‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.saying, These last have spent but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.
3 sermons cite this verse
… They were saying, these last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and its scorching heat. But answering one of them, he said, Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go. But I choose to give to this last one, as I gave to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what is mine? Or do you begrudge my generosity? Is your eye evil, because I am good? In this way, Jesus said, The last will be first, and the first will be last. Matthew chapter 20, verses 1 through 16. It's a symbolic story, and Jesus is showing us that he's well aware of our tendency to compare ourselves to others. He knows that we imagine ourselves in a story of survival, in a race to the top of the food chain. And it's a dog-eat-dog world out there, survival of the fittest, competition for scarce resources, limited attention, diminishing returns. …
… naturally these early workers are frustrated. They say, these who were hired last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us. They're comparing, they're quantifying, quantifying, they're measuring or managing the amount of earning or input. They have quantified this and they said, equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day. It's hard out here. I was cheering for my son, my youngest son yesterday in soccer and like the great encouraging parent I am, I made some suggestions from the sidelines. And he came up to me during the game and he says, do you know how hard soccer is? And I was like, you're right. I'm not playing. I'm just sitting in my nice chair with my water bottle. You are the one that's doing the hard work in the heat of the day. I get it. I get that it can be frustrating. And right after these verses, in verse 13, the land owner actually responds. …
… And when they had received it, they murmured against the good man of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and the heat of the day. And he answered one of them and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? take that thine is and go thy way, and I will give unto the last even as I gave unto the first. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine heart evil because I am good? God is not fair, but God is good. Now you need to get the background of this passage of Scripture. There's a man who has a vineyard. He needs some workers, so he goes out early in the morning at the beginning of the day and hires some laborers. Then he goes out again at 9 and hires some more laborers. …