1242605 First shall be last discourse – Matthew 20:1-16, A.D. 29 Perea
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing in the marketplace. And to them he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing and he said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ “They said to him, ‘Because no man has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
And when evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ “And when those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. And when they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ “But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last.
