The Last Will Be First
‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. Matthew 20:7 · Berean Standard Bible
They answer, 'Because no one hired us.' So he sends them into the vineyard too.
They weren't lazy — they were overlooked. And this owner sees people others pass by.
The workers are honest, and the owner responds with generosity.
No one wanted them. But the vineyard owner did. Even with just one hour left, he gives them a place.
The workers explain that no one has hired them (oudeis hēmas emisthōsato) — they were not unwilling but unselected. The landowner sends them into the vineyard as well.
Their answer underscores that their idleness was circumstantial, not moral — they lacked opportunity, not desire.
The last workers explain their situation, and the landowner includes them.
The eleventh-hour workers were marginalized by the system, not by choice. The landowner's inclusion of them embodies grace.
5So they went.
6About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.
7‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and moving on to the first.’
9The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius.
Read all of Matthew 20 — Workers hired at day's end receive the same wage as those who sweated since dawn. God's generosity offends our scorekeeping instincts.
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