Matthew 20:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’

NIV: ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

NASB: saying, ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day’s work and the scorching heat.’

CSB: ‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day’s work and the burning heat.’

NLT: ‘Those people worked only one hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as you paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat.’

KJV: saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.

NKJV: 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.’

A group of laborers hired early in the morning to do a day's work in the vineyard in exchange for one denarius each are grumbling. Have they not been paid? Has their pay been delayed? Was the work different than expected? Was the master harsh with them? No, none of this has happened. The workers explain that they are upset because others were paid the same amount despite working only one hour. They worked hard all day long, and it was hot.

None of their complaints are false. Israel's midday heat can be extreme for those who don't escape into shade. Ten to twelve hours is a long workday and harvesting in a vineyard can be grueling work. If the agreements made by the master had been to pay based on merits or under any merit-based system of pay or reward, the group hired early in the morning deserved ten times more than the group hired to close out the day.

The point of Jesus' parable, though, will be that the kingdom of heaven does not run on a merit-based system. It runs on the grace of God toward those who come to Him through Jesus, no matter when they come or what they seemingly deserve. Even more to the point, those who came to the Master earlier are not being cheated—they are obtaining exactly what was promised.

Matthew 20:1–16 is a parable illustrating what Jesus meant in saying that some of the last will be first and the first last in the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:30). When a master hires five groups of workers at different times throughout the day, he pays the last group the same amount that he pays the group hired early in the morning. Though that group grumbles, they received what they had agreed to earn and had not been cheated. The master insists he has the right to show generosity to whomever he wishes. Jesus concludes by saying, again, that the last will be first, and the first last. Themes found in this parable are echoed in the later portion of the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:25–32).

Jesus illustrates His earlier comments about how some of the "first will be last, and the last first" (Matthew 19:30) with a parable about hired workers. He then clearly tells His disciples about His impending death and resurrection. The mother of James and John asks Jesus to make her sons number two and three in His kingdom. Jesus tells the disciples that true greatness won't come by flaunting authority as the Gentile leaders do. Instead, they will become great by serving each other, even as a slave does, as Jesus Himself has done. He then heals two blind men immediately before entering Jerusalem.

Matthew 20 begins with a parable that illustrates Jesus' statement at the end of Matthew 19: In His kingdom, some of the first will be last and the last first. Still on their way to Jerusalem, Jesus tells the disciples for the third time that He will be killed and then raised on the third day. When asked, Jesus explains that it is not up to Him to grant the seats on His right and left hand in the kingdom and that His disciples will not become great in the way of Gentiles. Instead, they will find greatness by serving each other. A healing of two blind men leads into the triumphal entry, the first event in the last earthly week of Jesus' ministry.

The Gospel of Matthew clearly shows the influence of its writer's background, and his effort to reach a specific audience. Matthew was one of Jesus' twelve disciples, a Jewish man, and a former tax collector. This profession would have required literacy, and Matthew may have transcribed some of Jesus' words as they were spoken. This book is filled with references to the Old Testament, demonstrating to Israel that Jesus is the Promised One. Matthew also includes many references to coins, likely due to his former profession. Matthew records extensive accounts of Jesus' teaching, more than the other three Gospels.