Matthew 20:2 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Matthew 20:2

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Here then is what looks to the first labourers like a work contract to which they can agree. They think in terms of a fair wage for a fair day’s pay. They assume that if other workers are hired it will be on the basis of the same pay scale. They are ready to work hard but they believe they are being rewarded for their work. They imagine that the vineyard owner is also thinking in terms of a work arrangement, so why wouldn’t he reward others proportionally? But they are wrong, as the parable will go on to show. The owner settles on ‘a penny a day’ – that is a quaint translation; the Greek says ‘a denarius a day’. He sends them into his vineyard, but there is still room for more workers. We should not get the picture of the landowner rounding up all available labour. No, he went out, and there were a good many who didn’t want to work. This made clear in verse 6, where he in effect says, ‘I have seen you here all day, here is my last appeal – don’t you want to earn money?’ Although the primary lesson is to Peter and the apostles, it has been common for preachers to apply this parable in two further ways. It is a picture of how the Lord, through the centuries, converts some in every generation until the end of time, but it is also a picture of how he calls people in every period of life. Some serve the Lord longer than others. The labourers worked a twelve-hour day, which started at 6:00 am and finished with payout at 6:00 pm. The vineyard owner comes out five times, roughly at the start of each quarter of the day, and then an hour before the end, corresponding to five stages of life.

Application

This is the way Peter has been thinking and his words betray it: ‘Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?’ The Lord immediately discerns Peter’s attitude, and we should do the same. If we see anything like this in our own hearts then we realise we are slipping into the same error. This way of thinking not only affects how Peter sees himself, but how he sees others. It is an attitude which is completely at odds with grace. If I do so much and receive a certain reward, then if others do less then they will receive a smaller reward. It leads to constant comparison with others, and constant competition with others. We measure everything in terms of what we have done, and of course this inevitably leads to pride. But faith excludes all boasting. The Christian life must be lived by an entirely different principle, for in the gospel ‘the righteousness of God [is] revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith’ (Romans 1:17). Righteousness earns a reward but the perfect righteousness we need comes not from our obedience to the law but from the obedience of our Saviour who earns a reward for us which we do not deserve.

How can the believer think in terms of earned reward when he has received so much from God? How can he think that he deserves the immeasurable gifts he has received? And if God has already given him so much freely, then how can he imagine that further dealings with the Lord will be on the basis of anything other than grace? There must be a lack of appreciation of the incalculable gift of forgiveness. There must be a false way of thinking that imagines that we have earned favour from God and that some have earned it more than others.

The owner goes out first at 6:00 am. Some are called to follow Christ early in life, as children. There are those who despise the idea of child salvation. ‘What does child know about life? Children are very impressionable. They must be brainwashed to become believers so early on; they have never experienced life. What a tragedy that they can be so bamboozled into it?’ But no, the child may have knowledge and understanding that most adults don’t have. Do not believe the slur that Sunday School forces the child’s minds into a religious mould before they have tasted life. Those converted young are wise beyond their years. God doesn’t cause them to stop being children. Children are vulnerable and easy to push around by nature, but they can be strong in certain things.

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Matthew 20:2 Commentary and Bible Study