Charles Spurgeon Commentary Matthew 20:8

"And when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the laborers, and pay them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first." — Matthew 20:8 (ASV)

Days soon end, and evening had come for all the laborers. This was pay-time, and the lord of the vineyard did not forget his agreements with the laborers, nor tell them to wait for their wages. Our Lord will rob no one of his reward. The householder in the parable sees to everything personally. The hiring and the order for payment are his. Promptly he said to his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire.

We shall each be called to receive our reward when our day is over. We are happy to have already been first called into the vineyard. Thus, the second call to receive the hire becomes a welcome one.

The lord of the vineyard, whose transactions in hiring had been of no ordinary kind, was equally peculiar in the manner of payment. He chose to arrange it so that those who came first were served last, which is not often the way of people. It was not a transaction of a mercenary sort, but a display of free favor, and so the great quality of sovereignty is revealed in the very order of payment: beginning from the last unto the first. The Lord will take care that in the transactions of His grace, His sovereignty as well as His goodness shall be conspicuous.