The Last Will Be First

Today I hope to finish the roofing job on the garage roof. This exercise started early in June. The job has been interrupted by the weather, other demands, the weather, my own limitations and finally the weather. Even yesterday, which started out to be a nice sunny day resulted in tarps being reinstalled by noon. Today is the day according to Environment Canada! Yesterday, while I applied the roll roofing, according to my purchased instruction book of course, for my usual two to three hours of labour, I realized that the job was moving along well and felt more than a little satisfaction that this project would finally be complete and the roof sealed from the elements. My reward was intrinsic for a job well done. Yesterday’s labour and its reward brought to mind this morning one of the parables of Jesus found in Matthew 20: 1-16.

Very early in the morning, a landowner (God) sets out to hire labourers (believers) to work in his vineyard (the kingdom of heaven). There was an agreement struck to pay them one danarius (reward) for a full day’s labour (service to and devotion to God). At 9:00 A.M., 12:00 P.M., 3:00 P.M. and again at 5:00 P.M., he hired even more labourers with no agreement as to what they would be paid. The landowner would pay them what was fair. When the day was done he instructed his paymaster to pay the labourers from the last hired to the first hired. All were paid one danarius. Those hired first complained bitterly that they had laboured longer through the heat of the day and deserved more than the agreed upon wage. The landowner informed them that he could do exactly as he pleased with his resources and his generosity should not cause them to react with selfishness. In verse 16 Jesus informs us on one of the great and wonderful truths of the Bible.

16 "So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen."

When I first became a Christian at forty-eight years of age, I really thought that this verse meant that being saved later in life did not exclude you from the rewards. You could be just as eligible for them as lifelong Christians. I had read the verse literally and indeed I was wrong.

First of all, before I go on, evidently according to this parable there are rewards in heaven and indeed in this life for Christian service and devotion to God. I do not have a clue what form those rewards will take in heaven, but there will be rewards. Second, God is sovereign and in complete and utter control of the rewards. There will be some great surprises when it comes to rewards in Heaven. Finally, many who thought they were first will be last because of their motivation in serving God. If their service was inspired by pride and selfish ambition or to look good in the eyes of man, they will indeed be last at the podium for the awards ceremony. Those who laboured without an agreement for rewards due and trusted God’s mercy and grace will be first at the podium. I have no way of knowing there will be an award ceremony in heaven, but for me it puts the concept in human terms.

In The Message, the last being first and first being last is referred to as “The Great Reversal” and indeed it is just that.

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