The Parable Of The Workers In The Vineyard

“I wanted to tell you a story…”The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day, and  Sent them into the vineyard. About the third hour, he went out again and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing.

He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.” They went. He did the same at the sixth hour… the ninth hour… and even at the eleventh hour-just one hour  before the day ended. Each time, he found people still standing there and said, “Why are you standing here all day doing nothing?” They answered, “Because no one has hired us.” He said, “Go into  the vineyard too.”

When evening came, the owner said to his foreman, “Call the workers and pay them, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.” Those who were hired at the eleventh hour each received a denarius.  So when those who were hired first came, they expected more. But each of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble: “These who were hired last worked only one hour-and you’ve made them equal to us!”

But the owner answered, “Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you.
Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?” So the last shall be first, and the first last. (This story is found in Matthew 20:1-16.)

“Let Me explain what this story means…”You may come early. You may come late. But when you come to Me-I receive you fully. This isn’t about what you think is fair. It’s about the grace of the  Father. Some have walked with Me for years. Others turn to Me in their final moments. But the reward is the same- eternal life. Don’t let comparison steal your joy. Rejoice that the door is still open-and that the vineyard is still hiring.

“My parables matter because they reveal the Kingdom.” I didn’t speak these stories on My own. In John 12:49-50, I said: “For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave  me  a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto Me, so I speak.”

This story came from the Father-to show that His grace is not earned by time, but given through mercy. And in Matthew 24:35, I said: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall not  ass away.” So don’t look at someone else’s reward. Look at My invitation. And come work in My vineyard-while there’s still time.