ve therefore?" In tender mercy the
Lord refrained from directly rebuking His impulsive servant for undue
concern as to the wage to be expected; but He turned the incident to
excellent purpose by making it the text of a valuable lesson. The
following treatment by Edersheim (vol. ii, p. 416) is worth
consideration. "There was here deep danger to the disciples: danger of
lapsing into feelings akin to those with which the Pharisees viewed the
pardoned publicans, or the elder son in the parable his younger brother;
danger of misunderstanding the right relations, and with it the very
character of the kingdom, and of work in and for it. It is to this that
the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard refers. The principle which
Christ lays down is, that, while nothing done for Him shall lose its
reward, yet, from one reason or another, no forecast can be made, no
inferences of self-righteousness may be drawn. It does not by any means
follow, that most work done--at least, to our seeing and judging--shall
entail a greater reward. On the contrary, 'many that are first shall be
last; and the last shall be first.' Not _all_, nor yet always and
necessarily, but 'many.' And in such cases no wrong has been done; there
exists no claim, even in view of the promises of due acknowledgment of
work. Spiritual pride and self assertion can only be the outcome either
of misunderstanding God's relation to us, or else of a wrong state of
mind towards others--that is, it betokens mental or moral unfitness. Of
this the Parable of the Laborers is an illustration.... But, while
illustrating how it may come that some who were first are last, and how
utterly mistaken or wrong is the thought that they must necessarily
receive more than others, who, seemingly, have done more--how, in short,
work for Christ is not a ponderable quantity, so much for so much, nor
yet we be the judges of when and why a worker has come--it also conveys
much that is new, and, in many respects, most comforting."

FOOTNOTES:

[950] Luke 14:1-24.

[951] The question is identical with that asked of Jesus in the synagog
at Capernaum preliminary to the healing of the man with the withered
hand (Matt. 12:10).

[952] Exo. 23:5; Deut. 22:4; Luke 13:15.

[953] Compare Matt. 23:12; Luke 1:52; 18:14; James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5.

[954] Compare Matt. 8:11; Rev. 19:9. The expression "eat bread" is a
Hebraism, signifying eating in full as at a feast rather than partaking
of bread only.