The Scandal of Grace: The Landowner's Prerogative Text: Matthew 20:1-16
Introduction: The Economics of Heaven
We live in a world that is obsessed with fairness, but by fairness, it usually means a meticulous, bean-counting equality. Our world is governed by contracts, by quid pro quo, by "you get what you deserve." This is the logic of the marketplace, and it is the logic of every man-made religion. You do your part, God does His part. You work hard, you get the reward. This way of thinking is deeply embedded in our fallen nature. We are all, by instinct, merit-mongers. We want a god we can put in our debt, a god who owes us something. We want a salvation we can frame on the wall like a diploma we earned through hard work and long hours.
Into this tidy, predictable, and ultimately damnable system of works-righteousness, Jesus tells a parable that is designed to detonate all our categories. This story is not a gentle illustration; it is an act of theological demolition. It is meant to offend the Pharisee that lives in every one of us. The parable of the laborers in the vineyard is a direct assault on the principle of merit. It reveals that the kingdom of heaven does not operate on the principles of a union negotiation or a capitalist wage scale. The kingdom operates on the principle of sovereign, shocking, and utterly unmerited grace.
Jesus tells this parable immediately after His encounter with the rich young ruler and Peter's subsequent question, "See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?" Peter, bless his heart, is still thinking in terms of transaction. He's asking for the payslip. He wants to see the divine ledger. And Jesus answers him, first by promising great reward, but then by telling this parable, which functions as a massive, flashing warning sign. The warning is this: do not ever think that God's grace is something you can corner the market on. Do not think that your seniority in the faith puts God in your debt. And above all, do not let your eye become evil because God is good to someone else. This parable is about the sheer, unadulterated sovereignty of God in the distribution of His grace, and it is a truth that either liberates you entirely or offends you to the core.
The Text
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 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 all day long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ 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 laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. Now when they received it, they were grumbling at the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ So the last shall be first, and the first last."
(Matthew 20:1-16 LSB)
The Hiring Process: A Series of Gracious Encounters (vv. 1-7)
The parable begins with a landowner, who represents God the Father, seeking workers for His vineyard, which is the kingdom.
"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard." (Matthew 20:1-2)
The first group, hired at dawn, operates on the basis of a clear contract. They agree to a denarius for a full day's work. This was a standard, fair wage. There is nothing unjust here. They know what they are getting, and they agree to the terms. These are the people who understand salvation in terms of a deal. They are covenant keepers, they are dutiful, they are reliable. They represent those who come to God on the basis of what seems fair and right. They are not wrong, but their understanding is incomplete.
But the landowner keeps returning to the marketplace. At the third hour (9 a.m.), the sixth hour (noon), and the ninth hour (3 p.m.), he finds more men standing idle. Notice his offer to them is different. He says, "whatever is right I will give you." This is not a contract; it is a promise. They are not called on the basis of a negotiated wage, but on the basis of the landowner's character. They must trust his goodness. This represents a deeper level of faith. They go into the vineyard not knowing the precise payout, but trusting the one who called them.
"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 all day long?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’" (Matthew 20:6-7)
The final group is the most striking. At the eleventh hour, with only one hour of daylight left, the landowner finds yet more men. Their situation is one of hopelessness. Their answer, "Because no one hired us," is a cry of desperation. They have been passed over all day. They have no prospects. They are, in the economy of the world, worthless for that day. And the landowner simply says, "You go into the vineyard too." There is no mention of wages at all. They are called out of sheer, unadulterated pity and grace. They are the deathbed converts, the thief on the cross, the prodigal son returning with nothing. They are called not because of their potential, but in spite of their lack of it. They are called by pure, sovereign grace.
The Payout: A Scandalous Reversal (vv. 8-12)
The workday ends, and the foreman is instructed to pay the workers, but with a very specific and provocative order: "beginning with the last group to the first." This is deliberate. The landowner wants the first-hour workers to watch the entire transaction.
"And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. And when those hired first came, they supposed that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius." (Matthew 20:9-10)
Here the scandal erupts. The one-hour workers receive a full day's wage. This is not justice in any human sense; it is extravagant generosity. And as the first-hour workers watch this, their hearts fill not with joy for their fellow laborers, but with a greedy calculus. "They supposed that they would receive more." Their thinking is entirely comparative. Their satisfaction is no longer based on the fairness of their own contract, but on being superior to others. They were perfectly happy with a denarius until they saw someone else, whom they deemed less deserving, receive the same.
When they too receive just one denarius, the agreed-upon wage, they grumble. "These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat." Their complaint reveals the poison in their hearts. They are not angry about being cheated; they were paid exactly what they agreed to. They are angry about the landowner's generosity to others. They are angry about equality. Their sense of worth is derived from being better than the latecomers. This is the ugly heart of legalism. It cannot rejoice in grace shown to another, because that grace devalues the currency of its own works.
The Rebuke: The Owner's Prerogative (vv. 13-16)
The landowner's response is a masterclass in divine sovereignty and a sharp rebuke to the sin of envy.
"But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’" (Matthew 20:13-15)
First, he establishes his justice. "Friend, I am doing you no wrong." God is never unjust. The contract was honored. The grumbler has no legal standing. Second, he asserts his sovereignty. "I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own?" This is the heart of the matter. God's grace is His own possession, to be dispensed according to His good pleasure, not according to our sense of fairness. He is the potter, we are the clay. He owes us nothing. The fact that any of us are in the vineyard at all is grace. The fact that we are paid anything other than wrath is grace. To demand more, or to begrudge grace given to another, is the height of arrogance.
Then comes the piercing diagnosis: "Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" The problem is not with the landowner's accounts, but with the laborer's heart. The "evil eye" in Scripture is a metaphor for envy and stinginess. They are sick with envy. They are offended by grace. They would rather see the last-hour workers get less than rejoice in the landowner's goodness. This is the spirit of the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son, slaving away in the field, angry that a party is being thrown for his undeserving brother.
Jesus concludes with the principle that frames the parable: "So the last shall be first, and the first last." This is not a threat of demotion for the faithful, but a warning against a self-righteous, merit-based understanding of the kingdom. Those who think they are "first" because of their long service, their doctrinal purity, or their moral effort, and who look down on the riff-raff coming in at the last minute, will find themselves last in their capacity to rejoice in the kingdom. And those who know they are "last," who come with nothing but their need, who know they have no claim on God whatsoever, will find themselves first in their experience of the sheer, unadulterated joy of God's scandalous grace.
Conclusion: The Grumbling of the Saved
This parable is a spiritual diagnostic tool. If you read this story and find yourself sympathizing with the first-hour workers, then you need to repent. You have allowed the logic of the world to infect your understanding of the gospel. You are in danger of becoming a grumpy, grace-resenting elder brother.
The central point is this: salvation is not a wage to be earned; it is a gift to be received. The ground is level at the foot of the cross. The apostle Paul, who labored more than any, considered himself the chief of sinners. The thief on the cross, who did nothing but believe in his last hour, was promised paradise. Both received the same denarius: the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ and eternal life. There are no tiers of justification. You are either fully justified in Christ or you are not justified at all.
This does not mean that our works are unimportant. Scripture is clear that there will be differing rewards in heaven based on our faithfulness. But this parable is not about rewards for service; it is about the grace of entrance into the kingdom itself. It is about justification, not sanctification.
The great sin this parable exposes is envy, which is hatred of God's goodness to others. It is a poison that will destroy your soul. When you see God bless a new Christian, a struggling church, or a repentant sinner, do you rejoice? Or does a little voice in your heart say, "But what about me? I've been here longer. I've worked harder." That is the grumbling of the first-hour worker. We must crucify that spirit. The proper response to the generosity of God is not comparison and complaint, but gratitude and worship. We must learn to rejoice whenever the Landowner brings another soul into His vineyard, whether at the first hour or the eleventh, for we are all recipients of a wage we did not earn, from a Master we do not deserve.