The harvest season is upon us, that time of year where extra labour is hired to bring in the crops that have grown over the Summer season. Today’s parable from Jesus takes us back to one imaginary harvest in first century Israel.
Its not a parable designed to teach us about first century economics or to educate us on employment rights. Rather, Jesus told this story to stress the extent of God’s saving grace. It’s a story that offers hope to those who come late to Christ. A story that illustrates the patience of God, a Father who will wait for people to turn to him.
Introduction
The scene is set on a vineyard, and the main character is a vineyard owner seeking labourers for his harvest – ripe grapes needed picking!
In verse 1 we’re told the farmer set out early in the morning (about 6am) to hire casual labourers. He went to the local market place, the established location where unemployed people went to find work. The equivalent today might be the local Job Centre Plus or Employment Agency. In the days before the welfare state, redundancy was an even more difficult & desperate situation than it is today. He finds a group of men, and hires them all at the standard daily rate (v.2). But the vineyard owner is not satisfied. Four more times during the day he goes out again, & hires anyone he can find who is looking for work.
At the end of the day, when the wage packets are opened, it becomes clear that even the last to be hired, just an hour or two before sunset, have been given a full daily wage by the vineyard owner (v.9). The owner’s extraordinary generosity provokes the earliest labourers to complain that they have not received more, despite doing a full day’s work (v.11-12). But the owner rebukes them with the following words in verses 13-15: “Listen friend, I have not cheated you. You agreed to do a day’s work for one silver coin. Don’t I have the right to do as I wish with my own money? Or are you jealous because I am generous?”
If we are to interpret this parable correctly, we need to identify the different characters in the story. As elsewhere in the Bible the vineyard owner represents God. The labourers are Christian believers, and the wage they all receive are the benefits that every Christian receives from Christ:
- By his death we receive forgiveness of sin.
- By sharing in his resurrection, we become heirs to eternal life.
- And by becoming his disciples, we become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven (v.1).
But which Christians are the grumbling workers in the passage? Well, they are any Christians who think, because of the longevity of their faith & service, that they are entitled to more from God than those who have only recently come to faith.
When Jesus first spoke these words, the intended target of his parable may have been pious, self-righteous Pharisees, who objected to him inviting less pious, less respectable members of Jewish society to enter the kingdom of God. Later on in church history, we know that many Jewish Christians we reluctant to accept Gentile believers into the People of God.
And in our own day, the grumbling labourers are longstanding Christians think that they have a greater claim on God’s favour than more recent converts. If we are honest, we may be tempted to think that we deserve more from God than those who only come to Christ towards the very end of their lives.
- After all, haven’t we remained faithul to Christ in the face of years of temptation and trial?
- And haven’t we given generously to God’s work for decades, compared to those who only become Christians a short time before they die?
If we ever have such feelings of resentment and injustice, today’s parable is a salutary reminder of two important truths. Firstly, it reminds us of the extent of God’s love for all humanity. I call this his “Compassionate Call” to everyone to come to Christ for life. And secondly, this parable reminds us that salvation is entirely God’s “Gracious Gift”. Let’s look briefly at both…
- God’s Compassionate Call
The compassion of the vineyard owner in the parable is easy to spot. He shows great persistence by repeatedly going to the marketplace to look for labourers. As verse 6 reveals, he is anxious that no one wastes their day, wastes their time doing nothing. God has the same compassionate attitude to everyone living today.
Whether they realise it or not, people who are not Christians are, ultimately, wasting their lives. In John’s Gospel Jesus says that only he can give people life to the full – eternal life no less (Jn 10:10). As the Alpha course phrases it, people often dismiss the Christian life as “boring, irrelevant & untrue”. But, on the contrary, those of us who have walked the Christian way can testify that it is a life full of hope and meaning.
When I first put my trust in Jesus, in my bedroom in the Spring of 1996, I could never have predicted what lay things in store for me. Unusual, difficult and unfashionable things, yes. But boring? Never!
In his great compassion, God wants everyone to come to Christ, and like the vineyard owner, does not want anyone to waste their life. As the apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:4, “God wants ALL people to be saved, & come to the knowledge of the truth”.
- God’s Gracious Gift
In addition to his compassionate call, God’s lavish grace takes prime position in this parable.By giving even the last labourers a full day’s wage the vineyard owner was being extraordinarily generous, giving them far far more than their brief working time deserved. Similarly, we are all undeserving of God’s many gifts to us. None of us are like the first labourers, who had earned the wage they were paid. We are like the late labourers, who didn’t deserve the gracious gift of the vineyard owner.
The Bible tells us that we have all sinned, and fallen short of God’s standards. None of us deserves anything from God, and yet he suspends his judgement on us, gives us life day by day, and gracious grants us eternal life in Christ. Without Jesus we were all spiritually destitute, just like the vineyard labourers were financially poor. Yet, in his grace, he has made us rich.
Even if we have been Christians for a long time, there is nothing more, nothing greater that God must or can give us. God is not obliged to give older Christians more gifts, because not one single Christian has ever deserved God’s favour.
More positively, God cannot give long-term Christians more gifts because has alreadypromised us life to the full, and we already have great inheritance waiting for us. God’s gracious gift is so extensive that he simply cannot give us more than the eternal life he promises to every Christian, whether young or old.
Like the father’s words to the older son in the parable of the Prodigal Son, God says the following to every long-serving Christian: “My child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”
Conclusion: The Right Response – Joy & Gratitude
If God does not want us to envy people who come to faith after ourselves, then what are the right attitudes to have? I would suggest joy not jealousy, and gratitude not grievance.
Joy not jealousy, because we should take delight in seeing people come to faith in Jesus. Let’s make it our personal aim to joyfully welcome and support newcomers our church, especially younger generations. And at the same time our attitude towards God should be gratitude not grievance. As Christians, new or old, we have so much to thank God for, and so much to look forward to.
If we are truly grateful to God our saviour, then we will naturally want to express it in our lives. Not just in words of praise and prayer, but by daily acts of obedient service, by being players not just spectators or consumers in the life of the church.
Like the labourers in the parable, God has given us all opportunities to do meaningful work to do in his service, if we open our eyes to see them. For example,
- We can look for opportunities to share our faith with friends, family members & colleagues.
- We can show loving concern to those in need, offering pastoral care to our community..
- And because God has given us so much, we can generously give to the work of his Church at home and abroad.
So, as I finish, I hope we have been reminded today of God’s compassionate call to every man, woman & child – whatever age or stage of life they may be at. And I hope we have all been moved by recalling his extravagant grace to all who turn to Christ. Let us be more joyful, and more grateful, for God’s amazing grace.