gospel workers in God's cause, supported so they can continue their work and called to take up burdens and use God-given abilities rather than hold them back, with the evening settlement paying from the last hired to the first.

Reward by Grace

The evening order puts the last hired first at payment, and those taken on at the eleventh hour receive a full day's penny though they have worked only briefly. They know they have not earned that amount, and their surprise is filled with gratitude at the householder's kindness. This is the gracious reward given to the penitent sinner who comes late, expects little, trusts to be accepted, and is content simply to be taken into service.

The reward is given according to generous purpose, not according to the amount of labor, time spent, visible results, or human standards of merit. Its value is measured by the spirit, principles, motives, and fidelity brought to the work, and by thankful, trusting service rather than by duration or by wages demanded. Faith that trusts the promise to give what is right places the late-hired first, and penitent sinners coming at a late hour in humble faith and obedience are accepted.

Those hired last made no fixed bargain but trusted the owner to act rightly and justly, while those hired first had agreed on a stated sum. Each receives the agreed hire, the first receiving exactly what was stipulated and the last receiving according to generous purpose rather than work done. The owner does no wrong in giving generously from his own, and servants should trust his goodness rather than bargain with him for a set reward in exchange for a set amount of work.

No one earns a place in the kingdom or gains the reward of the righteous by works, so none has grounds to boast over another, begrudge another's reward, or claim preference and greater honor for long service, sacrifice, and hardship. First and last share the great eternal reward by grace, which is God's gift on condition of entire obedience and not a payment that can be claimed as a right. Reward should not be the chief motive for doing right, and those who come late in trusting faith are even accounted first.

Rebuke of Bargaining Spirit

The evening order to pay beginning with the last hired brings the late workers forward first to receive their agreed wage, and each worker is then paid what was agreed, the owner doing no wrong in giving generously from what is his own. The first workers resent that generosity to others and claim that long service and bearing the heat entitle them to preference, greater wages and greater honor. That resentment exposes a grasping, mercenary, hireling spirit of jealousy, self-righteousness, suspicion, distrust and faultfinding, which serves for the reward expected, treats its own labor as more valuable than the work of those who came later, and bargains with God for a set reward in exchange for a set amount of work. The steward who carries out the payment represents Christ, while the first-called represent men and women who will not work without the wages they themselves stipulate, and by demanding their own terms instead of giving true, self-sacrificing, faithful service in warning the world they fix their own destiny as candidates for hell rather than heaven and at the close of the day find themselves last. By contrast every true self-sacrificing faithful worker is accompanied by angels sent from God, denies self, takes up the cross daily, follows Christ, and enters into the design of the divine Planner to be instructed and guided.

Grumbling over reward wins no sympathy, for it shows the heart needs to be purified and changed rather than insisting on a stipulated wage, since God the great Householder is to be trusted to deal fairly. The late workers received the same wage as those who came earlier, showing the householder's generosity, yet the first workers' complaints arose from selfishness and from hearts not purified to recognize that liberality. With purified hearts workers would have recognized that liberality and would serve Christ in loving trust for the privilege of serving, in love and dependence on God rather than for wages, praise or self-advancement. God does not value service by the amount of work or recognition claimed but by the spirit in which it is done, and those who exalt themselves or disparage others need changed hearts and must not measure service, compare themselves with others, or bargain as though the Master would not deal fairly. The later-hired trusted the owner to give what is right, and the equal payment shows the reward rests on His generous purpose and not merely on the amount of work done.

The parable corrects the lost truth that God's favor must be earned and that the reward of the righteous is gained by their own works, a teaching that makes worship grasping and mercenary in spirit. Even the disciples were not wholly free from that spirit, and Christ gave the parable, using an event that had just occurred to open the way, to show them their error and present the right principles. The pride of the first-called Jews in their place and their resentment of equal privileges for Gentiles illustrate the same danger among Christ's disciples and in the church. No one earns a place in God's kingdom or may boast of merit, for the first and last share the great eternal reward by grace.

The invitation to work continues until the final hour, and those hired later had not refused an earlier call nor been present when the owner first called, so the parable does not excuse people who knowingly refuse the truth or the first call of mercy and later accept. Laborers should not exalt themselves or disparage the work of others, for those who exalt themselves may be last. The late-hired represent people who accept the truth at the eleventh hour after living up to all the light they had, including souls from other denominational churches who at the last obey all the truth because they did not set themselves against heaven's light. Those given greater light and opportunity with large privileges who fail to live in the light and walk in the light may lose their light and fall away and drop out by the way, their light shining less and less until their lamps go out for want of the oil of grace in their vessels with their lamps.

Eleventh-Hour Workers Foretold

The eleventh-hour worker pictures one saved very late, as the dying thief who turned to Jesus in faith while dying on the cross and was saved at the last moment. His asking showed faith, patience, contrition and earnestness, fully realizing Jesus could save him, with hope mingled with anguish at knowing that without Jesus he would be eternally lost, casting his helpless, dying soul and body on Christ. The eleventh hour is the very end of life when its sands are nearly run out, the last opportunity before it is utterly too late to be saved. Even one hardened in sin and transgression and unbelief, without hope and without God, can still come at that late hour and will not be left to perish. Pardon is still found then by coming to God just as one is with no plea except that Christ died to save the chiefest of sinners, falling broken on Christ the Rock with a broken, repentant heart, throwing oneself at the feet of Jesus without waiting or stopping to reason, crying for mercy as blind Bartimaeus did. Finding pardon then requires cooperation with God through repentance and confession without delay, because Christ did not die to cover transgression unrepented of and unconfessed, leading to a life of practical godliness and to a sense of long-perverted obligations to God. Confession is not all public; some sins are to be confessed alone to God and to the parties that have been injured.

Thousands recognize and accept the truth at the eleventh hour near the close of the work, and will be gathered in among the last laborers. Their conversions happen with surprising speed and rapidity, bringing glory to God alone, for thousands may be converted in a day as God's Spirit works through unexpected people. They enter Christ's service late yet labor earnestly in the work appointed to them, value the great truths of God's Word, and bring those truths into daily life. The final work may be completed rapidly and unexpectedly.

They come out of the ranks of the world and out of the churches, even the Catholic church, and from other denominational churches souls who at the last obey all the truth. They are diligent students of prophecy from all nations, tribes and peoples, coming from grossest error, ways of error from meager opportunities, and even supposed heathenism. They open mind and heart to great light shining from the Word of God that makes dark mysteries plain as day, work out their own salvation with fear and trembling, and live up to all the light they had. They consecrate ability and all entrusted means to advance the work, stand true to principle, shun not duty, and declare the whole counsel of God. They are accepted because they did not set themselves against heaven's light but lived up to all the light they had.

They come in to fill the ranks left broken and the places left vacant when those who knew the truth depart from the faith. Many who hear the truth for the first time in the last days will be admitted to God's fold, including new workers, young people and others who take the places of those lost through death or apostasy and faithfully carry the work forward. The late call includes many faithful workers who receive the full reward for faithfulness even when entering late, when the work has become harder and people more resistant. Those replaced had opportunities, privileges and abundance of light but would not come to the light, turned away from Christ because displeased with His requirements, threw off restraint, made void His law, became offended and walked no more with Him, their light shining less and less until their lamps go out for want of the oil of grace. Their calling happens in the day of mercy, hope, joy and assurance while men are choosing sides, so God will not be left without witnesses, while those rejecting privileges are replaced and others take the crown they forfeited, and those rejecting opportunities and working against God's purpose are purged out.

In the final crisis over God's law and religious liberty their zeal will far exceed that of those who have stood in rank and file proclaiming the truth heretofore. They see the battle coming and give the trumpet a certain sound, and when calamity and the crisis come they come to the front, girded with the whole armor of God, exalting His law, adhering to the faith of Jesus, and maintaining the cause of religious liberty. The Lord gathers people from the world at the eleventh hour to serve Him, including a converted ministry. Even during the time of God's destructive judgments the Lord shows mercy to those who had no opportunity to learn the truth. If they are in earnest the Lord accepts them and works through them, and as they put on Christ their minds are enlarged by higher education, they give to others the treasures of heavenly truth to be given to still others, and by workers raised up to help and educate others the good work is extended and whole communities are blessed. Even at this late point capable people should be urgently roused and prepared for service and for positions of trust, so they can train others by example and instruction.

Call to Faithful Labor

There is work for everyone in the Lord's vineyard and none should remain idle, for every believer has an assigned task and individual responsibility to take some part in communicating heaven's light to a perishing world. Vessels large and small alike are called, and ministers alone are not to bear the burden, since all who profess Christ and have been endowed with knowledge of the truth must be doers of His words. Workers should begin where they are rather than wait for a regular process, joining their weakness to Christ's strength and learning by experience what it means to labor together with God to win souls and prepare people for His coming. The work must reach the whole world, without narrow rules limiting where ability may serve, and opportunities to do good for the Master are to be watched for and improved.

Labor in the vineyard calls for whole-hearted consecration to the utmost of ability, with prayer, faith, self-denial, sacrifice, and restraint of natural appetites and passions. True toilers do not choose service for enjoyment or gain, set a high price on their labors, swell with pride and self-importance, or measure every hour with exactness to do as little as will meet the lowest standard. They account themselves unprofitable servants when compared with the Saviour's work, follow His example of self-denial and faithful earnest labor for the salvation of fellow men, and work willingly at cost while wide awake and in unison with heavenly messengers moving on hearts. Their lives show the power of the truth they present to those in darkness, and such effective labor arouses them to grasp the fullness of Christ that they may do much for Him.

Means and abilities entrusted by the Master are lent to advance His work and must be cultivated, improved, and used while the giver is alive, bringing present satisfaction and future reward. When turned toward selfish gain they are perverted and do great harm, as seen where ability that could have done much good in the Lord's cause was used for self and became a source of injury. The Lord sees all the work to be done, the unworked fields destitute of facilities, and the places where memorials for truth should stand, and He requires equity and just judgment rather than absorbing means in one place or one line. Every building is to be erected with reference to other needy places, that small sanitariums, treatment rooms, and hygienic restaurants may be planted in many cities and the way of advance not be blocked by selfish use of means. His servants work different parts of one unified field without selfish or sectional rivalry, each carrying duties suited to calling, with responsibility not concentrated in one human center and wages handled fairly with regard for workers' circumstances and voice.

The call summons ministers and people to earnest persevering soul-winning, opening new fields, entering the cities to work with Christ, and cultivating neglected fields at home and abroad. Idle ones are to be put to work, given a share, corrected when they err, and set working again, for using ability teaches how to employ talents. Youth and persons of good ability are to be educated and disciplined in mind, in common branches, in present truth and the prophecies, and trained as missionaries and canvassers, with gospel canvassing bearing the burden of souls and fitting for the ministry rather than selling for mere financial prospects books that give no light. Beginners and new enterprises are not to be left independent but paired with experienced help, and all hired servants owe careful faithful use of every power in debt to the Lord who gave His life.

Those who answer the call and consecrate themselves wholly are drawn into closer sympathy with Christ, come to understand His work and sacrifice, and grow in spiritual life. When evening comes and the steward summons the laborers to give them their hire beginning from the last, those who labored rightly receive their wages in due time, and service offered now will be accepted and rewarded. Even the humblest servant is accepted in the Lord's work, doing what is right is itself a reward in consistent helpful living, and God gives souls for hire to those who enter the vineyard to labor for those who know not the truth.