(The
laborers who received equal pay)
In the work of a man's salvation so little is
fulfilled by the man himself that it is not even worthwhile to talk about the
reward for one’s works. For an example, the Lord told about the laborers who
received pay above their work.
"For the kingdom of
heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early
in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with
the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went
out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the market place, And
said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will
give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth hour and
ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and
found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day
idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go
ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
So when the even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward,
Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last
unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour,
they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that
they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal
unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one
of them, and said, friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for
a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last,
even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is
thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first
last: for many be called, but few chosen" (Mt. 20:1-16).
For the Jews, the first hour was equal to 6 a.m.
today, and the eleventh hour to 5 p.m. When the lord of the vineyard paid the
laborers, he did not give more to those who worked from daybreak but paid the
same amount to everyone. Those who had come earlier received their pay as they
had agreed, and the latecomers received the same amount out of the lord's
kindness. In this parable the Lord teaches us that the grace of God and that
eternal life are given to people not on the basis of a mathematical calculation
of their works or the time that they have belonged to the Church, but out of God's
grace. The Jews thought that they had been the first members of the kingdom
of the Messiah and deserved a greater reward than the Christians who joined
this kingdom later. But God's measure of righteousness is totally different. On
His scales, sincerity, assiduity, genuine love, humbleness are
more precious than the external and formal side of human activity. The penitent
thief who, in the last hours of his life, so fully and sincerely repented on
the cross and so wholeheartedly believed in the outcast and suffering Savior,
received the Kingdom of Heaven alongside the righteous who had served God since
early childhood. God gives mercy to all for the sake of His Only-Begotten Son,
not for the sake of their merits. Here lies the hope for the sinners who can
attract God's mercy and eternal salvation with one repentant sigh coming
out of the depths of a torn soul. The good works of a man and his Christian way
of life are the witness of his sincere religious persuasions; they strengthen
the gracious gifts received within him, but they do not constitute a service to
God in the legal meaning of this word.
The need that a man has in God's grace is revealed
by the Lord in the parable about <see next chapter>
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