The Workers in the Vineyard

God's Cultivation and Our Response

1. You have heard from the Holy Gospel a parable well suited to this season of the harvest. Now is the time of the physical vintage, but there is also a spiritual vintage when God rejoices in the fruit of His vineyard. We cultivate God, and God cultivates us. But we don't cultivate God to make Him any better—our cultivation is the labor of the heart, not of the hands.

God cultivates us as a farmer does his field. By cultivating us, He makes us better, just as a farmer makes his field better through cultivation. The very fruit He seeks in us is that we may cultivate Him. God's cultivation involves constantly rooting out evil seeds from our hearts with His Word, opening our heart as if with the plow of His Word, planting the seed of His commands, and waiting for the fruit of devotion. When we receive this cultivation into our heart and cultivate Him well, we're not ungrateful to our Farmer but produce the fruit in which He rejoices. Our fruit doesn't make Him richer, but it makes us happier.

2. Consider and hear how, as I've said, "God cultivates us." That we cultivate God needs no proof for you. Everyone is familiar with this expression that people cultivate God. But the listener might feel a sense of awe when hearing that God cultivates people. It's not common to say that God cultivates people, but that people cultivate God.

I should prove to you that God also cultivates us, lest we be thought to have said something contrary to sound doctrine, and people dispute in their hearts against us, not understanding our meaning and finding fault with us. So I've decided to show you that God also cultivates us—but as I've already said, as a field to make us better.

The Lord says in the Gospel, "I am the vine, you are the branches, My Father is the gardener" (John 15:1, 5). What does the gardener do? I ask you who are farmers. I suppose he cultivates his field. So if God the Father is a gardener, He has a field which He cultivates and from which He expects fruit.

The Vineyard and Its Tenants

3. Again, Jesus Christ Himself says, "He planted a vineyard and leased it to tenants, who should give Him the fruit in the proper season. And He sent His servants to them to ask for the produce of the vineyard. But they treated them shamefully and killed some," and stubbornly refused to give the fruits. "He sent others also," who suffered the same treatment.

And then the Householder, the Cultivator of His field and the Planter and Owner of His vineyard, said, "I will send My only Son; perhaps they will respect Him." And so He says, "He sent His own Son also. They said among themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance will be ours.' And they killed Him and cast Him out of the vineyard. When the Lord of the vineyard comes, what will He do to those wicked tenants?" They answered, "He will destroy those wicked men, and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will render to him the fruits in their seasons" (Matthew 21:33-41).

The vineyard was planted when the law was given in the hearts of the Jews. The prophets were sent seeking fruit—their good lives. The prophets were treated shamefully by them and were killed. Christ also was sent, the only Son of the Master of the house; and they killed Him who was the Heir, and so lost the inheritance. Their evil plan worked against them. They killed Him so they might possess the inheritance, but because they killed Him, they lost it.

The Laborers Hired at Different Hours

4. You've just heard the parable from the Holy Gospel that "the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out to hire laborers for his vineyard. He went out in the morning" and hired those he found, agreeing to pay them a denarius as their wage. "He went out again at the third hour and found others," and brought them to work in the vineyard. "At the sixth and ninth hour he did likewise. He went out also at the eleventh hour," near the end of the day, "and found some standing idle, and he said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle?'" Why aren't you working in the vineyard? They answered, "Because no one has hired us." "Go also," he said, "and whatever is right I will give you" (Matthew 20:1-7).

He decided to give them a denarius. How could those who had worked for only one hour dare to hope for a denarius? Yet they were glad in the hope that they would receive something. So these were brought in even for just one hour. At the end of the day, he ordered the wages to be paid to all, starting with the last and ending with the first. He began with those hired at the eleventh hour, and he commanded a denarius to be given to them.

When those who had come at the first hour saw that the others had received a denarius, which was the amount he had agreed on with them, "they hoped that they would receive more." But when it was their turn, they also received a denarius. "They complained against the owner, saying, 'You have made us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day equal to those who worked just one hour.'"

The owner, offering a most fair answer to one of them, said, "Friend, I am doing you no wrong" —that is, I haven't cheated you, I've paid you what I agreed to. "I am doing you no wrong," for I've paid what we agreed on. To this other person it is my will not to give payment but to bestow a gift. "Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own? Is your eye evil because I am good?" (Matthew 20:10-15).

If I had taken from anyone what didn't belong to them, I could rightly be blamed as fraudulent and unjust. If I had failed to pay anyone what was due, I could rightly be blamed as fraudulent and as withholding what belonged to another. But when I pay what is due and also give to whomever I wish, neither can the one to whom I owed find fault, and the one to whom I gave ought to rejoice all the more.

They had nothing to answer, and all were made equal. "The last became first, and the first last" (Matthew 20:16)—by equality of treatment, not by reversing their order. What does it mean that "the last were first, and the first last" ? That both the first and the last received the same.

The Meaning of the Denarius

5. Why did he begin to pay at the last? Aren't all, as we read elsewhere, to receive together? For we read in another place in the Gospel that He will say to those whom He will place on the right hand, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).

If all are to receive together, how do we understand in this parable that those who began to work at the eleventh hour received first, and those who were hired at the first hour received last? If I can explain this clearly enough for you to understand, thanks be to God! For you should give thanks to Him who distributes to you through me—I distribute nothing of my own.

Suppose you ask which of the two received first: the one who received after one hour or the one who received after twelve hours. Everyone would answer that the one who received after one hour received before the one who received after twelve hours. So even though they all received at the same hour, because some received after one hour while others after twelve hours, those who received after such a short time are said to have received first.

The first righteous people, like Abel and Noah, called as it were at the first hour, will receive together with us the blessedness of the resurrection. Other righteous people after them—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all of their time—called as it were at the third hour, will receive together with us the blessedness of the resurrection. Other righteous people, like Moses and Aaron, called as it were at the sixth hour, will receive together with us the same blessedness of the resurrection. After them the holy prophets, called as it were at the ninth hour, will receive together with us the same blessedness. At the end of the world, all Christians, called as it were at the eleventh hour, will receive with the rest the blessedness of that resurrection.

All will receive together, but consider those first people—after how long a time do they receive it? If those first ones receive after a long time, and we after a short time, though we all receive together, yet we seem to have received first, because our reward won't be long in coming.

6. In that reward, then, we'll all be equal, and the first as the last, and the last as the first, because that denarius is eternal life, and in eternal life all will be equal. Although through varying accomplishments the saints will shine, some more brightly, some less, yet regarding the gift of eternal life, it will be equal for all.

For that life won't be longer for one and shorter for another, since that which has no end will have no end either for you or for me. In one way, married chastity will exist in that life, and in another way, virginal purity. In one way there will be the fruit of good works, and in another way, the crown of martyrdom. These things will differ from each other, but regarding living forever, this person won't live longer than that one, nor that one longer than this one. All will live alike without end, though each will live with their own brightness.

The denarius in the parable represents eternal life. Let not the one who has received after a long time complain against the one who has received after a short time. To the first, it's a payment; to the other, a free gift. Yet the same thing is given to both.

Receiving the Gospel at Different Stages of Life

7. There's something like this in this present life also. Besides the explanation of the parable already given—where those called at the first hour are understood to be Abel and the righteous people of his time, those at the third hour to be Abraham and the righteous people of his time, those at the sixth hour to be Moses and Aaron and the righteous people of their time, and those at the eleventh hour to be, as at the end of the world, all Christians—besides this explanation, the parable may be applied even to this present life.

Those who are called right from infancy to be Christians are, as it were, called at the first hour. Children are called, so to speak, at the third hour, young people at the sixth, those approaching old age at the ninth, and those who are extremely elderly at the eleventh hour. Yet all these will receive the same denarius of eternal life.

8. But listen, brothers, and understand, so that no one may put off coming into the vineyard because they're certain that, whenever they come, they'll receive this denarius. It's true the denarius is promised them, but there's no instruction to delay.

Did those who were hired into the vineyard, when the owner came out to hire whomever he might find at the third hour, for instance—did they say to him, "Wait, we're not going there until the sixth hour"? Or did those he found at the sixth hour say, "We're not going until the ninth hour"? Or did those he found at the ninth hour say, "We're not going until the eleventh hour"? No! They went when they were called, because what he would give and what he would do was his own private decision.

An equal reward is promised to all, but the specific hour of working is an important matter. Suppose, for instance, those called at the sixth hour—that is, in middle age, when the heat of youthful passion is felt—were to say, "Wait, for we've heard in the Gospel that all are to receive the same reward. We'll come at the eleventh hour when we're old, and we'll still receive the same. Why should we add to our labor?"

The answer to them would be, "Aren't you willing to work now when you don't know whether you'll live to old age? You're called at the sixth hour; come. The owner has indeed promised you a denarius if you come at the eleventh hour, but no one has promised that you'll live even to the seventh hour. I'm not saying to the eleventh hour, but even to the seventh—no one has guaranteed you that. So why do you put off responding to the one who calls you? You're certain of the reward but uncertain of the day. Take care that what he promises to give you by his promise, you don't take away from yourself by your delay."

If this may rightly be said to infants as belonging to the first hour, if it may rightly be said to children as belonging to the third hour, if it may rightly be said to those in the prime of life as in the midday heat of the sixth hour, how much more rightly may it be said to the very elderly? Look, it's already the eleventh hour, and are you still standing around, still delaying to come?

Christ's Call Reaches Everywhere

9. But perhaps the owner hasn't gone out to call you? If he hasn't gone out, what do we mean by our addresses to you? We are servants of his household; we are sent to hire laborers. Why do you still stand idle? You've now completed the number of your years; hurry to receive the denarius!

This "going out" of the owner means making himself known, because whoever is in the house is hidden and cannot be seen by those outside. But when he "goes out" of the house, he is seen by those outside. So Christ is hidden as long as He is not acknowledged, but when He is acknowledged, He has gone out to hire laborers.

For now He has come forth from a hidden place to be known by all. Christ is known everywhere; Christ is proclaimed everywhere. All places under heaven declare the glory of Christ. He was in a way the object of ridicule and contempt among the Jews. He appeared humble and was despised. For He hid His majesty and displayed His weakness.

What was displayed in Him was despised, and what was hidden was not known. "For had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory" (1 Corinthians 2:8). But is He still to be despised now that He sits in heaven, if He was despised when He was hanging on the cross?

Those who crucified Him shook their heads, and standing before His cross, as though they had accomplished their cruel purpose, they said mockingly, "If He is the Son of God, let Him come down from the cross. He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Matthew 27:40, 42). He didn't come down because He remained hidden. With far greater ease could He have come down from the cross than rise from the grave. He showed us an example of patience for our instruction.

He withheld His power and was not recognized. For He had not yet gone out to hire laborers; He had not yet made Himself known. On the third day He rose again and showed Himself to His disciples. Then He ascended into heaven and sent the Holy Spirit on the fiftieth day after the resurrection, the tenth after the ascension.

The Holy Spirit who was sent filled all who were in one room—one hundred and twenty people. "They were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in the languages of all nations" (Acts 2:4). Now the call was made obvious; now He went out to hire laborers. For then the power of truth began to be made known to all.

Back then, even one person who received the Holy Spirit spoke by himself in the languages of all nations. But now in the Church, unity itself speaks the languages of all nations. What language has the Christian faith not reached? To what limits does it not extend? There is no one "who hides himself from its heat" (Psalm 19:6). Even now, delay is still risked by the one who stands idle at the eleventh hour.

Forgiveness for the Past, No Delay for the Future

10. It is clear then, my brothers—it's clear to all. Hold on to this truth and be certain of it: whenever anyone turns to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ from a useless or sinful way of life, all the past is forgiven, and as though all debts were canceled, a new account is opened with them. Everything is entirely forgiven.

Let no one be anxious, thinking that anything remains unforgiven. But on the other hand, let no one rest in a false security. For these two things are the death of souls: despair and mistaken hope. Just as a good and right hope saves, so does a mistaken hope deceive.

First, consider how despair deceives. Some people, when they begin to reflect on the evil they've done, think they cannot be forgiven. While they think they cannot be forgiven, they immediately give up their souls to ruin and perish through despair. They say to themselves, "There's no hope for us now. Sins as great as ours cannot be forgiven or pardoned. Why then should we restrain our desires? Let's at least enjoy the pleasures of the present time, since we have no reward in the life to come. Let's do what we want, even if it's unlawful, so that we may at least have a temporal enjoyment, since we cannot attain an eternal one."

Saying such things, they perish through despair, either before they believe at all or when they've fallen as Christians into any sins and wickedness. The Lord of the vineyard goes to them, and through the prophet Ezekiel knocks at their door and calls to them as they turn their backs on Him who calls. "On whatever day a person turns from their most wicked way, I will forget all their iniquities" (Ezekiel 18:21-22). If they hear and believe this promise, they recover from despair and rise up from that deep and bottomless pit into which they had sunk.

11. But now these people must fear falling into another pit, and dying through misguided hope after they were saved from despair. They change their thoughts, which are indeed very different from before but no less destructive, and begin to say in their hearts, "If on whatever day I turn from my most evil way, the merciful God, as He truly promises through the prophet, will forget all my iniquities, why should I turn today and not tomorrow? Let this day pass like yesterday in excessive guilty pleasure, in the full flow of unrestrained behavior, let it indulge in deadly delights. Tomorrow I will 'turn,' and that will be the end of it."

One might answer, "The end of what?" You will say, "Of my sins." Well, rejoice indeed that tomorrow there will be an end to your sins. But what if before tomorrow your own life should end? So you do well to rejoice that God has promised forgiveness for your sins when you turn to Him, but no one has promised you tomorrow. Or if perhaps some astrologer has promised it to you, that's very different from God's promise. Many have these astrologers deceived. They have promised themselves advantages and have found only losses.

Therefore, for the sake of these also whose hope is misguided, the owner goes out. As He went out to those who had despaired wrongly and were lost in their despair, and called them back to hope, so He goes out to these also who would perish through a mistaken hope. In another passage He says to them, "Make no delay in turning to the Lord" (Sirach 5:8).

Just as He had said to the others, "On whatever day a person turns from their most wicked way, I will forget all their iniquities," and took despair away from them because they had given up their soul to destruction, having lost hope of forgiveness, so He goes out to these also who intend to perish through hope and delay. He disputes with them and rebukes them, saying, "Make no delay in turning to the Lord, and do not put it off from day to day, for suddenly His wrath will come forth, and in the day of vengeance, He will destroy you" (Sirach 5:8-9).

Therefore, do not delay. Don't shut against yourself what is now open. Look, the Giver of forgiveness opens the door to you. Why do you delay? You should rejoice if He were to open after you knocked for a very long time. You haven't knocked, yet He opens, and you remain outside? Don't delay then.

Scripture says in one place, concerning works of mercy, "Do not say, 'Go, and come again, and tomorrow I will give it,' when you can do the kindness right away, for you don't know what may happen tomorrow" (Proverbs 3:28). Here then is a command not to delay showing mercy to others, and will you by delaying be cruel to yourself? You shouldn't delay giving bread to another, and will you delay receiving forgiveness for yourself? If you don't delay in showing compassion toward another, "have compassion on your own soul in pleasing God" (Sirach 30:23). Give alms to your own soul also. I don't say, "give to it," but "don't reject His hand that would give to you."

Follow Christ, Not Popular Opinion

12. But people continually harm themselves excessively in their fear of offending others. Good friends have much influence for good, and bad friends for evil. That's why the Lord chose fishermen first, not senators, to teach us for our own salvation to disregard the friendship of the powerful.

What remarkable mercy of the Creator! For He knew that if He had chosen the senator, he would say, "My rank has been chosen." If He had first chosen the rich man, he would say, "My wealth has been chosen." If He had first chosen the emperor, he would say, "My power has been chosen." If the orator, he would say, "My eloquence has been chosen." If the philosopher, he would say, "My wisdom has been chosen."

Instead He says, let these proud ones wait awhile; they're too full of themselves. There's a big difference between true greatness and mere swelling. Both are large, but both aren't equally sound. Let them wait, He says, these proud ones. They need to be healed with something solid.

First give Me this fisherman, He says. "Come, you poor one, follow Me. You have nothing, you know nothing, follow Me. There's nothing in you to inspire awe, but there's much in you to be filled." To such a abundant fountain, an empty vessel should be brought. So the fisherman left his nets, the fisherman received grace, and became a divine speaker.

Look what the Lord did, of whom the Apostle says, "God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty, and base things of the world God has chosen, yes, and things which are not, as if they were, that those things which are might be brought to nothing" (1 Corinthians 1:27-28). And so now the fishermen's words are read, and the necks of orators are brought down. Let all empty winds be taken away; let the smoke which vanishes as it rises be taken away. Let them be utterly despised when the question concerns this salvation.

The Great Physician

13. If someone in a city had a bodily illness, and there was in that city a very skilled physician who was an enemy to the sick person's powerful friends—if anyone, I say, in a city were suffering from some dangerous physical illness, and there was in the same city a very skilled physician who was, as I said, an enemy of the sick person's powerful friends, and they were to say to their friend, "Don't call him in; he knows nothing," and they said this not from any genuine judgment but through dislike of him—would the sick person not set aside the unfounded assertions of his powerful friends for his own safety's sake and call in that physician, whatever offense it might cause them, so that he might live a few days longer?

Well, the whole human race is sick, not with bodily diseases but with sin. There lies one great patient from east to west throughout the world. To cure this great patient, the Almighty Physician came down. He humbled Himself even to mortal flesh, as it were, to the sick person's bed.

He gives instructions for health, and they are despised. Those who follow them are delivered. He is despised when powerful friends say, "He knows nothing." If He knew nothing, His power wouldn't fill the nations. If He knew nothing, He wouldn't have existed before He was with us. If He knew nothing, He wouldn't have sent the prophets before Him.

Aren't the things foretold long ago being fulfilled now? Doesn't this Physician prove the power of His art by the fulfillment of His promises? Aren't deadly errors being overthrown throughout the whole world? And by the threshing of the world, aren't natural desires being subdued?

Let no one say, "The world was better before than now. Ever since that Physician began to practice His art, we see many terrible things here." Don't be surprised at this. Before anyone was being healed, the Physician's residence seemed clean of blood. But now as you see what you do, give up all vain pleasures and come to the Physician. This is the time for healing, not for pleasure.

14. Let's think, brothers, of being cured. If we don't yet know the Physician, let's not be like delirious people who are violent against Him, or like lethargic people who turn away from Him. For many perish through this violence, and many perish through excessive sleep.

The delirious are those who lose their minds for lack of sleep. The lethargic are those who are weighed down by excessive sleep. People of both kinds can be found. It's the will of some to be violent against this Physician, and since He Himself sits in heaven, they persecute His faithful ones on earth. Yet even such as these He heals.

Many of them, having been converted from enemies, have become friends, from persecutors have become preachers. Such were the Jews, who, though violent as delirious people against Him while He was here, were healed by Him, and He prayed for them as He hung upon the cross. For He said, "Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing" (Luke 23:34).

Many of them, when their madness was calmed, their delirium subdued, came to know God and Christ. When the Holy Spirit was sent after the Ascension, they were converted to the One whom they crucified, and as believers drank in the Sacrament of His Blood, which in their violence they shed.

15. We have examples of this. Saul persecuted the members of Jesus Christ, who is now seated in heaven. Greatly did he persecute them in his frenzy, in his loss of reason, in the transport of his madness. But with one word, calling to him out of heaven, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" (Acts 9:4), Christ struck down the violent one, raised him up whole, killed the persecutor, and brought the preacher to life.

And so again many lethargic ones are healed. These are like those who aren't violent against Christ nor malicious against Christians, but who in their delay are simply dull and slow to open their eyes to the light, and are annoyed with those who try to arouse them. "Get away from me," says the heavy, lethargic person; "I want to sleep." But you'll die as a result. Through love of sleep, they answer, "I want to die." And Love from above calls out, "I don't want you to."

Often a son shows this loving concern to an elderly father, though he must soon die anyway because of his extreme old age. If he sees that his father is lethargic and knows from the physician that he's suffering from lethargy, a condition where the doctor says, "Arouse your father, don't let him sleep if you want to save his life," then the son will come to the old man and bother him, shake him, pinch him, or do whatever it takes to keep him awake—all through his dutiful affection.

He won't allow his father to die immediately, though he must soon die because of his age. And if his life is saved, the son rejoices that his father can now live a few more days with him, though he must soon depart because of his age. With how much greater affection, then, should we disturb our friends, with whom we may live not a few days in this world but in God's presence forever!

Let them love us, and do what they hear us say, and worship Him whom we also worship, so that they may receive what we also hope for. Let us turn to the Lord.