Is it unfair that 'the first will be last' in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard?
The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, read at Septuagesima, shows us that God's justice can confound human expectations.
The Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard, read at Septuagesima, shows us that God's justice can confound human expectations.
Editor’s Notes
Our Lord told this parable, read on Septuagesima Sunday, near the end of his ministry—shortly before his entry into Jerusalem.
It follows Christ’s promise of a hundredfold reward for those who leave all to follow Him, and comes immediately before the request of James and John for places of honour in the Kingdom.
In this piece, Fr. Coleridge tells us:
Christ’s parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard reveals the justice and sovereignty of God’s rewards.
The order of grace does not follow human expectation but the divine will, confounding presumption.
The first became last not by injustice, but by their own envy and discontent.
He shows us that humility and trust, not precedence, secure a soul’s place in God’s kingdom.
Part I: Is it unfair that 'the first will be last' in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard?
Part II: Does your rank in the Church determine holiness and reward?
Part III: Why are good works worthless without charity?
Part IV: Why do so many who are called fall away?
The Labourers in the Vineyard
The Preaching of the Cross, Vol. III
Ch. XI, pp 190-5.
St. Matt. xix. 30, xx. 1–16; St. Mark x. 31
Story of the Gospels, § 127.
Burns and Oates, London, 1888
Headings and some line breaks added.
Sung on Septuagesima Sunday
True reading of the text
The two first Evangelists, St. Matthew and St. Mark, tell us that our Lord finished the declaration concerning the reward of those who should leave all things for His sake and the Gospel, with the ominous words:
‘That many that are first shall be last, and the last first.’
It is not St. Mark’s habit to insert many parables, as the community for which he immediately wrote were not familiar with that kind of teaching. For this, or some other reason, he omits the explanation of the words just mentioned, which is subjoined by St. Matthew, and which is contained in the famous parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard. This is one of the parables which has given the greatest trouble to expositors, though it is fair to add that the difficulty is to some extent created by their own forgetfulness of the fact that it is an explanation of former words of our Lord.
If it had always been remembered that the true way of reading it is that which is put before us by St. Matthew, ‘And many that are first shall be last, and the last first,’ or, as the Greek stands, ‘There shall be many first last, and last first, for the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder,’ and the rest, a great many of the explanations which have been offered would have been seen at once to have nothing to do with the lesson which our Lord meant to convey.
It would also have been seen, from the change in the tense, that our Lord is here speaking of a general law of the Kingdom which has its fulfilment in many cases, and will be especially fulfilled at the time of which He is speaking.
The parable itself
‘For the Kingdom of Heaven is like to a householder, who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.’
That is, the action and conduct of God in regard to the Kingdom of Heaven is like that of the householder, as the parable proceeds to explain.
‘And having agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
And going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle. And he said to them, Go you also into my vineyard, and I will give you what shall be just.
And again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did in like manner.
But about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he saith to them, Why stand you here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith to them, Go ye also into my vineyard.
And when evening was come, the lord of the vineyard saith to his steward, Call the labourers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last even to the first.
When, therefore, they were come that came about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first also came, they thought that they should receive more, and they also received every man a penny.
And receiving it, they murmured against the master of the house, saying, These last have worked but one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, that have borne the burden of the day and the heats.
But he answering said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong—didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way, I will also give to this last even as to thee. Is it not lawful for me to do as I like? is thy eye evil, because I am good?’
And then our Lord subjoins once more the truth for the sake of which the parable is set forth.
‘So shall the first be last, and the last first. For many are called, but few are chosen.’
It is clear, therefore, that He Himself has supplied, if we are able to catch His meaning, the interpretation of the parable. ‘The first shall be last, and the last first,’ in the way in which that parable explains. He had been speaking of those who had made or should make great earthly sacrifices for His sake. Among these, in respect of the reward, there shall be many that are first that shall be last, and last that shall be first.
How this is, is explained in the parable. Those who were first there became last. Why? It seems, on account of their behaviour with regard to those who were last admitted to the vineyard. Their conduct contains the reason why those who might otherwise have remained first became last. And those who were last became first, because the householder in his munificence chose to give them the same remuneration which he had originally bargained to give to the others.
The first, then, became last by their own perversity, the last became first by the munificence of the householder. The evil eye was the ruin of the first, the goodness of the lord was the welfare of the last. And this is our Lord’s own explanation, and it is delivered to those to whom He has just made the promise of the hundredfold in this life with persecutions. In that promise He adds the warning, that there are many who shall be, so to say, ‘first, last, and last, first,’ and He adds to the warning the parable explaining how this is to be.
Two sets of men
There are here two sets of ‘labourers,’ whose cases are contrasted, and each case should be considered separately.
Our Lord first speaks of the first that become last, and then of the last that are made first. In the parable, it is the action of the householder, in putting the last on an equality with the first, that occasions the evil eye in the earliest labourers, in consequence of which they are put in the last place.
The liberality of the householder comes before, and even is the occasion of, the churlishness of those who were first called. It is clear, however, that our Lord does not dwell so much on the case of the last who became first, as on that of the first who became last, and the more pointed teaching of the parable refers to the case of these rather than of the others.
Freedom of God in His gifts
If we turn to the promise of the great rewards, here and hereafter, of which promise this saying of our Lord is a kind of qualification, we can see that, without the explanation supplied by the parable, it might perhaps have been misunderstood.
Our Lord had said that there was to be a most liberal compensation for any sacrifices which had been made for Him, and that besides a hundredfold in this life, they were to purchase everlasting life in the future. This would bring before His mind some other great truths concerning the rewards in His Kingdom which it was very useful to put forward, and which to some extent qualify the other of the extreme munificence with which all services are rewarded therein.
In the first place would occur that great principle of the freedom of God in dispensing His choicest gifts, which was about to be illustrated, soon after the institution of the Church, in the most signal manner, and to the surprise and even scandal of many who had seemed hitherto to be first.
The Jews seemed to be first in comparison with the Gentiles. This opinion was to receive a great shock almost immediately.
The earliest converts to the Church seemed to be first in comparison with the later converts. The Apostles seemed to be great as compared with the other disciples. The same was to hold good in numberless other instances. The clergy seemed to be before the laity, the religious before secular persons.
In all these cases, there are certain persons placed in a kind of external and visible superiority over others, as having great advantages given them in the Kingdom of God. They might be considered as the ‘first comers’ among the labourers, and on that account to have certain rights of their own in the Kingdom. It might be a fatal error, in the first place, if they come to consider these rights as inalienable.
Gifts not inalienable
Our Lord had been speaking of the Apostles first, as having left all and followed Him. He had promised them that they should sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Then, continuing to refer to that act of perfect renunciation of everything for His sake, He extended the promise of a great reward to all who had done the like, as we have seen.
This was the recompense which St. Peter asked about, and it is natural to think that those who had made it are meant to answer, each in his degree, to the earlier comers in the parable. It was an act of renunciation which was thus to be rewarded, under the same conditions, as we may well understand, as those under which all rewards in God’s Kingdom are distributed.
Now there is no act of sacrifice for God which can ensure final perseverance, which lives on by any infallible law in the soul that makes it. Life everlasting, which is also promised to those who leave all, is not promised infallibly. The condition is taken for granted, that the good disposition remains, and that the act has not been virtually recalled by an act of sin. This was a qualification which it was natural should be made, though perhaps the Apostles would understand sufficiently the truth without any formal warning concerning it.
And one among the Apostles themselves was to have no part in the reward. He was to have no throne, he was to have no hundredfold reward for all he had left. The word ‘but’ with which St. Mark introduces the last clause of our Lord’s declaration, sufficiently fixes its application to those to whom that great declaration was made.
It was not merely that, generally speaking, no part or act of ours can ensure of itself our continuance in the state to which such great things are promised. Our Lord’s words are a prophecy, as well as a rule. There shall be last first, and first last.
How does this relate to vocations—as well as the respective position of the Jewish people and the Gentiles?
Find out in the next part—and hit SUBSCRIBE now to make sure you don’t miss any future parts:
In that part, Fr. Coleridge will tell us:
How the parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard reveals the diverse vocations within the Church.
Why vocations are means to holiness, but sanctity—and thus eternal reward—depends on charity, not rank.
How the highest vocations can be forfeited, and how latecomers may rise by God’s grace and faithfulness.
He will show us that divine rewards are not bound to status, but to perseverance in love and fidelity.
The Labourers in the Vineyard
Part I: Is it unfair that 'the first will be last' in the Parable of the Labourers in the Vineyard?
Part II: Does your rank in the Church determine holiness and reward?
Part III: Why are good works worthless without charity?
Part IV: Why do so many who are called fall away?
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