The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 284

,calls then at the eloventh hour, " Why sta.nd ye here a.II the da.y idle?" "The night cometh, wherein no man can work," and the work to be done before nightfall is of ,momentous importance. '!'hey that then stood idle gave a reason for their idleneBs, " llecause no man bath hired us." The excuse was true in the mouth of those Gentile follow-labourers who were gathered into the Church late in the apostolic times. God "in times past," said St. Paul (Acts xiv. 16), "suffered all nations to walk in their .own ways" (comp. also Acts xvii. 30 and Rom. x.i.). 'l'hey had not been called into .the Church, the kingdom of heaven. It can be true only in a very partial sense of ·Christians now. Men do not heed the call ; the loud noise and bustle of the world drown the still small voice of the blessed Spirit. Their deafness is wilful; the voice ,comes again and again; they will not listen, and it becomes fainter at1d less distinct. Sometimes it is unheeded to the end; sometimes at last it swells into a trumpet-note, .and rouses the thoughtless to repentance. Yet, alas I even in Christian countries there .are many, brought up among evil surroundings, in all the misery of godless training and wicked examples, without instruction, without the means of grace; of whom (it sometimes seems to us, when we face sadly and helplessly these perplexing problems of life) those words may still be said," No man bath hired us." But God, we know, is not willing that any should perish; we may not doubt but that in some way his .voice makes itself heard even to such as these, if not earlier, yet at the eleventh hour, -as life is drawing near to its close. "Go ye also into the vineyard," the householder, -said, though so short a time for work was left. No stipulation was ma.de; perhaps, iu this case, the reward was not even mentioned; the promise of giving whatsoever was right is omitted here in some of the most ancient manuscripts, which the Revised Version follows. The men trusted the householder implicitly; they went even at that late hour into the vineyard. 'l'here was yet work to be done; and, if there was work, there was hope. They went, they worked ; and, we shall find, their trust was not in vain. II. THE RESULT. 1. The reward. When even was come, the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, "Call the labourers, and give them their hire." Christ himself is the Steward, as a Son over his own house (Heb. iii. 6). All power is given unto -him; it is he who will say to the redeemed," Come, ye blessed of my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you." The steward called the labourers; he began, as his lord had bidden him, with the last hired. They had wrought but one hour, and that without any definite agreement. They knew not what to expect; they had done their -best, it seems; but the time was short, very short. What could they look for? They -came in doubt and anxiety. But they received every man a penny-the full day's wages. They were, we may be sure, full of joy and gratitude; it was far more than they had expected. They had not earned it, they knew; it was of grace, a free gift, .a prool of the generous bounty of the lord of the vineyard. The rewards of heaven are not calculated by the methods of earth. Men called late into Christ's service might rank with the first chosen twelve. Paul the persecutor would sit on one of the twelve -thrones1 Judas the apostle would forfeit his place in the apostolic hierarchy. Gentiles would be called into the kingdom on an equal footing with God's ancient people. Throughout the history of the Church it would happen again and again that men called late in life, sometimes on the very bed of dea.tb, would receive the full reward. Work is not always measured by time; life itself is not measured by time. A short Ufe has sometimes far more of real living, more of deep spiritual energy, and even sometimes of outward work, than a very long life spent without earnest purpose (" He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time," Wisd. iv. 13). We may well believe that in the dying hours of the penitent thief there was concentrated a depth of repentance, an intensity of love, an energy of victorious faith, which he marked and rewarded who measures life, not by time, not by outward work, but by faith and love. The labourers were called in order from the last unto the first. All received the like reward-the penny, covenanted to the first called, given, it seems, without covenant to those sent later into the vineyard. The parable contemplates a portion only of God's dealings with mankind; its point of view does not extend to thu disobedient, mentioned elsewhere, who went not to the vineyard. Here all the labourers had worked, and all received their hire. But that rewa.rd, though in itself the same, varies according to the sviritual capacity of the receiver. Eternal life is  288 THE GOSrEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [en. :xx.1-34.