Ep. 236. Matthew 19b-20 | Laborers in the Vineyard

EPISODE 236

LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD: MATTHEW 19B-20

I used to read the parable of the "Laborers in the Vineyard" as though it was a story about salvation. I assumed that the people who came and worked in the vineyard in the first hour were those individuals who had been walking in the faith for decades and that the eleventh-hour workers were the people who became believers in the last moments before Christ's return. I misunderstood the text to say that those who had walked long with the Lord by faith would grumble against those who came only recently to Christ. I suppose I had that take on the text because I was under the misguided idea that the Bible was about me and Christianity in general.

Now, I hold the context in mind. In all of the Gospels it is the Pharisees that are grumbling against Jesus's association with the "tax collectors, sinners, gentiles, and wayward women." The Pharisees who knew the Law of Moses, who should have been the ones to recognize the Messiah in the flesh, were missing him, and the sinners were coming to him. Remember that "The Kingdom of Heaven" isn't, at least in this context, a place but is instead a reference to the person and work of Jesus. The Pharisees, the Scribes, and even the Sadducees sought a Messiah to come. They were longing for the consolation of Israel. But when Jesus showed up, he countered their expectations, and they rejected him. But in the last hours of the day, the sinners came to him and received their due.

It is significant to note that the Pharisees believed themselves superior to the rest of the Jewish rabble. That the sinful people would come to righteousness was offensive to the Pharisees. The wicked religious leaders of the day certainly would not have been able to tolerate the idea that the Kingdom could be for wicked ones like these who only came to these ideas in the eleventh hour. After all, the Pharisees had been the leading religious organization for years and years.

Let me ask you this, do you really believe long time faithful Christian would grumble that someone came to Christ in the final moments? Of course not! We would celebrate the salvation. But then again, this text isn't about the believers but about the Jews and their rejection of the idea that the marginalized, repugnant ones could possibly come to the Kingdom of Heaven.

ADDITIONAL READING: John 6:29; Psalm 14:1-3; Psalm 53:1-3; Matthew 5:48; John 17:3; Luke 13:30; Mark 10:31; Matthew 20:8,16; Matthew 21:31