Why did the last workers receive the same wage in Matthew 20:9? Canonical Text “When those who were hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius.” — Matthew 20:9 Historical and Literary Context Matthew’s Gospel was composed in the first‐century Jewish milieu, most likely within a generation of the resurrection. Papyrus 𝔓104 (c. AD 100–150) preserves Matthew 21 and demonstrates textual stability in the surrounding pericope; Codex Vaticanus (B) and Codex Sinaiticus (א) concur verbatim in 20:1-16, underlining the passage’s early, uncontested authenticity. In first-century Judea a denarius equaled the ordinary day-laborer’s wage (cf. Tacitus, Ann. 1.17). Vineyards customarily required urgent harvest labor lest the grapes spoil; day-hiring from sunup to the eleventh hour (≈ 5 p.m.) was normal (Jerusalem Talmud, Ber. 2.7). Narrative Overview A landowner hires successive groups at dawn, the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours, promising the first a denarius and telling later groups, “Whatever is right I will give you” (20:4). At dusk, payment begins with the last. To universal surprise every worker receives the same coin. Theological Emphasis: Sovereign Grace 1. Unmerited Favor • The denarius symbolizes salvation, “the gift of God, not of works” (Ephesians 2:8-9). • The latecomers’ inability to earn a full day parallels the sinner’s incapacity to merit eternal life (Romans 3:23-24). 2. Divine Freedom • The owner asks, “Am I not free to do as I please with what is mine?” (20:15). The Creator’s sovereign right to dispense grace transcends human calculations of equity (Isaiah 55:8-9). 3. Equality in the Kingdom • Whether called early (Israel, covenant saints) or late (Gentiles, later converts), all receive equal standing (Acts 10:34-35). Paul echoes, “There is no difference” (Romans 10:12). Salvific Implications The parable dismantles the works-righteousness assumption of Second-Temple Judaism and modern moralism alike. Eternal life is “the wage” secured by Christ’s atonement, validated historically by the empty tomb (1 Corinthians 15:3-8). Habermas’s minimal-facts argument (creed of 1 Corinthians 15:3-5 dated ≤ 5 years from the crucifixion) corroborates that this salvific “denarius” was proclaimed from the church’s inception. Jew-Gentile and Eschatological Overtones Jesus delivers the parable en route to Jerusalem (Matthew 20:17). It foreshadows the ingathering of end-times believers: late-hour laborers typify the eschatological harvest of nations (Isaiah 60:22; Revelation 7:9). The equal reward anticipates the “one new man” (Ephesians 2:15). Pastoral Application 1. Receive grace regardless of life stage; the thief on the cross labored an “eleventh hour.” 2. Reject merit-based jealousy; celebrate every conversion. 3. Labor faithfully; reward is secure, not graded on duration but on God’s promise (1 Corinthians 15:58). Conclusion The last workers receive the same wage to declare that salvation is a sovereign, gracious, and equal gift from God, unearned by duration or effort, guaranteed by the resurrected Christ, and documented by trustworthy Scripture whose historical, archaeological, and manuscript evidence converge to affirm its divine authorship. |
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