Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 20:11-16

"And when they received it, they murmured against the householder, saying, These last have spent [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a shilling? Take up that which is thine, and go thy way; it is my will to give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last." — Matthew 20:11-16 (ASV)

And when they had received it, they murmured against the master of the house, saying, These last have worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do you no wrong: did you not agree with me for a penny? Take what is yours and go your way: I will give to this last, even as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many are called, but few chosen.

The great principle of election in divine sovereignty will emerge, not in one place, but in many. God will have us know that he is Master, and that in the kingdom of grace he will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and in the distribution of that grace he will give according to his own good pleasure. The moment we begin to murmur or set up claims, he answers us at once with: Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Yet that unevangelical spirit, that ungospel spirit of fancying that we have some sort of claim or right, will creep in, and it must be sternly repressed.

It is of grace—of grace alone—of grace to begin with, of grace to go on with, of grace to close with: and human merit must not be allowed to put a single finger anywhere. Where is boasting, then? says the Apostle. It is excluded. It is shut out—the door shut in its face. It must not come in. If you and I serve God throughout a long life, we shall certainly have much greater happiness in life than those can have who come to Christ only at the last. But, as far as the gospel blessing is concerned, which Christ gives, it is the same salvation which the newly born Christian enjoys as that which the most advanced believer is now enjoying. It is to every man the penny, bearing the King's own impress.