This paradoxical statement introduces the parable and also concludes it. His point being that those fans who serve with the primary motivation of receiving rewards will be last, and those followers who serve purely out of the obedience of faith will be first. He illustrates this in the parable. It raises the question of our motivation: are we fans for the sake of reward, or followers out of love of Jesus.

The landowner hired men to work in his vineyard and agreed to pay them the daily rate. After three hours he hired some more workers, and he did the same throughout the day. When evening came he ordered the foreman to pay the workers the same wage beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first. The men who worked all day complained that he had made the ones who had worked least equal to them in pay. The landowner rejected that complaint that he was being unfair to them. He paid them what they agreed to be paid. "Don't I have a right to do what I want for my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?"

The questions of the rich young man and Peter reveal their motives. Peter shows that he is driven to serve Jesus in the kingdom of heaven for the primary purpose of receiving rewards and gaining personal prominence. His conception of the kingdom that Jesus is talking about establishing is that of an earthly company, where the spoils will go to those in at its conception - the original investors. Jesus reveals that what rules our lives, what motivates us, what controls us, must be confronted, exposed, and dethroned if we want to experience freedom and fullness of life. Following Jesus, serving in the kingdom of heaven, is a reversal of the values of this world. It is not about power and control that wealth can bring. It is about serving God and bringing about his new way of life.

The workers in the vineyard were there to work for the owner who was generous to them. They ought to have been grateful to him for giving them the opportunity to work, to give their lives value, and to provide for themselves. The cause of discontent was the evil eye of envy, of some wanting more than others.

Peter, speaking for the disciples, was looking for rewards for his following Jesus instead of being grateful for the opportunity of serving in the kingdom. The rich young man was looking for the reward of eternal life for keeping the commandments, but was unwilling to surrender his earthly treasures for the treasures of heaven. What is seen as a blessing (his wealth), is what is preventing him from experiencing eternal life. He was blind to his primary motivation, which was to take care of his wealth, rather than take care of his soul. What was first in his life, and made him first in his earthly community, and among his peers, would make him last in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus is teaching about gratitude and motivation in service. What is our motivation for being a Christian? Do we serve out of gratitude, that Jesus has called us to work with him in the establishment of the kingdom? He has come and recruited us to work for him, and will reward us according to our need.

This question about motivation and reward is soul-searching. Why do I serve the Lord? Is it because of what I hope to get out of it? Am I looking for blessings beyond what I deserve? Am I looking for the reward of superior benefits: eternal stock options, kingdom bonuses, heavenly securities, golden parachutes of peace and plenty? What is my inner motivation? Why do I worship and serve Jesus? For what I can get out of it, or for what I can give?

T.S. Eliot in Murder in the Cathedral, has Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, say,

Servant of God has chance of greater sin
And sorrow, than the man who serves a king.
For those who serve the greater cause may make the cause serve them.

There is a great temptation to see the church as the means to fulfill our needs rather than a means of unselfish service. We can pretend to serve God - for the sake of the reward. We are called by grace, ie the owner of our lives has given us the opportunity to serve in his vineyard. We ought to be grateful for him choosing us and giving us that opportunity without any thought of superior reward. God is generous to us. Thank him for that generosity rather than being ungrateful. "All that we are, everything that we have, all that we ever hope to accomplish is a pure gift - the only appropriate response is gratitude. Certainly we know that we will be blessed for the work we do for our Master, but the reward pales in the light of the gift of life in the kingdom that we have already received." (Michael J. Wilkins)

Kierkegaard (Purity of Heart Is to Will One Thing), writes about The Reward-Disease. The disease is that to serve God, or to seek the Good, for the sake of the reward is to be double-minded. God and the reward are two different objects to strive after. The reward tempts us to be diverted from serving God. Thus, if a man loves a girl for the sake of her money, who will call him a lover? He does not love the girl but the money. He is not a lover but a money-seeker. If he really loves the girl, the money should not influence him. But it is very easy to be deceived that you love someone who has money. He might even wish the money were not there, just to test his love. Why do you love God? Why do you follow Jesus? St. Ignatius (1491-1556) prayed:

Teach me to serve you as you deserve,
to give and not to count the cost,
to fight and not to heed the wounds,
to toil and not to seek for rest,
to labor and not ask for any reward,
save that of knowing that I do your will.

Francis Xavier (1506-1552) wrote:

My God, I love thee – not because I hope for heaven thereby,
Nor yet because who love thee not are lost eternally.
Thou, O my Jesus, thou didst me upon the Cross embrace;
For me didst bear the nails and spear, and manifold disgrace;
And griefs and torments numberless, and sweat of agony.
Yes, death itself – and all for one who was thine enemy.
Then why, O blessed Jesus Christ, should I not love thee well:
Not for sake of winning heaven, or of escaping hell;
Not with the hope of gaining aught; not seeking a reward;
But as thyself hast loved me, O ever-loving Lord.
E’en so I love thee, and will love, and in thy praise will sing;
Solely because thou art my God and my eternal King.

END