Down an Unfamiliar Road

Years ago when I arrived in Switzerland to begin my work there as a resident faculty member at the European Bible Seminary, I went down to the local courthouse to apply for my work visa. The man who interviewed me was very cordial and explained everything clearly to me. One of the things he told me was that in Switzerland residents do not file their income tax forms at the end of the year as is done in the United States and other countries. Instead, the Swiss government calculates the tax due from what the resident is earning and then sends them a quarterly tax bill.

So he asked me to come back and bring in any and all payroll and benefit files of income I had received from my employer, as well as my bank records, so he could do the calculation. That was easy for me since all I had was one W2 form from our denomination’s missions department. In addition, I was also asked to give him a list of recurring expenses so that he could apply the authorized exemptions. That was also easy to do since there were no benefits with my small salary. I gathered them all together and took them down to him so he could inform me what my quarterly tax bill would be.

However, after about a week he called me and asked me to bring in any other documents or receipts I may have to help him make a determination. I told him that I had nothing else except my Minister’s Report that I sent into my denomination’s headquarters each month. So he asked me to bring those in for the last two years. I offered no resistance and took them in gladly.

When I arrived at his office, he took my Minister’s Report Book and said he would get back to me as soon as possible. The next day he called me again and told me I could come pick up my papers and that he wanted to talk with me. So I went, and he and I sat down to go over all the records. He looked at me with a somewhat bewildered look on his face and said, “Reverend, I’ve gone over all these records again and again and I cannot find the answer. Did you know, that in the last year you paid out more than you took in?”

I glanced at him with the same surprised look he had. Then he asked me to explain how that could happen. I told him that I honestly didn’t know. All I did was take what I had received, paid my bills, and the lived off the rest to support my family and my ministry. He stared at my records on the table and then, as he shook his head, turned to me and said, “You know, reverend, I am very good at uncovering any false information by people who try to hide their actual income. But I must say, that in your case I see nothing that suggests that you are not telling the truth. I just can’t figure it out.”

As I sat there in wonder myself, I told him that the only answer I had to give him was from the Bible where it said: “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”¹ I admitted that there were times when I didn’t know how I was going to make it. But I knew how Jesus multiplied the bread and fish when He fed the 5,000 and so I believed He could do the same for me.

He shrugged his shoulders and said that he would be sending me my tax bill based on what I had given him and that he was sure it would be, what they called, the “minimum tax.” As we walked to the door of his office, he told me that he had heard about these things of how God supplied people’s needs, but had trouble believing it. But now, he had seen it with his own eyes and knew it was true. I thanked him, and as I drove home I praised the Lord for His generosity and made up my mind that I would trust Him even more. Just as He multiplied the widows grain and oil in order for her to feed Elijah so the Lord had multiplied my income to help me be of service to Him without fear or disappointment. I guess I was also surprised that this gentleman didn’t ask me, “How can I become a minister in your organization?” – Dr. Robert R Seyda

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY

Part V

It would have been interesting to hear this phrase in Aramaic, the vernacular language of Jesus. Even the Greek vocabulary gives us other choices than “first” and “last.” Matthew uses “first” in many cases either in ‘position’ or ‘priority,’ and utilizes “last” the same way. In light of scholarly research and exegesis, we are cautioned not to take any parable of Jesus and try to interpret it literally. Our Lord used them to make a point. So in this case, we might say, Jesus was teaching that God does not make mistakes by overcompensating or under-compensating those who serve Him, so be grateful and gracious with what you are given, and rejoice in the faithfulness of your heavenly Father. Always keep this in mind, salvation and eternal life cannot be bought, earned, merited, or bargained for. They are gifts from the One who paid the full price for their purchase. Everything else we receive from Him above and beyond eternal life will be at His discretion. Furthermore, always be aware of why He blesses us.

Therefore, why should any Christian think in terms of their salvation or eternal abode as repayment for their efforts. Even the rewards spoken of that await believers in heaven are gifts. Some believe this to be an example of the whole Christian era, but the context will not allow such exegesis. All of the laborers were present at the time; some already on the payroll and the others standing in the marketplace waiting to be hired as seasonal workers. They say that the wage represented here is the one incurred at the end of the Christian’s life. Therefore, the debate was concerning when the worker began his labor and how he should be compensated. Some start at an early age, others in the middle years and some at life’s end. All, however, will receive the same wage for their hire. However, believers do not receive a wage at the end; one does not get paid for being a Christian. Salvation is a gift, not a salary; eternal life is a reward, not a pay increase. These workers were not promised a salary just because they were hired, but only upon the completion of their work. Paul makes this so clear in his statement: “For the wages of sin is death, but the grace of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”¹

We find a good example of what Jesus was trying to say in the life of the apostle Paul and Stephen, the layman, who was martyred for his faith. Stephen was chosen shortly after the day of Pentecost and Christ’s ascension into heaven and probably did not serve a full year before he died as a martyr while Saul of Tarsus stood by holding the coats of those who were stoning him. Saul later converted, and as the apostle Paul spent many years traveling as a missionary, even spending years in jail because of his faith. Now, should Paul be given a greater honor and a larger mansion than Stephen? By man’s calculation, the answer may be yes. But when seen in God’s eyes as to their deed and its importance for the moment and their faithfulness, they both are rewarded equally without prejudice against one over the other. It is amazing how God works sometimes to make sure His laborers receive a just reward.

In Ezekiel, we find an interesting story about recompense for working hard. God told Ezekiel to speak against Pharaoh of Egypt, because when Israel needed help in combating the King of Tyre and Sidon, Pharaoh refused to help them. So the Lord spoke to Ezekiel on the first day of the first month in the twenty-seventh year of exile, “Son of man, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his army fight hard against Tyre. They shaved every soldier’s head. Every shoulder was rubbed bare from carrying heavy loads. Nebuchadnezzar and his army worked hard to defeat Tyre, but he was unable to pay them for all their hard work. So this is what I’m going to do: I will give Egypt to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon so he can carry away the people. He will find many valuable things in Egypt with which to pay his army. I will give Egypt to Nebuchadnezzar as a reward for the hard work he did for me.”²

But I suppose that although going from not getting paid at all to sharing in the wealth that Nebuchadnezzar got from Egypt, there would be some among the soldiers who would complain about some who didn’t work as hard as others. I know that every time I see a deserving warrior receive our country’s highest award – the Medal of Honor, I feel ashamed that if we were of equal rank, I was paid just as much sitting in an office in Germany as he was out on the battlefield in Vietnam risking his life. At the same time, when I came in from the mission field and sat in the parsonage of a pastor who was earning twice as much as I had while living thousands of miles away from home, I did not begrudge him and the way his congregation took care of him. As a matter of fact, I was thrilled for him.

Gregory the Great has this to say: “For many are called, but few are chosen; many come to the faith, and only a few are brought to the heavenly kingdom. See how many have gathered for today’s celebration; we fill the church! But yet who knows how few may be numbered in the flock of God’s elect. All voices shout ‘Christ,’ but not everyone’s life shouts it. Many follow God with their voices but flee from Him by their conduct. Paul says, ‘They profess that they know God, but they deny Him by their deeds;’³ and James, ‘Faith without works is worthless;’⁴ and the Lord says through the psalmist, ‘O Lord my God, you have multiplied your wonderful works, and in your thoughts there is none who shall be likened to you. I declared and spoke of them. They exceed number.’⁵ At the Lord’s call, the faithful increased more than he could count, because they also come to the faith who do not belong to the number of the elect. In this world, they mingle with the faithful through their confession of faith, but in the next, they do not merit to be counted in the ranks of the faithful because of their wicked way of life. The sheepfold of our holy church receives goats together with lambs, but as the Gospel bears witness when the judge comes He will separate the good from the evil as a shepherd sets the sheep apart from the goats. Those who are subject to the pleasures of their bodies here cannot be counted as sheep there. The judge will separate from the ranks of the humble those who now exalt themselves on the horns of pride. Those who share the heavenly faith in this life but seek the earth with their whole desire cannot obtain the kingdom of heaven.”⁶

I found this principle applied in my own life. While pastoring a rather large church in the Northwest part of the United States, living in a beautiful new parsonage at the end of a cul-de-sac, and receiving a more than adequate salary, I was sudden asked if I would be willing to go back out on the mission field. I learned quickly, that it would mean selling everything I had, be given a monthly remuneration far below what I was getting as a pastor, and living in an area of the world where the standards of living were different than what I was used to. But I went because my spirit witnessed with God’s Spirit that this was the thing to do.

So, should I receive a higher reward from the Master because of my sacrifice, than those pastors who stayed at home, some even turning down missionary opportunities? No! I was given a reward just by being chosen for such duty. I was able to preach to thousands more by going than I would have by staying home; I had the honor of teaching many who entered the ministry, something I would not have been able to do at home. These were gifts that money could not buy. Did I resent those pastors who still lived in great comfort and had never been called on to leave all and follow the Lord out on the mission field? No! In fact, I am humbled by the realism that I was given the opportunity of serving my Master, that many of them were more capable of doing than I, never received. It helped me realized that the reward is not in getting something from my Master, but in giving something to Him.

Verse 17: Jesus was on His way up to Jerusalem. His twelve followers were with Him. While they were walking, He pulled them aside so He could talk to them privately.

Now Matthew turns his attention back to the purpose for this trip. The distance from where Jesus was ministering on the east side of the Jordan River to Jericho was less than ten miles.⁷ John tells us Jesus was resting and relaxing in the village of Ephraim, northwest of Jericho. He records: “So Jesus stopped traveling around openly among the Jews. He went away to a town called Ephraim in an area near the desert. He stayed there with His followers. This would put them on the road to Jerusalem without having to go through Jericho.”⁸

So often when readers who’ve never been to Israel might be confused in that Jesus was traveling south, yet referred to going up to Jerusalem. That is because in those days there were no maps of the globe that showed going north as being up to the North Pole. Rather, they spoke of up and down in terms of topography. The Rabbis taught: “That the Temple was higher than [the rest of] Palestine, and Palestine is [geographically] higher than all other countries.”⁹

One early church writer describes what he thinks may have been the emotional condition of Jesus’ followers at this time. He writes: “Although a great crowd of the faithful followed Him on the road, He took only the twelve disciples apart in private and to them alone announced the mystery of His death because the more precious treasure is always stored in the better vases. There were many men with Him, but they were weak on account of the smallness of their faith. There were many women, who, though strong in their faith, were yet less strong physically according to their feminine nature. If they had heard that Christ was going up to Jerusalem so as to be put to death, the men perhaps would be distressed because of the weakness of their faith and the women because of the penchant for kindness. For by nature the mind of a woman is gentle and in such a business is quickly reduced to tears. Recall that when Peter himself heard about the death of Christ he was moved by grief and did not fear to rebuke the Lord himself, saying, ‘God forbid, Lord, this shall never happen to you!’¹⁰ If then Peter was so moved at Christ’s death, who else had faith that could sustain the grief of such an evil? If the immovable rock was almost moved, how could the earth bear the onslaught of the storm?”¹¹

This gives us reason to wonder where would the world be if Jesus had failed in carrying our the will of His Father? What hope would there be for those living in darkness, trying to make sense out of life? For that same reason, we should always be reminded of where we would be if Jesus is no longer Lord of our lives. And since He cannot be moved, then by holding on to Him we too shall not be moved.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY

Part IV

Verse 13: But the man who owned the field said to one of them, “Friend, I am being fair with you. You agreed to work for one silver coin. Right?”

The Jews had a labor rule that if a contractor hires a person for a stated amount, but the firm only pays them the going wage, then the contractor is responsible to make up the difference out of his own pocket.¹ So it was imperative that the owner’s foreman for this field reiterate the amount he promised to pay. So in this parable, this issue seems to be who worked the longest, not who was the most productive. Jesus does not say in His parable that they all strove and labored hard the entire time they were in the field, only that they had been hired at different times and sent into the field to work for the same amount of pay.

Chrysostom has an interesting question on whether the owner broke his word on the amount he agreed to pay. He says: “The question is whether the first ones, who were righteous and pleased God and who shone brightly from their labors through the whole day, at the end are possessed by the lowest vice, envy and jealousy. For they saw the others enjoying the same rewards and said, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the weight and the heat of the day.’ Even though they were not going to be penalized or to suffer any loss of their own pay, with these words they were angry and displeased at the blessing others received. That was proof of envy and jealousy. And what is more, the master of the house, in justifying and defending himself to the speaker, convicts him of wickedness and the lowest envy, saying, ‘Did you not agree with me for one denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to these last ones what I give to you. Is your eye envious because I am good?’”²

And this seems to be the gist of the argument here, those who worked the longest were accusing the owner of showing favoritism to the newly hired. Let’s put this in perspective. From the time of God’s promise to Abraham, and the covenant He made with Abraham’s children through Moses, the Jews had worked century after century on trying to keep all the laws they were given, hoping that, in the end, their righteousness would lead to them being granted everlasting life. But then here come these disciples of Jesus, and in a few short years, they are granted the same eternal life, but through Jesus of Nazareth. The first group was working for their reward after laboring long and hard, while this group had it granted to them through grace at the beginning. So in that light, we can see where Jesus knew the Jews would be upset when they found out that what they as a nation had worked so long and hard for was also going to be given to the Gentiles who, as a people, had not worked very long before payday.

Verses 14-15: “So take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same pay I gave you. I can do what I want with my own money. Why would you be jealous because I am generous?”

The vineyard owner is making a valid point here. The workers who accepted the job early received exactly what they were promised. Why, all of a sudden, should the pay for their labor go up just because someone else received the same for their work, even though it was for a shorter time? A promise was a promise, and the owner was intent on keeping his promise. It is said that Rabbi Gamaliel the son of Rabbi Judah the Patriarch had an interesting saying about man’s will and God’s will. He is quoted as saying: “Do His will as if it was your will that He may do your will as if it was His will. Let His will cancel your will so that He can let the will of others cancel your will.”³ In their writings, the Rabbi’s also talk about sharing with a “liberal spirit.”⁴ The Hebrew here has also been rendered as “good eye.”⁵ Likewise, someone who, with an illiberal spirit, is referred to as having a “bad eye.” In other words, it’s how one looks at it, just like the optimist sees a glass half full and the pessimist sees the same glass as half empty.

Chrysostom touches on a similar point in his sermon. He says: “What then is to be understood from these words? From other parables also it is possible to see the same point. The elder son who was righteous is shown to have suffered from this same fault when he saw his prodigal brother enjoying great honor, even more than himself.⁶ So just as the one group received a greater reward in being the first to receive it, so the other group was more highly honored by the abundance of the gifts; and to these that righteous son bears witness. What then can we say? In the kingdom of heaven there is no one who justifies himself or blames others in this way; perish the thought! That place is pure and free from envy and jealousy. For if the saints when they are here give their lives for sinners, how much more do they rejoice when they see them there enjoying rewards and consider their blessings to be their own. For what reason then did He use this figure of speech? A parable is being told, and it is not necessary to examine everything in a parable to the letter. But when we have learned the point of the parable as composed, we should reap this harvest and not be overly particular about further details.”⁷

So the owner here in this parable is telling the disgruntled workers that they should not be jealous if they got what they were promised, and the others got more out of a spirit of generosity. For the Jews, people with such a generous attitude were referred to as “inhabitants of the world-to-come.” As one Rabbi quoted another Rabbi saying, “I saw in a vision the inhabitants of the world-to-come and they will be few!”⁸ In another place, a Rabbi is said to have called them: “sons of heaven.”⁹

Gregory the Great makes this point: “It is always foolish to question the goodness of God. There might have been a reason for loud complaining if He did not give what He owed but not if He gives what He does not owe. But no one should boast of his work or of his time, when after saying this Truth cries out: ‘So the last will be first and the first last.’ We know what good things we have done and how many they are; we do not know with what exactitude our judge on high will investigate them. Indeed, we must all rejoice exceedingly to be even the last in the kingdom of God.”¹⁰

Verse 16: So those who are last now will be first in the future. And those who are first now will be last in the future.

Here we find repeated what Jesus said earlier,¹¹ but in a different context. The key to this whole parable is understanding the difference between a gift and a reward. As workers for Christ, we have all been offered the same gift – salvation and everlasting life. However, our rewards for being faithful will certainly be different. Job’s friend Elihu clearly understood this principle when he said: “You men can understand, so listen to me. God would never do what is evil! God All-Powerful would never do wrong. He pays us back for what we have done. He gives us what we deserve. The truth is that God does no wrong. God All-Powerful is always fair.”¹² But this graceful admonition from Elihu was not appreciated by one Rabbi whose two students quoting their teacher as saying: “I prefer the ‘harsh’ speech of the Fathers than the ‘gentle’ speech of their descendants such as Elihu.”¹³

In other words, Elihu’s admonition was not forceful enough, it should be stated more emphatically with harsher consequences. Nevertheless, Jesus may be hinting that such rewards will not depend on how long we served, but the fact that we were faithful to the task given to us. That brings us to look at two topics addressed in this parable. One of them is “faithfulness.” As used in the New Testament it denotes two things: trustworthiness and steadfastness. Some try to add that as long as one is present they are faithful whether they do their job or not. For instance, someone who attends church regularly; is always on time; stays until the end, whether or not they participate in worship or ministry. This parable does not include anyone being paid who just went to the vineyard and stood around.

The other topic involves “fairness.” Those who worked the whole day were upset because those who worked only an hour were paid the same wage. But Jesus wanted them to understand a principle that would apply to the kingdom of God. For instance, if someone born again at the age of 16 who actively served the Lord for 60 years dies on the same day as someone who received forgiveness for their sins on their deathbed the night before, what would be wrong for God to grant them both eternal life through His grace? It would almost be like some passengers who were the first to be rescued from a ship sinking in the icy waters of the ocean complaining when they reached shore because they were not applauded more loudly than those plucked from the same ship just minutes before it sank. All lives that were saved should be celebrated equally here on earth because the angels in heaven rejoice over them as well.¹⁴

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY

Part III

Verse 9-10: The workers who were hired at five o’clock came to get their pay. Each worker got one silver coin. Then the workers who were hired first came to get their pay. They thought they would be paid more than the others. But each one of them also received just one silver coin.

Keep in mind, Jesus is telling a story to illustrate His earlier statement that in the Kingdom of God some who thought they should be first will end up being last, and those who were thought they would last will be first. It has nothing to do with status in the hierarchy, but on the invitation that will be sent out to enter the kingdom. Most scholars believe that Jesus was trying to get the Jews to understand that just because they were the descendants of Abraham, this did not guarantee their entry before the Gentiles were invited. It had to do with faith in the Messiah as their Savior. Up to this point, many of the Jewish leaders refused to recognize Jesus as the Son of God, while our Lord was often forced to say to a believing Gentile: “I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such trust!” After saying this, Jesus then foretold how believing Gentiles would replace unbelieving Jews at the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.¹

Here in these verses, where Jesus talks about the expectation of the first workers hired when they came at the end of the day for their pay, the Aramaic Version reads: “they hoped that they would receive more.” There seems to be an innate philosophy born in mankind that declares that he who serves the longest deserves the most. This is etched in the declarations and constitutions of most nations and inscribed on the worker’s bill of rights in every company. But when one honestly takes the argument of quality over quantity, the conclusion is different. Yet even this does not really bring out the point alluded to here by Christ. The supposition on the part of these laborers here was based upon the pragmatic approach that they were hired first, consequently, they should receive the highest wage to compensate for the period amount not necessarily the amount their labor produced.

In his sermon on this text, Chrysostom cautions against putting too much emphasis on the wrong topic in the parable. He writes: “So what was the point of this parable and what does it want to accomplish? To make those who convert in their extreme old age more earnest and to make them better and not to let them think they have less. He introduces others who are angry over the rewards of these elders, not so as to show them pining or eaten with envy – far from it – but to show that the elders enjoy such great honor as even to cause envy in others. This we too often do when we say, ‘The fellow criticized me because I thought you worthy of such great honor,’ when we have not been criticized and do not really wish to abuse him but just to show him how large a gift the others enjoyed. But why did he not hire them all at once? As far as concerned him, he did hire all. But if all did not listen at the same time, the time difference was caused by the inclinations of those called. And so some are called early, some at the third hour, some at the sixth, some at the ninth hour and some at the eleventh when they were about to obey.”²

So it appears that Chrysostom also places the early hiring and the late hiring in perspective when it comes to those who heeded the Gospel early on and those who accepted it later. So Chrysostom goes on to say: “Paul also makes this same point when he says, ‘When it pleased Him, separating me from my mother’s womb.’³ When did it please Him? When Paul was ready to obey. For God wished it even from the beginning, but Paul would not yield; then it pleased him when he too was ready to obey. In this way too Christ called the thief (on the cross), though He was able to call him even earlier, but he would not have obeyed.⁴ Some may say, ‘No one hired us.’ As I said, we should not busy ourselves too much about every detail in the parables. But here it is not the master of the house who said this but those workers; he does not contradict them, not so as to perplex them but to draw them to him. For that he called all—as far as concerned him—to him from the first, even the parable shows when it says that “he went out early in the morning to hire.”⁵ To put it another way, when the foreman first went to the market place, all of the workers who eventually got hired were there already. It was only a portion of them that answered each call until all were employed. No wonder he was so perplexed when he went back to the marketplace at the end of the day and there were still some standing around that had been there since morning.

The fact that they all got what they were promised was not satisfactory for some of them. Their attitude does, however, distinguish them from today’s strikers in that they did not demand more than what was promised, only that the late comers should have been paid less. When it comes to the spiritual vineyard and harvest field, hopefully, the older saints will not demand greater heavenly rewards so as to discourage the younger workers who are just joining the workforce in these last days of the harvest.

Cyril of Alexander adds to what we referenced before: “Among these [workers] the first seem to have toiled more than the last as having been subject longer to the devil’s fanaticism – sin and death and corruption not yet being overpowered. If examined on an equal basis, the matter supposes that more is owed to the earlier workers, because they lived their life when death and the devil ruled; for this is ‘the burden of the day and the scorching heat,’ when not even the dew of the Spirit was present to help men to righteousness.”⁶ Bishop Cyril is not arguing for the complaining workers but merely laying out their mindset and thinking.

Verses 11-12: When they got their silver coin, they complained to the man who owned the land. They said, “Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as us. And we worked hard all day in the hot sun.”

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with workers who put in 10 hours of difficult and tiring labor to expect a greater salary than late hires. I’m sure the landowner would have no objection to paying those who worked longer and harder a higher wage. But there are three points here that must not be over looked. First, both the first hires, last hires, and all in between hires were offered the same salary for their work. Second, it would be hard for any recruiter to get people to come and work at the end of the day for only a small amount of money. And third, the main point in hiring these workers was to complete the job of harvesting before the grapes dried up and turned sour. So in the end, they could all rejoice equally for a job well done.

Let me give an example from everyday life. Whether it is on a baseball field, football field, soccer field, hockey rink, or basketball court, if in the final moments of the game when the score is tied and a player is brought in off the bench for one special play. Most of the other team members have been playing the whole game. They are tired and worn out. But this fresh new player hits a home run, or kicks a field goal, or scores a goal, or hits a three point shot. What do the other players do? They jump up and down and swarm this player, lifting him or her up on their shoulders. Sometimes, this player who was on the field or court for only minutes, it declared the most valuable player. In other words, they all rejoice and celebrate the win. So it should be in the kingdom of God.

Gregory the Great shares what this grumbling to the householder means on the spiritual level. He writes: “But we can ask why those who were called, even though late, to the kingdom are said to murmur. No one who murmurs receives the kingdom of heaven, and no one who receives it can murmur. Our ancestors up to the Lord’s coming, however righteous their lives, were not let into the kingdom until He came down, who by His death opened up the paradise that had been closed to the human race. Their murmuring means that they lived in such a way as to obtain the kingdom and yet were kept for a long time from obtaining it.… We who come at the eleventh hour do not murmur after our labor, and we receive a penny. After our Mediator’s coming into the world, we are led to the kingdom as soon as we leave the body. We obtain with no delay what our ancestors obtained only after waiting a long time.”⁷

This sounds familiar to what some Jews believed to have been, on one occasion, a voice speaking out of heaven, suggesting that a hard working faithful servant, like Keti’ah ben Shalom, a convert to Judaism,⁸ who once worked for a Caesar who hated Jews, can earn more in one hour than some who take many years to earn. So if the king paid on merit, he had every right to give those who worked less time than those who worked all day.⁹

Then Chrysostom gives us the following in his sermon on this text: “What does this parable wish us to understand? For what is said at the beginning does not agree with what is said at the end but appears totally at odds. For in the first part He shows all enjoying the same rewards and not some being thrown out and some being brought in. And yet He Himself, both before the parable and after the parable, said the opposite, that “the first will be last and the last first,” that is, first before the original first; [those who worked all day] do not stay first but become last. To show what this means, Jesus adds, ‘For many are called, but few are chosen;’¹⁰ so in a double way He criticizes one group and encourages and consoles the other. The parable does not say this, but it says that they will be equal with the just and those who have toiled much. ‘You have made them equal to us,’ it says, ‘who have carried the burden and the heat of the day’.”¹¹

So far in this parable, Jesus is assuring those who were hired first but paid last, that as long as they were faithful in their task, they would be paid in full. At the same time, He takes away any concern from those hired last that they will somehow be cheated out of a full reward just because the message reached them late in the day, when they may have been standing in the market place all along. I’m sure that Jesus took note of some wrinkled brows as to how what the owner was doing could be deemed fair to all those who spent the whole day in the vineyard. So He continues on so that everyone will understand what He intended for them to comprehend by using this parable.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY

Part II

Verses 3-5a: About nine o’clock in the morning the man went to the marketplace and saw some other people standing there. They were doing nothing. So he said to them, ‘If you go and work in my field, I will pay you what your work is worth.’ So they went to work in the vineyard.

Jesus is attempting to teach His disciples and those religious leaders questioning His authority to understand a principle of God’s kingdom: Though you may be the first to hear it, you may end up being the last to understand it. Also, although you may be among the first to receive an invitation, you may be among the last to join. It all has to do with accepting your calling and the position assigned to you in God’s vineyard. The most important part of our Lord’s parable is the work that needs to be done in order for there to be a harvest.

Bishop Cyril continues his analogy of this parable as it relates to the spiritual aspects of God’s time for mankind here on earth. He writes: “The Lord speaks of Himself as the householder and the regulator of the kingdom of heaven. By ‘day’ He means the whole age during which at different moments since the transgression of Adam He calls just individuals to their pious work, defining rewards for them for their actions. And so ‘around the first hour’ are those at the time of Adam and Enoch; ‘at the third hour’ those in the time of Noah and Shem and the righteous descending from them, for the second time is also the second calling, when the laws were also different. The workers called ‘at the sixth hour’ are those in the time of Abraham, the time of the institution of the circumcision; those ‘at the eleventh hour’ are those just before Christ’s advent.”¹

This, of course, is part of how any teacher or preacher can assign the different parts of any allegory to mean certain things related to their spiritual content. Especially when we know that Jesus began this parable by saying that it represented the Kingdom of God. Cyril then continues: “In their time alone the question is asked, ‘What are you doing standing the whole day idle?’ for they do not have the hope of the Lord. They were godless in the world and idle in every good work; they are like those ‘standing idle in the market place,’ not groping in search of anything at all but running through their whole life to no purpose. The Lord admonishes them, ‘Why do you stand idle?’ They answer, ‘No one has hired us; for neither Moses nor any of the holy men spoke to the Gentiles but to Jerusalem alone.’ Nevertheless, the lord sends them too into the vineyard.”² While Bishop Cyril identifies these idle workers as Gentiles, it is more likely that our Lord was speaking of those believers who claimed to be part of God’s kingdom but do nothing to promote its well being and help in the planting and harvesting.

Cyril then concludes: “There are five hirings so that he may show that at each time there were sensible people and aimless ones, like the five wise virgins and the five foolish ones, according to their particular times.³ Some were found worthy, and some in their folly thought little of the coming age. At the end of life, which is evening (for the time after Christ’s sojourn until the consummation is the time after the eleventh hour, as John says: ‘It is the last hour),⁴ the householder orders their wages to be given, beginning with the last. The householder should be considered the Father using the Son as manager, not as a subsidiary but as a colleague; for He orders and regulates everything through Him, whatever He wishes.”⁵ While we do not take Bishop Cyril’s analogy as the ultimate exegesis of this parable, it does give us something to think about. After all, Jesus said it is “like” the kingdom of God.

Verse 5b: The man went out again about twelve noon and again at three o’clock. Both times he hired some others to work in his vineyard.

Our Lord continues His parable by adding additional intervals of hiring as He builds toward the ultimate point He is wanting to make concerning the compensation that each group will be given at the end of the day. This is important because the general concept among the Jews was that the longer one is involved in reading the Torah and doing righteous works the greater the reward will be in the world to come. But the Master is endeavoring to try and teach them that such thinking is valid only under the old covenant Law of good works, but under the new covenant of grace and mercy, such work plays no role in how the reward at the end is calculated since the Son of God will be doing all the work through each believer. Therefore, what remuneration the Son receives from the Father, He will share equally with all those who are obedient and follow Him.

Verse 6-7: About five o’clock the man went to the marketplace again. He saw some other people standing there. He asked them, “Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?” They said, “No one gave us a job.” The man said to them, “Then you can go and work in my vineyard.”

This hiring takes place very late in the day. So those given a job already know they do not have much time to work since the sun will be going down pretty soon. Again, if we think of this “day” as the length of time for the work of Christ to go on until He returns to reward all those who have been faithful to Him, then it would be easy to liken this group to those who accept Jesus as the Christ and receive Him as their Lord and Savior a short time before He returns. At the same time, it can also be applied to those who have spent a good part of their lives not being engaged in the work of the kingdom of God, but finally are convinced to get involved before their day of opportunity is over.

One early church scholar offers this analogy: “Just as the hired hand spends the whole day in his lord’s work and only one hour feeding himself, so we too ought to spend every hour of our life in the work of God’s glory and only a fraction in our own earthly interests. And just as the hired hand is ashamed to enter the house and ask for bread on a day when he has not worked, how will you not be ashamed to enter the church and stand before God’s gaze when you have done nothing good in God’s sight? He went out ‘early’ and summoned Adam and those who were with him; ‘at the third hour’ Noah and those who were with him; ‘at the sixth hour’ Abraham and those who were with him; ‘at the ninth hour’ Moses and those who were with him, or David and those who were with him, for to these he gave the testaments. ‘At the eleventh hour’ understand the Gentiles, because now we stand on the very edge of the world, as John testifies in his letter, saying: ‘Children, it is the last hour.’⁶ According to the apostle some part of the twelfth hour has now passed, for he says, ‘Salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.’⁷ That was the eleventh hour. Now, in our time, the twelfth hour is not yet complete, but without a doubt, little time remains.”⁸

I’m not sure if the anonymous early church writer who penned these words years ago could have imagined that they would still be written about, discussed, interpreted, and debated some 1400 years later, nor do any of us during this dispensation know how many more years this will go on. But one thing the Master wants all of us to know is that no one will be cheated out of anything He and the Father have prepared for us all, no matter how short their service to Him may be. After all, Jesus’ ministry was only about three and a half years long, and yet His was crowned King of kings forever.

Verse 8: At the end of the day, the owner of the field said to the foreman of all the workers, “Call the workers and pay them all. Start by paying the last people I hired. Then pay all of them, ending with the ones I hired first.”

As we can see, it was the custom of those days to pay workers at the end of each day. This is what gave rise to the term, “day’s wages.” But the irony of this particular pay day is that those who were hired last were paid first. This sets up what will become the final word in this parable. Cyril of Alexandria gives us his view of what this means: “The last ones, receiving the generosity of the Master instead of troubles, are first to receive their reward, since all those after the Lord’s coming have become – through baptism and the union with the Spirit – sharers in God’s nature’ and are called sons of God.… For the prophets too have become sharers in the Spirit, but not in the same way as the faithful, since the Holy Spirit is in some way like a leaven for the souls of the faithful and changes the entire man to another condition of life. And so we have become ‘participants in God’s nature,’ and openly we cry ‘Abba, Father.’ The more ancient peoples did not receive the same grace. So Paul too says, ‘For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.’⁹ The ancients then received a spirit of slavery without the honor of adoption. Since therefore we really are first to receive a reward, we must of necessity be said to be honored above the rest.”¹⁰

From this we can take that Cyril is saying the Jews who received the first covenant will be the last to receive the benefits of that covenant with Abraham, while those Gentiles who received the last covenant will be the first to benefit from the promises made to Abraham. This is certainly a logical conclusion since Jesus was speaking to Jews, not Gentiles. But the main point remains the same: whether first or last, the payment is the same. Yet, some may question, “Is that fair?” We don’t know all that God has in store for those who devote their lives to serving Him and bringing Him honor, praise, and glory here on earth. But I’m sure that when all is revealed it will measure out properly because He is always spoken of as a fair and just Judge.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER TWENTY

Part I

Verse 1: God’s kingdom is like a man who owned some land. One morning, the man went out very early to hire some people to work in his vineyard.

This is an obvious continuation of our Lord’s teaching in the previous chapter. Remember, He was talking about entering the kingdom of heaven after the young man He invited to be His 13^th disciple had walked away. Jesus pointed out how hard it is for people to give up worldly wealth for heavenly treasures when they should be willing to give all to follow Him into God’s eternal kingdom where there are riches far beyond what the world has to offer. Now the Master wants to point out another aspect of the reward that awaits those who are willing to forsake all to follow Him. Therefore, this parable was intended to illustrate God’s equality of grace in dealing with those who first receive the invitation to work for Him and those whose invitation comes later.

It is also worthwhile to note since Jesus starts His parable about a man who owned a vineyard that according to Jewish tradition, a field had to be of a certain size in order for it to be called a vineyard. For instance, in the Jerusalem Talmud several Rabbis were discussing trees and vines, and one of them said: “A vineyard that is planted by [intervals of] less than four amah” — Rabbi Simeon says, “[It] is not [considered] a vineyard.” An amah is the same as a cubit, and one cubit is 18 inches. So, four amah would be 6 feet. Therefore, there had to be multiple rows of vines six feet apart.¹ So we can imagine that if this vineyard owner was having to hire more and more workers, it was one of great size.

There is also the possibility that by using a vineyard in His parable, Jesus was reminding His Jewish listeners of the song found in Isaiah that begins: “I want to sing a song for someone I love, a song about my loved one and his vineyard.”² But it wasn’t so much the time spent in working, but the quality of their work that counted. As Solomon says, “Every time you find work to do, do it the best you can. In the grave, there is no work.”³ Furthermore, the sight of people standing around in the marketplace looking for work is a tradition that exists to this day. In every major city where I have lived, it wasn’t long before we noted those places where migrant works congregated in hopes that someone would stop and offer them work so that they could make enough for that day in order to exist for another day.

Jesus did not invent this parable, we find similar accounts in Jewish writings. For instance, we read in another story told by a Rabbi that says: “A king hired many workers. One worker excelled very much in his work. What did the king do? He took him and walked with him back and forth through the rows of crops and did not let him finish his day’s work. Toward evening, when all the workers came to be paid, he gave him a full day’s wages along with the rest of them. The workers complained and said, ‘We toiled all day, and this one toiled only two hours, and he gave him a full day’s wages!’ The king said to them, ‘This one worked and accomplished more in two hours than you did in a whole day.’”⁴ As in the parable of Jesus, the focus is not on the amount of work, but the quality of work being done.

Also, in our Lord’s parable, it is obvious that this king was aware of the traditional custom of hiring as outlined in Jewish verbal Law. The rules outlined are as follows: “One who engages workers and demands that they commence early or work late – where local custom is not to commence early or work late if he did not stipulate this as a requirement before hiring them, he may not compel them to do so and even though he agreed to pay them more than other workers, he cannot say: It is because of the early or late work schedule; since he didn’t specifically mention this, they can respond by saying; You pay us extra, because of the quality of our work.”⁵ This now brings into focus that the workers must be informed what the pay will be before they begin, that way there will be no confusion at the end of the day.

The hiring of such workers was commonplace, especially in the summer when the days were long. In one place, the Rabbis were discussing what constitutes the beginning of a work day and at what hour should workers be hired. Rabbi Judah ben Bathyra made it clear that if the whole eastern sky is already lit up and everyone is at his place of work, it would be far too late to go out and find workers to hire because too much of the day is already gone.”⁶ Jewish scholars say, this is a reference to contractors who do not leave early enough in the morning to hire their men for a whole day’s work.⁷

We also see that it was a standard custom to pay each worker at the end of the day. As the Rabbis taught: “A worker hired by the day can collect his wages that night and if he is not paid by then the employer has violated the rule: ‘Do not let the worker’s wage remain with you overnight till morning;’⁸ if hired by the night, he can collect it in the morning, and if he is not paid by then, the employer has violated the rule: ‘Do not withhold the wages of a … hired worker. Rather you must give him his wage on the day it is due to him.⁹ If engaged by the hour at night he can collect for the whole night and if engaged by the hour by day he can collect for the whole day.”¹⁰

One venerable Jewish Rabbi adds that if an employer does not pay his workers their wages on time: “He violates four admonitions and a positive commandment: He transgresses the commandments not to oppress a colleague, not to steal, not to hold overnight the wage of a worker and not to allow the sun to set before having paid him, and the positive commandment to pay him on time.”¹¹ Jesus shows His wisdom here by not introducing new stories for His listeners to try and figure out, but takes familiar ones and expounds on them for more enlightenment as to His message.

Verse 2: He agreed to pay the workers one silver coin for working that day. Then he sent them into the vineyard to work.

It is important that we make note of the fact that the wage was agreed upon before the workers were hired and accepted the job, knowing that was what they were going to get paid for working that day. But nowhere did the farmer tell them how many hours they would work. So they could expect to get that wage whether they labored ten hours, eight hours, six hours or four hours. It would all be part of what made up the work for that day.

Chrysostom looks for a spiritual element in this agreement by asking: “What then does the parable mean? By the vineyard, He means the commandments of God, and the time of working refers to the present life. The workers – those called to the task at different times: early, at the third hour, at the sixth, at the ninth, at the eleventh—are those who have come forward at different ages and lived justly.”¹² However, In my own thinking, I feel that Jesus was certainly thinking of the vineyard as the kingdom of God here on earth, and the workers are those whom the Holy Spirit calls to become part of that kingdom. And the wage for such work is the same for everyone. After all, if the basic return is eternal life, what can be added to that?

This is what Cyril of Alexandria gives us to consider: “Their single denarius is the grace of the Spirit, perfecting the saints in conformity with God and impressing the heavenly stamp on their souls and leading them to life and immortality.”¹³ Therefore, since God paid the same price for the redemption of each soul, and since Christ offered His life for each and every one of those who come to Him, and since His promise of everlasting life in the realm where He has gone to prepare a place for each one of us, then who should think that they will be given more for what they do for Him here on earth, even if they labor longer than others.

Therefore, it’s not a matter of how long you work but how hard you work. The kingdom of God has been functioning here on earth since it was established by our Lord Jesus after His resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. So the amount of time each of us spends in the vineyard is between us and the One who called us to work. That’s why no one who ministered in the kingdom for sixty years should be upset when someone who was only able to get in two years before both were called to their eternal rest each receive the same reward: Everlasting Life.

Sometime ago I read this quote: “Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” It was attributed to French-Algerian philosopher, author, and journalist Albert Camus (1913-1960). It didn’t sound that much like Camus, especially after reading his novel, “The Stranger,” so I did a little research and found a similar line in a book written in 1910, three years before Camus was born. The portion of the novel where I found the saying goes like this:

The little girl wore a crimson hood and a brown cloak and the boy a crimson skull cap and a brown overcoat, and both wore crimson mittens…The chestnut braids of the girl falling heavily from under her hood met in a loop in the middle of her back and were tied there with a snip of ribbon that looked like a feather out of the wing of a blue jay. Her hips overreached the borders of the narrow path so that the boy was crowded out upon the rough ground as he struggled forward close beside her. She would not allow him to walk in front of her and he disdained to walk behind. “Then walk beside me or go back!” she said to him, laughing.¹

What caught my attention was how this same thought applies to a believer and their relationship with the Holy Spirit. No, not in how these characters were dressed, but in how the girl told the little boy to either get alongside her so they could walk together or go back home. It is not by accident that the Holy Spirit is called by Jesus in the Scriptures, “our Comforter.”² The word that Jesus uses means someone who is “summoned, called to one’s side, especially called to one’s aid.” In it’s widest sense, it refers to a helper, an aide, or an assistant.

So often in prayer, we ask the Holy Spirit to lead us. Perhaps, this is because we don’t want to make a mistake or make a wrong turn. But when Jesus talked about the Spirit’s coming He said: “That He may always be there with you.”³ And the apostle Paul talks about being “led by” the Spirit of God. But that does not automatically mean out in front, but alongside, walking hand-in-hand.⁴ And I dare say, we find nothing in the Scriptures that suggest that we are to go in front of the Holy Spirit to show the way.

So the thought crossed my mind: How many times do we want the Holy Spirit to be our guide, our companion, our source of encouragement, enlightenment, and motivator. But for some reason, it just doesn’t work the way we want it to. Perhaps, if we listen close enough, we can hear our Holy Comforter saying to us: “Don’t walk behind Me. Don’t walk in front of Me. Just walk beside Me and be my friend.” – Dr. Robert R Seyda

THE POWER OF HALLELUJAH!

Some years ago when I was serving as the field representative for the East European Iron Curtain countries out of my denomination’s European Office in Switzerland, I planned my first visit to communist Hungary to meet with the national overseer there. My supervisor told me to be very careful about how I approached his house, since drawing attention to a local resident receiving a visit from an American could cause our pastor difficulties.

With great intensity, I studied the country map as well as the city map where he lived. I also received advice to park several blocks away and walk back to the house as though I wasn’t sure I knew who I was looking for. After arriving at the border crossing and having my papers examined I tried to act like an ordinary tourist. But one border guard didn’t seem convinced. He asked me to open my trunk. When I did he saw my briefcase and jokingly asked if I had any gold inside. I surprised him when I said to him, “Yes I do!” When I opened the briefcase, my Bible was laying on top. He looked at it, turned to me and smiled and said, “Yes you do!” then waved me on my way.

I drove to an area on the outskirts of Budapest. Reading street signs in Hungarian was not my forte. But, I finally found the street where the pastor lived. I noticed that all the houses were behind high fences and iron gates. I spotted the number I was looking for, drove on by for a few blocks and parked. I walked back nonchalantly to the big black iron gate and pushed the doorbell, trying to look as if I wasn’t sure if it was the right one. I heard a woman’s voice from inside the compound yell something in Hungarian, and I answered in English by giving my name. I waited for about a minute, but nothing happened. So I pushed the doorbell again. Once more, the woman answered and I gave my name and the name of the person I wanted to visit, still no one came.

Finally, I pushed the button once more, and when the woman answered, this time, I shouted, “Hallelujah!” All of a sudden I heard things being moved around and within seconds, she was at the gate, smiling and greeting me with great joy. I entered the house and hugged my brother in the Lord and we had a wonderful visit. Thank the Lord he spoke English. As I left that day to go back to the hotel, I praised my God for the heavenly language we can all use to identify each other around the world. As far as I know, it works in any language. So I say again, Hallelujah!

SUMMARY OF MATTHEW CHAPTER 19

We began this chapter with a question to Jesus by the Pharisees about divorce. We found out that there were two opposing Jewish schools of thought on this question. One school taught that a man could divorce his wife for any reason, even if she cooked a bad meal. Today, this is called, “Irreconcilable Differences.” The other school taught that a man could only divorce his wife because of adultery. It became clear which school Jesus felt was the more accurate in interpreting God’s law. While divorce had been, is now, and always will be with us. Jesus made it clear that if a man uses divorce simply as a cover-up for getting a new wife, not only does he commit adultery but causes her to commit adultery if she remarries. Is divorce an unpardonable sin? No. Should it be avoided if possible? Yes. If one does divorce for selfish reasons but confesses it as a sin, is it forgivable? Yes. But, one should resist getting remarried if possible. In the end, God will be the judge based on what He finds in one’s heart. As Jesus said: “Not everyone can accept this word, but only to those to whom it is given…The one who can accept this should accept it.”

Then some little children were brought to Jesus so that He could bless them for the Sabbath. But His disciples thought He had already had enough with the Pharisees, so they tried to stop  them. But Jesus told them to let the children come to Him. In fact, He told his disciples that having the openness and willingness to trust was the same characteristics and virtues God was looking for in His children.

A young man standing in the crowd decided that he wanted to be part of the kingdom of God as well. So he came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do in order to qualify. Since this young man was a Jew, Jesus told him to follow the commandments. The hopeful young man said that he had kept all of them. Jesus said, “Fine. Now all you have to do is go sell everything you have, give the money to the poor, and then come back and be my disciple.” That was not the answer the young gentleman was looking for. So he hung his head as he turned and walked away in disappointment.

That’s when Jesus turned to His disciples and pointed out how difficult it is for those who have much of this world’s goods to give it away so they can follow Him without having any conflict in loving what they already have with loving what He can give. It involves a matter of faith and trust. Apparently this young man did not trust the Lord enough to give up everything to follow Him. That’s why, Jesus said, it is harder getting a rich person through the gate into the kingdom of heaven than it is to get a camel through the small door in the city gate. It’s like threading a needle with a rope.

The disciples were confused. They came to Jesus and reminded Him that they gave up everything they had to follow Him. Does that mean even they may have no hope of getting into the kingdom of heaven? Jesus quietly told them, what is impossible with man is still possible with God. And besides, their place in the kingdom of God was already secured. So they should not become so concerned with their status in the kingdom of heaven. In fact, He told them that there will be some who think they have the most important positions but will find out that some of those who had lesser positions will end up with greater positions when all is said and done.

As we can see, Jesus was talking about attitude, motivation, trust, and desire. God is looking for those whose attitude is: “I’ll do anything for you, Lord.” Those whose motivation is to do everything to the glory and honor of God. Who have complete trust is in their unfailing Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to be with them every step of the way because they are yoked together. And those whose desire it to please God first, others second, and themselves last.

On Monday, we will begin studying Chapter 20 where our Lord continues the subject of those who are first will be last and those who are last will be first, by telling a parable that illustrates this concept. I thank God again and again for those of you for who His Word is important and necessary for guidance and understanding. May He richly bless you for your dedication to Him.

NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXTUAL COMMENTARY

by Dr. Robert R. Seyda

GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Part IX

Verse 30: Many people who think they are important now will not be important in the future. And many who are not important now will be more important in the future.

British scholar Charles Ellicott gives us an excellent thought on what Jesus is saying here. He writes: “The words point obviously not only to the general fact of the ultimate reversal of human thinking but to the individual case of which the disciples had made themselves the judges. They had seen one who stood high in his own estimate brought low by the test of the divine Teacher. They were flattering themselves that they, who had left all, and so could stand that test, were among the first in the hierarchy of the kingdom. For them too, unless their spirit should become other than it was in its self-seeking and its self-complacence, there might be an unexpected change of position and the first might become the last.”¹

This teaching did not come as a surprise to our Lord’s Jewish listeners. It was already a part of their verbal tradition. It was said by Rabbi Nathan: “And it will come to pass in that day that there will not be light, but heavy, thick clouds;² what does heavy, thick clouds mean? One Jewish authority gives this explanation: “Actually, according to the original text³ the last word in this verse is written, ‘will be crystal clear,’ so that the verse is to be read: ‘there will not be light; yet precious things will be crystal clear – that is, explanation of things concealed from you in this world, will in the time-to-come be as clear to you as crystal.”⁴

But Rabbi Eleazar also says: “This means, the light which is precious in this world, is yet of little account in the next world [because of the greater light there]. Rabbi Joshua ben Levi said: This refers to the people who are honored in this world, but will be lightly esteemed in the next world. As was the case of Rabbi Joseph the son of Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, [who] became ill and fell into a trance. When he recovered, his father asked him, ‘What did you see?’ ‘I saw a tipsy-turvy world’, he replied, ‘the upper [class] underneath and the lower on top’’ he replied.”⁵

The word translated into English from the Greek as “first,” seems to be used in two ways in Matthew. It is used to denote something as a priority such as “foremost,”⁶ and again, as first “chronologically” – such as someone who goes in first and one who goes in last.⁷ Then something that is first in sequence – not second or third but at the head of the line.⁸ Jesus is speaking here of those who will forsake all to follow Him and the reward that awaits them. Using it in the sense of sequence, we could surmise that this would mean that those who were first to give up all for the sake of Christ will then be last in line to receive their reward, while those who came after them, even up to the very end, will be first in line. But it seems more likely that our Lord was pointing to those who are willing to forego positions of high authority in order to serve at the lowest level in the kingdom will be honored above those who stood at the top of the church hierarchy here on earth. A case in point may be illustrated with Mother Theresa of Calcutta who lived in abject poverty to reach the lowest in society as a member of a church where the pontiff and the cardinals serve in their elaborate red robes and birettas, will be one day be honored above them all.

Most scholars believe that our Lord is referring here to the conversion of Jews and Gentiles to Christianity. He came to the Jews first, before He sent the apostles out to the Gentiles. Remember, Jesus was talking about those willing to give up whatever it took to follow Him. In that sense, we might conclude that the Master is saying here that those who surrender earthly position and prosperity in order to follow Him in the ministry, many of whom will be the considered lowest on the ladder of worldly esteem with regard to position or title, will in fact be raise to a higher position in the kingdom than those who, although followers of Jesus, decided to maintain positions of authority in society and live a more rewarding lifestyle. In other words, those who receive great laurels and acclaim while here on earth have, in effect, already received some of their reward down here, while those who went unnoticed and unrewarded in the far off corners of His vineyard will be given greater honor in the day of reckoning yet to come.⁹

A Roman Catholic scholar during the era of the Protestant Reformation gives his interpretation of what Paul is saying here: “On the whole, by this saying Christ signifies that the rich, and those who pant after earthly good, will be shut out of Heaven; but the poor who desire heavenly things will be the first there. He refers to what He said to the rich young man (verse 21): If you want to be perfect, go and sell what you have, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in Heaven. Also to Peter’s words: Lo, we have left all and followed You; what will we have, therefore? Thus, Christ in Heaven is the first, Who on earth was the last, according to the words in Isaiah: “We saw Him, and there was no comeliness; we desired Him, Who was despised and the last of men.”¹⁰ Next to Christ the Apostles follow, of whom Paul spake: “For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals… When slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day.¹¹”¹²

But in order to leave no doubt in the disciples’ minds, Jesus will tell a parable that illustrates exactly what He is trying to say. It is from that we can draw a better conclusion of what He meant by those who will be first and those who will be last in the kingdom.