God is king and he gives grace
Importance and wealth are not important to God. A person’s service for God does not earn God’s good opinion. God deals with people by grace alone.
From Matthew 16:5, Jesus had been teaching his disciples more than he taught the other people. He was teaching his disciples what they should be like. He emphasised what sort of Messiah he was.
Two incidents happened before this parable. In Matthew 19:13–15, the disciples sent away young children. The disciples thought that Jesus would not have time for children. Then, in Matthew 19:16–29, Jesus talked about two things. They were wealth and importance. God does not deal with people by these things.
Then there was the parable in this passage. After that, two events showed the real meaning of the parable. In Matthew 20:17–19, Jesus emphasised that he must suffer. He said that people would laugh at him. They would deal badly with him. He would die. Then there was the event in Matthew 20:20–28. People must not join God’s kingdom for the wrong reasons. They should not become members for the benefits that they could get. They should not want an important place in the kingdom. Jesus emphasised this. He repeated the same statement. (Read Matthew 19:30 and Matthew 20:16.) God’s way of doing things is often the opposite of people’s ways.
The people who first heard Jesus would understand his story well. The situation that he described was a familiar one. Many poor men would have been just like the men in the story. They, too, would be desperate to do a day’s work.
But Jesus ended the story in an unusual way. (Read Matthew 20:8–15.) Jesus wanted those who heard him to realise certain things. God was the owner of the land in the story. His kingdom was the business that he described. (This was popular OT language. Read Psalm 80:8–19; Isaiah 1:8; 5:1-8; Jeremiah 12:10.) When we realise this, the meaning of Jesus’ parable is clear. God is fair to all the members of his kingdom. He is also very generous. This is because God does not deal with us as we deserve. He deals with men and women by grace.
Now Matthew reminds us of something that is awful. The master had been very generous to his workers. He had dealt so well with them. But he himself must suffer in a terrible way. He was going to die for them.
Jesus, the saviour who suffers
(Note: A saviour is someone who saves.)
Jesus had already said what would happen to him. Twice, he said that he must die. But then he would come back to life again. (Read Matthew 16:21 and Matthew 17:22–23.) Here, he gave his disciples more details. (Read Matthew 20:17–19.) He explained just how much he would suffer. His closest friends would not be loyal to him. The leaders would not be fair to him. People would insult him. He would suffer great shame. Then he would die in great pain.
The ‘son of the living God’ (Matthew 16:16) was speaking. He was telling about all the terrible things that would happen to him. This was wonderful! Yet, this passage did not emphasise the special way that Jesus must suffer. (Compare Matthew 27:46.) At this time, Jesus wanted his disciples to understand something. It was this. At least in part, what he suffered was an example for them. Like him, they must expect their bodies to feel weak. They would be extremely tired. They would experience pain. They would be sad. They might even die because they followed him.
To be a disciple of Jesus is never easy. All people suffer hard things in life. Some people think that a Christian will not have hard things. But this is not true. There will even be extra troubles for real disciples. But the end of Matthew 19 speaks about a reward. Jesus would suffer. But he would then get a reward. It would be the same for all his disciples, in every age.
Questions
1. Imagine that you are one of the people in the parable. Whom do you identify with easily? What feelings does the story give you?
2. Think about the members of your church as a society. Would they be willing to share in what Jesus suffered? Other churches or people could be models. Your church group could get good ideas from them. Can you think of any examples of this?
3. You may think that the master in the story was not fair. Some of the men had worked all day. Other men had done hardly any work. But he gave the same wage to everyone. Can you explain why God would act like this? Pretend that you are talking to someone. He says that we cannot know that God even exists. He also tries to get rights for all workers. What could you say to him?
