This Week's Focus Passage

‘Friend, I do thee no wrong.’

Focus Passage: Matthew 20:13

‘Friend, I do thee no wrong.’

And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a shilling. And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received every man a shilling. And when they received it, they murmured against the householder, 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. But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst thou not agree with me for a shilling?

—Matthew 20:9-13

We have grown up at a time and in a society that has long ago embraced the entire concept of ‘collective bargaining.’ And whether or not our land is still so enthralled with unions as it was years ago, nonetheless, the principles involved in collective bargaining are still embraced, for the most part, by the majority, especially the principle of ‘equal pay for equal time.’ ‘It all pays the same,’ has thus become the motto of many that are employed under such negotiated contracts. That seems to be the issue here in this account given us through the pen of Matthew; the thought that each man should receive per hour the same amount. Has this attitude given rise to one similar with regard to salvation? Is everyone going to get paid in the end; and none dismissed, as it were? Are there not those among us in this land, and the world for that matter, who truly imagine that it doesn’t matter what one does with the gospel, or indeed, if anything is done at all with it: everyone is going to heaven in the end? ‘It all pays the same.’

We must bear in mind that this parable is Christ’s continued response to the question posed by Peter in the previous chapter. Peter’s statement and question was ‘Lo, we have left all, and followed thee: what then shall we have?’ Jesus seems to answer by saying that they would indeed be rewarded. In fact, they were to sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Is our Lord saying that this was pay they had bargained for, and that they would receive that which had been agreed upon? Of whom then does He speak when pointing to those who had virtually left everything for His name’s sake? Many, He says, shall be last that are first, and vice versa. He then presents them with the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. Do these laborers thus represent Jews and Gentiles? Many, if not most, of the parables in Matthew indeed have pointed reference for the Jews. It could perhaps be said of their attitude regarding the historic covenant relationship that they felt included themselves as beneficiaries of Abraham’s relationship with the Lord, that their are those today who feel that their relationship with some or other union places them in some sort of exclusive relationship.

To continue the analogy here employed—pun intended—there is no seniority in the kingdom of Jesus Christ: all those responding to the ‘lord of the vineyard’ have done so only because they were placed in Christ from before the foundation of the world: there is no first nor last in that respect. We are reminded of the earlier words of Jesus in Matthew 11:11, speaking of John the Baptizer. Since he is viewed as the last of the Older Testament prophets, we reckon him in some sense to be among the first among Newer Testament believers. Jesus has spoken of him in the now well-known words which follow the citation of the first verse of the third chapter of Malachi speaking prophetically of the Baptist: Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, Who shall prepare thy way before thee. This drew from our Savior’s lips the following declaration about John:

Verily I say unto you, Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist: yet he that is but little in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

There seems to be a sense in which John is first in the kingdom of heaven, but that he will be last. The Jews may be the first in many ways; the oracles of God were entrusted to them; Christ came through the lineage of Abraham and David; Jesus is, after all, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. And yet, the last shall be first; those that come unto God by faith in the King of the Jews shall both exceed and precede the Jews. Romans 9-11 speaks well to this determination regarding those that are grafted into the Vine and those that will be grafted back into the Vine at a later time. Indeed, the first shall be last and the last first.

The proverbial bottom line in all this is that there will be no special pleading the accumulation of ‘seniority’ in any way. There will be absolutely no room for boasting.

Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not high-minded, but fear: for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.

There will be no ‘collective bargaining’ at the sound of the trumpet and the coming of the Judge of all the earth. There will be no bargaining at all at that time. None will stand upon his, or her, credentials with regard to affiliation with any union or any particular body, neither through any descent from Abraham nor any other man. All will stand or fall according to their relationship with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who has ‘bargained’ with His Father in the following words of grace.

Father, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am., that they may behold my glory that thou hast given me.

David Farmer, elder

Fellowship Bible Church

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