Through the Bible - Psalms 149 - Proverbs 1, 1 Corinthians 12:11-32
Good morning,
I hope that you will have a great Labor Day and have some time off, some rest from your labor.
For today's verse we'll go to Matthew 20 in a passage that involves the parable of the laborers. Have any of you had experience as a day laborer, someone hired to work for the day, paid by the hour? The people in the parable were paid a denarius, a days wage, we might think of it more like the "minimum wage". It is basically the minimum that someone would need to "get by".
In those days it would have been hard labor. I remember spreading mulch the first spring in North Carolina. It was hot exhausting work and I worked at it all day. This parable made me think of how I would have felt if I had been doing it for pay and someone else came for the last hour and received the same pay.
At the end of the day everyone gathered to receive their pay. There were different expectations among the laborers. Who do you think would expect the most pay? Who would be most offended? Who would appreciate the pay most?
Matt 20:15 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." NKJV
In a previous job, I had some experience with hiring day laborers. Many of them were recovering alcoholics, had spent time in jail, or were recent immigrants. They all had the same basic needs as everyone else, but their past made it hard for them to get hired. Some of them turned out to be great workers and employees. They needed a chance, a second chance, they needed to be called, hired.
A key component in this passage is need. No matter how much or how long each of the laborers worked, at the end of the day their need was the same. They all needed the days wage for food for them and possibly their families. Jesus was paying them according to their need. It wasn't up to the worker to determine when they were called. It was determined by the master, he hired them, chose them in his timing for his purposes. So it is with us.
[Many be called, but few chosen] The meaning of this, in this connection, I take to be simply this: "Many are called into my kingdom; they come and labor as I command them; many of them are comparatively unknown and obscure; yet they are real Christians, and shall all receive the proper reward. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. I have endowed them with apostolic gifts or with superior talents, and suited them for wider usefulness. They may not be as long in the vineyard as others; their race may be sooner run; but I have chosen to honor them in this manner, and I have a right to do it. I injure no one, and have a right to do what I will with my own." Thus explained, this parable has no reference to the call of the Gentiles, nor to the call of aged sinners, nor to the call of sinners out of the church at all. It is simply designed to teach that in the church, among the multitudes who will be saved, Christ makes a difference. He makes some more useful than others, without regard to the time which they serve, and he will reward them accordingly. (from Barnes' Notes)
When were you called for Christian labor? What have you been called to do?
Don't worry about when others are called or what they are called to do. Be transformed, we are living sacrifices, giving ourselves to what He has called us to do.
In Christ,
Mike
mikevw@bellsouth.net
Matt 20:1-17
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 "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."
NKJV
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