GOD’S WORD FOR FEBRUARY 3 ~ ~ Philippians 4:11 ~ ~ “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:”

YOUR PERSONAL PROMISE:

Isaiah 58:6-8

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:  To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens,

To let the oppressed go free,  and that you break every yoke?

 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;

When you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?

Then your light shall break forth like the morning,  your healing shall spring forth speedily,

And your righteousness shall go before you;  the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.”

John MacArthur—talking about the parable of the owner of the vineyard in his book, “Parables”……..

(He has hired almost all the workers, and the workday is coming to a close).

The workday was virtually spent when verse 6 says he went yet again “about the eleventh hour” (5:00 pm).  Only an hour was left in the workday, but still he found more workers waiting.  These were persistent men who had been waiting all day but were so desperate for work that they had not yet given up.  No doubt after a day of fruitless waiting these men were utterly discouraged, thinking they would not be able to provide any sustenance for their families that day.

Again, we must not mistake their idleness for indolence.  When the owner said, “why have you been standing here idle all day?” they replied, “Because no one hired us.”  Perhaps they were older, weaker, or otherwise less qualified for hard work in the field.  The owner hired them on the spot with the sae vague terms he had used with the 9:00 group.

Elsewhere, Jesus says, “The laborer is worthy of his wages”  (Luke 10:7; 1 Timothy 5:18).  This was a strict principle in Moses’ law:  “The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.” (Leviticus 19:13).  That rule applied particularly to the poor and day laborers:  “You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy.  Whether one of your brethren or one of the aliens who is in your land within your gates.  Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord and it be sin to you”  (Deuteronomy 24:14-15).

This landowner was an honorable man, faithful to the precepts of god’s law, “so when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, BEGINNING WITH THE LAST TO THE FIRST.” (Matthew 20:8).  It is significant that he instructed the steward to pay the workers in reverse order.  The immediate context suggests that is the key to the meaning of the parable – and we’ll see why shortly.  But for now, notice that the men at the front of the line had worked only one hour.  Those at the end of the line had worked twelve hours.  Yet, as the steward began to distribute pay, those who had worked the shortest amount of time “each received a denarius.”  They received a full day’s wage at a soldier’s pay scare in return for just one hour of unskilled labor!  They must have been overflowing with gratitude for the generosity of the landowner.

No doubt the men at the end of the line were salivating.  By their reckoning, he had now committed himself to paying a denarius an hour.  They must have assumed that by the time he got to them, they would receive twelve days’ wages!

There’s an ellipsis in Jesus’ telling of the story at this point. He doesn’t actually describe how the three o’clock, noon, and nine o’clock groups were paid, but the clear implication is that they also each received one denarius.

Verses 10-12 continue:  “When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius.  And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, “These last men have worked only one hour and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.”

IS THAT FAIR?

What had the landowner promised to give them?  “A denarius a day” (20:2).  Not only was that a fair wage; it was unusually generous for minimum-wage workers.  It is what they happily agreed to.

Yet they resented the landowner.  The word translated “complained” in the Greek text is “egogguzon”.  It’s  onomatopoeic:  meaning that the word itself forms a sound that evokes its meaning.  It sounds like a grumble or muttered complaint.  They were murmuring under their breath, bellyaching about the pay they received.

When the landowner heard the complaint, he answered 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 your way.  I wish to give to this last an the same as to you.  Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?  Or is your eye evil because I am good?”  (John 20:13-15).

(more about the lessons in this parable tomorrow)

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Luke 3:14

Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.”

Psalm 127:1

 Unless the Lord builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain.

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