Making It Work : The Last Shall Be First

What does that really mean, “The Last Shall Be First”? All Week God has had me on the lesson plan of “Work” with Jesus Parable of the Day Laborers or as some say The Workers in the Vineyard. It’s just not fair is it? Here is the Parable Matthew 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  Now when he had agreed with the workers for a denarius per day, he sent them into his vineyard.  And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing in the marketplace, idle. And to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I’ll give you whatever is right.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did the same. And about the eleventh hour, he went out and found others standing around. And he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle the whole day?’

“‘Because no one hired us,’ they said to him.

“He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard, too.’

 “Now when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ And those who had come about the eleventh hour each received a denarius. And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; yet they too received a denarius.

“But when they received it, they began to grumble against the master of the house, saying, ‘These last guys did one hour, and you’ve made them equal to us, who bore the burden and scorching heat of the day!’

“But answering, he said to one of them, ‘Friend, I’m doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius? Take what is yours and go. But I want to give this last guy the same as you. Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’

“So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Provoking isn’t it. Worth meditation, by all means, as so much of our lives are devoted to our work. Here is the way many look at work in our culture listen to this work montage.

With that point of view, essentially, “I’m taken what they’re given cause I’m workin for a livin”. That parable brings anger and disbelief, that, Jesus, God, would say such a thing, and then to finish with “the first will be last and the last will be first”! What the heck?

Then I started thinking how bad it feels to be unemployed verses how good it feels to do a job well and find myself achieving or doing more than I thought I could. Finding out that I really can do things, I am not lazy or ineffective, especially work with my own hands. It actually answers a core question for men according to John Eldredge’s Wild at Heart, the question: “Do I Have What It Takes”?

I would also ad that the workers who came early in the morning had the joy of working with a good boss and other diligent workers rather than sitting wondering if they would get work that day. Those who came later and later had worse days in my view with the worst being those who didn’t find work until the last hour. Those who go to work with this adventure and battle point of view, listen to this montage.