Reward of Grace
255
attracted by the love of Jesus, the disciples were not wholly free from
Pharisaism. They still worked with the thought of meriting a reward in
proportion to their labor. They cherished a spirit of self-exaltation and
self-complacency, and made comparisons among themselves. When
one of them failed in any particular, the others indulged feelings of
superiority.
Lest the disciples should lose sight of the principles of the gospel,
Christ related to them a parable illustrating the manner in which God
deals with His servants, and the spirit in which He desires them to
labor for Him.
“The kingdom of heaven,” He said, “is like unto a man that is an
householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into
his vineyard.” It was the custom for men seeking employment to wait
in the market places, and thither the employers went to find servants.
The man in the parable is represented as going out at different hours
to engage workmen. Those who are hired at the earliest hours agree
to work for a stated sum; those hired later leave their wages to the
discretion of the householder.
“So when even was come, the Lord of the vineyard saith unto his
steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from
the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the
eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first
came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they
likewise received every man a penny.”
The householder’s dealing with the workers in his vineyard rep-
[397]
resents God’s dealing with the human family. It is contrary to the
customs that prevail among men. In worldly business, compensation is
given according to the work accomplished. The laborer expects to be
paid only that which he earns. But in the parable, Christ was illustrat-
ing the principles of His kingdom—a kingdom not of this world. He is
not controlled by any human standard. The Lord says, “My thoughts
are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways.... For as the
heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your
ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8, 9
.
In the parable the first laborers agreed to work for a stipulated sum,
and they received the amount specified, nothing more. Those later
hired believed the master’s promise, “Whatsoever is right, that shall ye
receive.” They showed their confidence in him by asking no question