Sermon Tone Analysis

Sermon

Today’s reading really should have started in the last verse of the last chapter and it says:

Remember, my friends that chapters and verses in our bible are not in the original languages and were added quite a number of centuries later in order for us to find passages quickly.

This should also occur to us when we are reading especially letters in the New Testament for they would have been read in one go rather than split them into various chapters or verses.

It is worth while doing this for then we see the gist of the letters and why they have been written and what is expected of those who read them.

Back to today’s passage.

What we have here is verse 30 of the last chapter, verse 8 and verse 16 all essentially saying the same thing and it is a proverb.

It is not an easy one to grasp.

We have no record of such a saying before Jesus and it could be that He coined it or maybe it was one of the contemporary cliches of the day.

What do we think when we hear it: The first will be last and the last first.

Sometimes we say it as a joke when it comes to say, coming to a meeting, the first one in is the last one out.

But this is not what it is talking about.

When we consider it carefully we can only come to one conclusion.

It is about equality.

If the last became first and the first became last everyone is the same.

They all cross the line together - the first is first and last, and the last is last and first - it is a dead heat.

In fact, in the Old Testament we find time and again that God is a God of equalness.

Time and again God is accused of not being fair.

We find this, for example in

Then in the New Testament we are told that God is no respecter of persons.

And perhaps to highlight it let us hear Paul in:

Judgement on those who do not know God and blessings upon those who do, equally upon all.

And again in

What are the same blessings that those who know God will receive?

More specifically we have John telling us in his gospel:

We, all, equally receive these blessings who have put their trust in God through Jesus Christ, and just to repeat what we have just heard: we have every spiritual blessing, we have become children of God, we are not condemned and we have everlasting life.

Now let us look at what was said in verse 1 on.

The owner of the land went out early in the morning, that is before 6am.

The working day is 6am to 6pm.

He heads off to the marketplace which is where the people gathered and there in that place were the early risers waiting about to see if someone will give them some work.

In fact, we see this today outside some job agencies and I saw this in Macedonia especially among those who owned vans or trucks in one place waiting by the kerb hoping someone will give them a job to shift something from a to b and maybe to c.

Now this land owner would have had his regular staff who would stay onsite for they were the long-term employed perhaps for management or to tend the fields all year round.

These did not do so bad economically.

Then there were the day labourers who would stand about hoping someone would hire them for they lived day-to-day for their sustenance and food and the ability to provide for their families.

Sometimes there would be work and other times not.

It was the difference between eating and not eating.

These were those on zero hour contracts and this was not by choice.

A day’s wage for a soldier was a denarius and so, perhaps, the regular workers at the farm got about that but those in the marketplace would take whatever was offered and so would work often for far less.

In verse 2 the land owner agrees a wage with those present of a denarius for the day.

Very fair and actually very generous.

They were not going to turn this job offer down.

But you needed to believe what was being told otherwise they would not have gone.

Their faith in what the man said came before their work.

In verses 3 to 7 he goes back as there is a need for more workers at 9am, at 12pm, at 3pm and at 5pm - note this time he did not agree a wage, just what is right you shall receive.

These people had been waiting at the marketplace all day.

You know what it’s like - the young and fit get chosen first, and then you whittle it down and those who are left are the older, those who are not so fit - but they continue to wait in the hope that something will be offered.

You do have to wonder at this land owner for would he really need more workers at 3 or especially 5pm?

Is this not more to do with the man’s compassion on those standing about?

Then in verse 8 he tells his steward to start with the last one in and to pay them first.

One denarius.

A ripple of excitement goes through the line towards the back.

One denarius for an hour’s work!

How many hours did I work - what? 12. 12 hours times 1 denarius equals 12 denarius.

Only that hope started to dissipate slightly as the 3 O’clock crowd was paid - also one denarius - still they had worked 3 hours and I 12 that still means I should get 4 denarius.

Then those who had worked 6 hours, 9 hours all got one denarius.

Still a very generous wage but disappointing.

Then, finally, those who had worked 12 hours also get exactly what?

one denarius.

How is this fair?!

Is it unfair?

I’m sure that employment agencies would say this not.

On the surface it may seem to be.

But was it?

Our perspective changes if we consider that he was being fair by giving a day’s wage to a day labourer of the sort that his own employees got and was he not simply being generous to the others - they may not have worked as long but it was up to him how much they would get paid.

And had not those who had worked for 12 hours agreed at the beginning for the generous pay of one denarius?

They had and they received exactly what they should.

They were simply jealous.

The first are last and last first - they were all treated equally.

Now plainly this has spiritual truth:

The man is God, the householder.

The vineyard is the kingdom, the sphere of God’s rule.

It is the kingdom of grace, the kingdom of salvation.

The laborers are those who come into salvation.

They come into the kingdom.

They come into the service of the king, the service of God.

The day, the day of work is lifetime.

The evening is eternity.

The denarius is eternal life and maybe you could even say the steward Jesus Christ to whom has been committed all judgment.

We all get the same - eternal life.

Doesn’t matter if you served all your life or were on your deathbed.

Eternal life is the result.

Some will work well, others will not.

Eternal life is the result.

Is this fair when you may have been the hardest worker for Christ and another could have been a complete failure and they still get the same as you?

But is not eternal life more than any deserve?

This is not based upon anything we do but solely and completely on all that Christ has done for us.

Why did Jesus tell us about this parable?

In the chapter before Peter says we have left all to follow you.

They were the ones who started work at the very beginning of the day - at 6 O’clock.

They certainly bore the heat of the day being persecuted and eventually, for Peter and most of the Apostles, being martyred.

Were they not the first?

Yet we find that those who lived their whole lives in opposition to God before coming to faith in Christ and those who served Him all their lives receive exactly the same.

We will all live in the Father’s house.

We all inherit equally.

We all receive perfectly all things.

No distinction: male, female, Jew, Welsh, even the English, rich, poor.

There are terms for receiving though - first the Father, God, the land owner sought us out to go into his vineyard, then terms were agreed for salvation, and God continues to call people into his kingdom even at this late hour, having compassion even upon the most rebellious person right up to the time just before their death, and then He keeps the terms and gives us eternal life.

We have to watch our own attitude to those who receive eternal life for we all receive more than we deserve.

It is all grace.

And having the promise of eternal life we note what all those who came into the vineyard did, whether at 6 in the morning or 5 in the afternoon - and what was that?