The Masters Vineyard

A couple of weeks ago while my wife and I were traveling the countryside, we decided to stop at a small but popular town for a quick bite to eat. We visited a well-known restaurant chain and arrived a little before the normal busy lunch hour. It was apparent that the place was significantly understaffed. It took much longer than usual for the hostess to even acknowledge us and even longer to receive a table, though the location was mostly empty. As we waited to be seated, additional patrons arrived until a small crowd formed in the reception. While waiting for our table, we couldn’t help but overhear the excessive grumbling, long sighs, and general show of disgust emanating from the impatient group. One by one the hungry customers soon gave up the wait, voiced a few choice words and left in a huff. The two waitresses scrambled about with arms full of food trays trying desperately to keep up with the few customers already seated. Finally, after what would be a relatively normal wait for any big city restaurant, it was our turn to receive a table. We enquired about the small number of staff and were told that, like so many service businesses these days, it was almost impossible to keep reliable staff for any length of time. We realized that most applicants simply feel it’s beneath them to work in the service industry and aspire to loftier occupations more suited to their perceived importance. As additional staff arrived (most likely serving an overtime shift) our food did as well, and the meal continued without further delay. 

For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

Matthew 20:1-2 (ESV)

The aftermath of the COVID pandemic gave rise to what Shakespeare himself might have termed “the (endless) winter of discontent.” The idiotic policies implemented during those years confirmed what we all long suspected; a society spoiled by needless pandering will inevitably crumble from within. The ridiculous Orwellian systems implemented during that time crushed almost every industry and incited millions to give up on traditional principles of discipline and reward. Thousands of our citizens have decided to throw in the towel and exchange delayed contentment for the pursuit of immediate puerile gratification. This short parable in the book of Matthew illustrates the mindset now plaguing not only today’s so-called working class but the entire western world as a whole. Almost everyone wants more for less and refuses to lift another finger to gain what they feel is already due them. 

And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same.  And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’  They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’  And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.’ And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 

Matthew 20:3-9 (ESV)

Each day, our Savior ventures out into the recesses of our hearts to see if He can find willing laborers for His kingdom. Some of us hear the Master’s calling early in life and respond by entering His service, often at a surprisingly young age. Others discover Christ a little later in life after we have matured and begun to make major decisions, and we hear His call with eager gladness. Still there are those whom Jesus gets a hold of only after the heat of life has beaten us up and we come to Him tired but ready to please our new master. Then He finds still more of us standing around complaining for lack of occupation, yet He also hires us to serve Him and make use of our lives for His purpose. Finally, there are those who give their lives to Jesus in the twilight of their years. Their work is no less valuable and the Master welcomes them just as much as He does the young and zealous believer. Each servant is promised the same reward and that which is fitting according to the Master’s discernment. 

Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but each of them also received a denarius. And on receiving it they grumbled at the master of the house, 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.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go. I choose to give to this last worker as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.” 

Matthew 20:10-16 (ESV)

The extreme lack of contentment and obvious self-absorption dominating today’s society often finds its way into the body of believers. Where one might expect to find boundless charitable giving and self-sacrifice, we sadly discover hearts bent on personal gain and self-congratulations. We pride ourselves on years of serving Christ and expound on long-labored knowledge of scripture. Our years of hard work in the Master’s vineyard enable us to speak directly to living a devout Christian life and enable many to easily reprove those deemed young in the faith. Yet, when Jesus comes to each in turn and gives the same reward of His pleasure, wisdom, and profound gratitude, many of us grumble. Why? Did we not receive that which Christ promised? Is it so inconceivable that a young Christian might gain as much divine understanding as a veteran believer? We think of ourselves so highly and esteem our work as so valuable that we end up sulking like little children when we fail to receive the blessings we feel owed. 

Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:16-17 (ESV)

Worse yet, there are those “Christians” who stand on the outside of the vineyard and think that by observing the harvest they also are partaking in the labor. They sit in their comfortable vacation homes, read their bibles, record their podcasts and think the Master is pleased. But Christ does not sit in the shadows, nor will He change His wages for anyone. All good gifts come from Him and He will not sit idly by and allow villains to rob His servants of what He has promised to give them. 

Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Matthew 24:45-51 (ESV)

Our Lord and Savior is asking a fundamental question; who among His disciples is “the faithful and wise servant..?” He answers by pointing to those who give and lay down their lives for their fellow servants. They are the ones who seek to buildup and sustain those called by the faith. However, they who seek additional wages beyond what was promised always show their hand and reveal their hearts for what they really are. These are they who manipulate and withhold spiritual food intended for servants who labor in the Savior’s vineyard. As the Master delays His coming, the wicked servants starve and seek to crush the spirits of hard working believers. Once all the true harvesters have been silenced or expelled, the wicked sit down to feast upon the spoils of laziness and theft. But the first will indeed be last. When Christ returns to His vineyard, He will seek out the corrupt manager. He will find those who claimed to understand that which they knew nothing about, they who destroyed His workforce and ravaged his vineyard for personal comfort and cowardice. These faithless servants are given a place with hypocrites because they were two-faced in their devotion, preaching hard work and self-sacrifice while indulging in unearned spoils and false humility. It’s not hard to discover such worthless servants. All we must do is look for those vineyards in complete disarray, unattended and destroyed. These servants may have stock-piled the stolen wealth of the harvest but will reap the destruction of the Master’s distain. 

But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’  

Matthew 25:26-30 (ESV)

The vineyard is our fallen world. The harvest, they who grow in the faith. As Christians and servants of God, we are called to labor in this vineyard, to plant the seed of God’s word in the hearts of they with ears to hear. Our job as disciples is to make more disciples, to baptize and call to repentance all who would care to become fellow laborers. Once planted and watered by the Holy Spirit, our job is to tend, care for and nurture those called out for His purpose. Any other task, all be it ever so noble, is vanity and not worthy of any eternal reward. Let all who labor in His vineyard humbly and honesty declare, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty (Luke 17:10).” Then and only then will we hear the Master of the vineyard declare, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master (Matthew 25:23)‘.