The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 2 — Section 285

promised to all the blessed; God himself is their Portion. Yet we rend of ten citice a1;1d of five (Luke xix. 17, 19). _Th~re will be first and last, greatest and least, in the kmgdom of God; all the stars shme m the heavens, but ono star differeth from another star in glory. All the blessed will, by the grace of God, be admitted into the exceed- ing great rapture of the beatific vision. That vision of love and glory will fill every heart with unutterable gladness; the saints will be changed into the same image from glory to glory, drawn ever nea.rer, received into an ever-closer nearness, an ever-deepen- ing blessedness, increasing in proportion to the powers, the love, the fervour the devotion of each glorified spirit. All will receive the blessed promise eternal' life, the realization of that promise will depend in some measure on the capacities of th~ receiver. All will be blessed. Holy Scripture seems to teach that there will be degrees of blessedness in heaven, as there are degrees of holiness on earth. 2. The murmur,; The first-hired labourers had borne the burden and heat of the day; they now received· the covenanted reward. It was their just due according to the original agreement. But they murmured, not because they had received too little, but because others as they thought, had received too much. These last had wrought but one hour, aud 'yet the good man of the house had made them equal to those who had worked from morning until evening. The Jews showed this narrow spirit of unworthy jealousy towards the Gentiles; we see it throughout the New Testament. It was this that caused the rejection of our Lord at Nazareth (Luke iv. 25-29). It was this that excited the fierce wrath of the Jews against St. Paul (Acts :uiL 21, 22). They were God's chosen people; the adoption was theirs, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises (Rom. ix. 4). They could not endure the thought that the despised Gentiles were to be admitted to an equality of privileges. St. Peter had just showed something of this spirit in bis question, "Behold, we have left all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" The primary intention of the parable was, it seems, to teach him and his brother apostles that the rewards of God's kingdom are not of debt, but of grace; and to rebuke that desire of pre-eminence, those jealoUl!ies and rivalries, which we meet with so often in the history of the apostles, and, alas I in the whole history of the Church. There must be no jealoosies in the kingdom of God. Each Christian must learn of him ••who is meek and lowly in heart" the great grace of humility; we must all learn "in lowliness of mind to esteem others better than ourselves." We must learn thjs great lesson now; for murmurers have no place in the kingdom of glory. Heaven is the home of love; no jarring notes of envy or discontent may disturb its Divine harmonies. It is the home of blessedness; there can be no complaints in heaven; for, if there are degrees of blessedness, yet each redeemed soul is blessed to the full extent of its capacities, and is disturbed by no unsatisfied longings. Then if we apply the parable to the circomstances of individual Christians, and understand the penny as meaning the unspeakable gift-Christ now, eternal life hereafter-we must regard this portion as belonging to the scenery, so to speak, of the parable, to its setting, as conveying a warning of what might happen on earth, not a prophecy of what will happen hereafter. On earth the murmurers receive the penny; they have worked for it. There is no intimation in the parable that they worked less strenuously than those called later; it would not be just to withhold it, though they marred their industry by their envy and ill temper. In the world to come such men would lose their reward; in this world they knew not how to value it. The reward ofi',red was the gift of Christ, Christ himself Christ present to bis people's hearts; but, alas! though they sePmed to begin well, th;y envied others who afterwards outstripped them in the Christian race~ and that envy of the progress, of the successes, o~ the rewar?s of others ~arred their own religious service, destroyed the value of their work, po1Soned and killed out of their hearts the holy life of faith and love. To such heaven would be no heaven if they were allowed to enter there, for to the unloving there can be no joy in the love of heaven. "He that lovethnot knoweth not God; for God is love," 3. The reply of the luYUSeholder. "Friend" he said. The Greek word is not one which implies affection or friendship but only knowledge and companionship; it is used by the king io the parable to th~ man who bad not on a wedding garment, and by our Lord in addressing Judas at Gethsemane. The man had received the penny; the payment was according lo the agreement; he had no right to more, The apostles would receive the promised on. x.x. 1-34.] THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. 289