Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 20:16

"So the last shall be first, and the first last." — Matthew 20:16 (ASV)

So the last shall be first — This, then, is the great lesson of the parable. It directly answers the question of whether we should see in it a doctrine of absolute equality in the blessedness of the life to come. In that life, there will also be some who are first and some who are last. However, the difference in degree will depend not on the duration of service, nor even on the amount of work done, but on the disposition and character of the worker.

Considering the incident that prompted the parable, we can hardly avoid seeing a subtle reference to the "young ruler" whom the disciples had hastily condemned. Yet the Lord, who loved him (Mark 10:21), saw in him the potential for a higher form of holiness than what they were then displaying, if only he could overcome the temptation that kept him back when first called to work in his Master’s vineyard in his Master’s way. Even then, His judgment was reversing theirs.

For many be called, but few chosen — This warning is repeated after the parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:14). Since it stands in closer relation to the context there, that will be the more fitting place to discuss it. Indeed, the better manuscripts omit it here. If we accept it as the true reading, it adds something to the warning of the previous clause. The disciples had been summoned to work in the vineyard. Indulging a selfish, murmuring disposition could hinder their "election" even to that work. For one of the disciples, whose state may have been especially present to our Lord’s mind, this was, as we know, all too fatally true.

Judas had been "called," but would not be among the "chosen" for either the higher work or its ultimate reward. Based on our interpretation of the parable, we cannot for a moment imagine that its purpose was to teach the disciples that they would forfeit their place in the kingdom. Of course, a wider interpretation is possible and has often been applied, in which the first-called laborers correspond to the Jews, and those who came later correspond to converts in the successive stages of the conversion of the Gentiles. However, this interpretation, though perhaps legitimate as an application of the parable, is clearly secondary and subordinate. It must not be allowed to obscure the parable's primary intention.