by Angus Harley

1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last group to the first.’ 9 When those hired about the eleventh hour came, each one received a denarius. 10 When those hired first came, they thought that they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they grumbled at the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’ 13 But he answered and said to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what is yours and go, but I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye envious because I am generous?’ 16So the last shall be first, and the first last.”

Vv1-16 relate a parable concerning the kingdom of heaven (v1). The conclusion is that, in the kingdom “the last shall be first, and the first last” (v16). The parable is usually said to teach that in the kingdom of God the same reward of the kingdom itself and its life is applied to all of God’s people, regardless of when they believed in Christ and started to serve him. 

Even if this understanding were somewhat applicable, it is unlikely that it captures Jesus’ point. The bigger picture is that of kingdom laborers who work on the basis of due, and claim what they think is their right, and who complain against the vineyard owner, over against kingdom laborers who have relied on the mercy of the vineyard owner. Merit/work vs reliance/mercy (see Rom.4:4). 

This is the same principle set down the in parable of the Prodigal Son, in which the son who labored long in his father’s property complained at the other son who had received his inheritance, blew it, and then came back, only for the father to rejoice over him and bless him. Works/merit/complaint vs love/mercy/repentance.

More specifically, Jesus is rebuking the Jews for their incorrect understanding of God’s kingdom. Their view of the kingdom of heaven was a fleshly one, expressed in the people of the Jews themselves, physical birth, the land, bricks-n-mortar temple building, fleshly religion, life in this world, and, the reign of God in his Davidic son who will sit enthroned in actual Jerusalem. Jesus was teaching that the kingdom of heaven was not that kingdom. It was heavenly, properly speaking, and therefore spiritual. Jesus could not have been plainer in John 18:36, “…“My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, then My servants would be fighting so that I would not be handed over to the Jews; but as it is, My kingdom is not of this realm.” ” This same battle was fought by Jesus in John 3, where he goes head-to-head with the top Jewish theologian, Nicodemus, and very directly rebukes and redirects him to the heavenly kingdom and Spiritual sonship. Nothing physical or fleshly and of this world belonged to the heavenly kingdom and its sons.

The reference to the “last” in this setting is Jews who attach themselves to the Messianic Son, and those, too, who will follow in their footsteps, namely, Messianic Gentiles. The kingdom belongs to the latter, the Messianic sons, and not to the Jews who fought against the principle of mercy that characterized that kingdom.

17 As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, 19and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.”

This little dialogue is meant to confirm the previous parable. The kingdom was about to be fulfilled in the Son of Man in Jerusalem itself, through his death, and instead of understanding that Jesus was the king coming in mercy, the Jews, along with the Gentiles, were going to kill him in Jerusalem. The heart of the true Davidic reign is the suffering and death of the Davidic Son on the cross and his resurrection from the dead.

Matthew couldn’t have been any more jarring if he’d tried: the Jewish preoccupation with a physical king reigning in physical Jerusalem is kicked out of the park by Jesus, and replaced with the model of the suffering Son of Man, who will be killed at the hands of the Jews (the complaining workers) right in the heart of the supposedly holy city in which David’s son was said to reign in the future. Adding great insult to the injury is that, the Jews (complaining laborers) will join forces with those dogs the Gentiles to murder Jesus the heavenly, not earthly, king.

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him. 21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.” 22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They said to Him, “We are able.” 23 He said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

This section highlights the dullness of the disciples and those others Jews associated with Jesus and his disciples. It was not just the long-suffering, long-laboring (see the parable) Jews who utterly misunderstood Jesus’ role as the Son of Man, it was also his own servants who had received mercy, “the last”. How many times in the Gospels do the writers switch from Jewish hardness to the dullness of Jesus’ disciples? This dullness arose from the misconception that Jesus’ kingdom was concerned with merit, was earthly, and excluded suffering. To the mother, were not John and James, her Jewish sons, worthy servants of Jesus? Hadn’t they labored hard in this Jewish, Messianic, kingdom? Did they not remain faithful to the Son of David? Did they not deserve a high seat in the kingdom’s reign in Jerusalem? Even though Jesus’ disciples heard him clearly speak about his death in Jerusalem, his disciples heard this, “Blaa, blaa, Jerusalem, blaa, blaa.” In the typically faulty-Jewish fashion, they equated his going to Jerusalem with the setting up of a physical kingdom in Jerusalem. 

On the contrary! To enter the true Messianic kingdom of heaven, his disciples must follow a dying Messiah and take up their cross. Thus, Jesus’ disciples had to drink the same cup of suffering he was about to drink to continue in the heavenly reign and the heavenly kingdom. On earth, ‘in Jerusalem’, however, they must expect only suffering and death at the hands of the complaining laborers (the Jews) and the Gentile dogs. Moreover, even in terms of heavenly rewards, it was for the Father, not the Son there on earth, to determine, for his time had not yet come to enter into his heavenly glory.

24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. 26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, 27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Functioning as dull and foolish disciples, the other disciples scolded James and John, not because the brothers misunderstood the nature of the kingdom of heaven, but because they selfishly put themselves forward through their mother. Shameless, really. Jesus had no time for any of them, however- the two brothers or the indignant party! For all were obsessed with an earthly reign and ruling over others. Wasn’t this the Jewish mindset in action? Their dullness of spiritual hearing and dimness of kingdom-seeing prevented them for truly listening to the Messiah, his acts, and his message. In truth, however, it was all about the cross and the resurrection and a heavenly kingdom. In particular, to follow this kingdom-Christ, one had to become a slave, just as the Son of Man, who gave himself fully over to the Father’s kingdom-will to suffer and die as a ransom for the kingdom sons. It was not reigning, but suffering and slavery, that characterized the kingdom sons here on earth, ‘in Jerusalem’. Of course, we know that Jesus went on, via his resurrection, to reign in heaven.

The reference to Gentile rulers bossing it over others must be understood in this Messianic context. Those Gentile leaders of Gentile kingdoms flung themselves around, imposing their authority. Think of Pilate. This was the Gentile way! Jesus was using the example of these flagrant Gentile rulers to rebuke the foolish Jewish mindset that poisoned the whole of Judaism and was there-and-then controlling his own disciples. For on earth, ‘in Jerusalem’, the sons of the kingdom were to live as slaves to the Lord. A true ‘Jew’, a true Messianic son, a true subject of the Davidic kingdom, as to this world, will suffer and die, and in doing so, serve others. Only after this will he be blessed in heaven. To lust after reign and power in this world was how the Gentiles operated. To fight over those blessings was another form of the Gentile sin. 

29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him. 30 And two blind men sitting by the road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” 31 The crowd sternly told them to be quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!” 32 And Jesus stopped and called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” 33 They said to Him, “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” 34 Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.

Here we see how the kingdom mercy operated in real-time, and so we have the inclusio effect of the chapter: the parable was about mercy; and the last section is concerned with compassion. Thus the entirety of the chapter is concentrating on the way of Messianic mercy in Jesus, the Son of David. 

There is a measure of irony in this final section. Even though Jesus was a slave to his Father’s will- and his disciples were to be slaves, too- this service was the exclusive medium for the Messianic ‘rule’ on earth. Far too many Evangelicals today have bought into the notion that rulership does not belong to the kingdom of heaven in its work on earth. This could not be further from the truth! Rulership is at the heart of God’s heavenly kingdom as it works on earth. See how in v30 Jesus is called the “Son of David”, a reference to his Davidic kingship. He is called “Lord” two times, also. Now, unless we are going to go down the Dispensationalist route that claims that Jesus had the name of king whilst on earth but never acted as king, we can allow the text to speak for itself. For as the Davidic king, Jesus acted in authority over others to heal and give sight out of compassion (mercy). His Davidic ‘rule’ was expressed immediately, in this world, ‘in Jerusalem’, through the miracle of mercy. Is this not why Matthew 2:6 announces, ” “For out of you shall come forth a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel” ”? See here how this Ruler is a shepherd, one who pastors the Israel of God.

We can put this teaching in another fashion. Evangelicalism has reduced Jesus’ miracles to a mere show of authority and power. This view, if left in that reduced form, is oblivious to other, more important, factors behind Jesus’ miracles. One of which is the miracles are acts of compassion of the David king’s rule, a rule that he imposes over others in spiritual warfare against sin, the evil one, and the kingdoms of this world. Jesus is not a ‘magician’ showing magic powers! He is the king and ruler of the ‘other’ world, who is imposing his authority over the kingdoms here. More than this, his authority pertains to his teaching, for true sons of the kingdom were under his authority and must submit to it in its kingdom content and expectations. A kingdom rule of the shepherding king whose authority was over others, those both for and against his rule. 

So, just as there as two types of kingdom sons, so there are two types of kingdom power, rule, and authority: the fleshly, this-world, form of kingdom authority was believed by the Jews and practiced by the Romans (Gentiles); the heavenly form of the heavenly kingdom’s authority and rule was in the Davidic Son and king, whose kingdom-rule was from heaven, and whose authority was the power of God over wicked powers to execute mercy on earth, and his authority over the sons of the kingdom to follow the way of the cross.