Section 100 continued...

Section 100
PARABLE OF THE LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD
(In Peræa)
Matthew 20:1-16

Then Peter said in reply, “See, we have left everything and followed you. What then will we have?” Matthew 19:27

"This parable originated in Peter’s question. He had seen the rich young man go away sorrowful, because he could not meet the test which had been put to him; and he contrasted with that great refusal the swift willingness with which he and his fellow Apostles had left all to follow the Lord Jesus." -FB Meyer

We always have our blind spots when it comes to familiar texts. Here I'm guilty of knowing this parable apart from the context of Peter's question.  I teach this in rhetoric as the foundation of any situation.  Who is the speaker?  The audience? The larger context?  Jesus speaks in rely to Peter, and this is directed to the disciples primarily.  How does that change things?  Like the parable of the prodigal son, this parable is directed to the ones "doing the deal" not the son off wandering or the workers who were hired later in the day.  It's directed to those who paid "full fare." And Christ's reply?  You will sit on thrones.  You will receive an inheritance.  You will gain eternal life.  But don't worry about what others are doing or not doing.  Don't be presumptuous about them.

"You appeal to justice, and by that your mouth is shut; for the sum you agreed for is paid you. Your case being disposed of, with the terms I make with other laborers you have nothing to do; and to grudge the benevolence shown to others, when by your own admission you have been honorably dealt with, is both unworthy envy of your neighbor, and discontent with the goodness that engaged and rewarded you in his service at all.”-JFB

"The lesson is that works are valued qualitatively and not quantitatively. Nor may the parable be rightly used to encourage hope in deathbed repentance. It certainly does teach that, however little the labor which a man does in the Lord's vineyard, he will receive the final reward if only he be really in the vineyard; that is, if he be really a child of God. But whether a man who repents on his death-bed actually becomes a child of God is a different question, and is not touched by the parable. Certainly the eleventh-hour laborer who had stood idle all day only because no man had hired him, and who came into the vineyard as soon as he was called, can not represent the man who has been called by the gospel every hour of his life, but has rejected every call until his sun has sunk so low that he knows he can do but little work when he comes. In order to represent this class of sinners, the eleventh-hour men should have been invited early in the morning, and should have replied, "No, it is too early; we will not go now." Then they should have been invited at the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours, and should have made some equally frivolous excuse each time, then, finally, at the eleventh hour, they should have said, "Well, as you pay a man just the same for an hour's work as for a day's work, and as we are very anxious to get your money, we believe we will now go." Had they acted thus, it is not likely that they would have found the vineyard gates open to them at all. Yet such is the sharp practice which some men attempt in dealing with God." -Fourfold