Conclusion of Workers In The Vineyard

Finally, the symbolic workday ends with the death of Jesus, and the time comes to pay the workers. The unusual rule of paying the last first is followed, as is explained: "When it became evening, the master of the vineyard said to this man in charge, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, proceeding from the last to the first.l' when the eleventh hour men came, they each received a denarius. So, when the first came, they concluded they would receive more; but they also received pay at the rate of a denarius. On receiving it they began to murmur against the householder and said, 'These last put in one hour's work; still you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!' But in reply to one of them he said, 'Fellow, I do you no wrong. You agreed with me for a denarius, did you not? Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last one the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I want with my own things? Or is your eye wicked because I am good?'" In conclusion, Jesus repeated a point made earlier, saying: "IN this way the last ones will be first, and the first ones last."

The receiving of the denarius occurs, not at Jesus' death, but at Pentecost 33 C.E., when Christ, the "man in charge," pours out holy spirit on his disciples. These disciples of Jesus are like "the last," or the 11th - hour workers, The denarius does not represent the gift of the holy spirit itself. The denarius is something that means their livelihood,their everlasting life. It is the privilege of being a spiritual Israelite, anointed to preach about God's Kingdom.

Soon those hired first observe that Jesus' disciples have been paid, and they see them using the symbolic denarius. But they want more than the holy spirit and its associated Kingdom privileges. They murmuring and objections take the form of persecuting Christ's disciples, "the last" workers in the vineyard.

Is that first-century fulfillment the only fulfillment of Jesus' illustration? No, the clergy of Christendom in this 20th century have, by reason of their positions and responsibilities, been "first" to be hired for work in God's symbolic vineyard. They considered dedicated preachers associated with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to be "the last" ones to have any valid assignment in God's service. But it is, in fact, these very ones, whom the clergy despised, who received the denarius-the honor of serving as anointed ambassadors of God's heavenly Kingdom. Matthew 19:30-20:16.

Next time: The Disciples Argue As Jesus' Death Nears

The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, 1991