Scripture Reading: Matthew 20:1-16
The key to this parable is found in what goes just before. A young man came to Jesus eager to follow him and asked what he must do. Jesus said he must give up his riches and go with Him. The young man found the cost too great and went away sorrowful. Then Jesus spoke seriously to His disciples about how hard it was for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. It cannot have been a high spiritual thought which was in Peter’s mind when he said to Jesus, “Behold, we have forsaken all and followed Thee; what shall we have?” Evidently he was thinking that they had done a very worthy thing in leaving all and going with Christ. But his question showed a spirit which was not pleasing to the Master, a mercenary spirit, a disposition to get the best out of duty and service and sacrifice. He expected reward and large reward for faithful service.
In true following of Christ such a question is never asked. Love never thinks of wages in anything it does. If, as a man does for another hard and self-denying things, he is always thinking of the way the other will pay him, expecting large compensation, there is no love whatever in what he does. He is a hireling. A mother never asks, as she cares for her sick child, losing rest, and suffering, “What shall I get for this?”
The answer Jesus gave Peter assured him that the disciples who had left all should be amply rewarded. But the parable we are not studying is not always thought of as a part of our Lord’s answer to the question. The chapter division in the King James Version obscures this pact. In the Revised Version, however, there is no break in the passage. The words, “For the kingdom of heaven is like,” connect this parable directly with the foregoing incident and show that Jesus would warn Peter and His disciples against the disposition to bargain and haggle for pay, or to compare their work with that of others, quibbling about proportionate rewards.
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