Jesus continued by saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day’s wages.
At about 9 he went out and hired more workers for his vineyard…then again at noon, and at 3. The landowner also went out at 5 and found more workers. He hired them to work the last hour of the day.
When it came time to pay the workers, he had the ones who started at 5 come first. He paid them a denarius for their work. The other workers were expecting to get paid more but he also paid them a denarius. They began to grumble about their pay.
The landowner responded by saying they had agreed to work the whole day for the one denarius. It’s his right to pay the others the same if he wants to and they shouldn’t get mad because he wants to be generous.
Jesus concludes this parable by saying that the last will be first and the first will be last.
Jesus, in response to his conversation with his disciples about what they will earn for following Him, wanted to make sure they/we understood that it doesn’t matter if you have been following Christ for 90’years or for 9 days…the reward is the same. We can’t earn a better mansion or higher status. We are all equal and if we follow Him we will have the kingdom of heaven as our reward. Isn’t it great to know we dont have to stress about position or status? We just get to be called a Christ-follower. Let’s have some pride in that title today. Wear it proudly. He is worth it.
A Journey With Jesus 