I want to share with you some thoughts from Derek Knox about the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, which is found in Matthew 20: 1-16.
The Kingdom of heaven is like a man who went to the marketplace at 9:00am to hire laborers for his vineyard. He made an agreement with a group of laborers they would work all day for a denarius.
The man went back to the marketplace at noon and at 3pm and 6pm, hired more workers and said he’d pay them what is right.
At 8pm the man goes back to the marketplace and finds more workers and tells them to go work in his vineyard, but there is no mention of payment.
At the end of the day (9pm), he pays the workers, beginning with the last workers hired.
They each received a denarius. The people hired in the morning complained that this was unfair. Those people worked 1 hour and received the same pay, but we were out here working in the heat of the day.
The master replies to them he didn’t do wrong by them. They had an agreement and he is honoring that.
Then it ends with the statement, “The last shall be first, and the first last.”
All these people were waiting in the marketplace for work. It was a time of oversupply of labor and many people were unemployed, thus wages were suppressed. If they didn’t work, they likely didn’t eat.
The people at the beginning of the day and those still waiting at the end of the day needed that denarius (translated as “penny” in the KJV), their need was not any less just because they got hired at the end of the day.
The first laborers made a covenant for 1 denarius for the day.
The ones hired later in the day, the master didn’t specify what the payment would be other than he’d give them what is right.
The last group, those who were most desperate, he doesn’t even say he’s going to pay them. He tells them to go to the vineyard, and they go.
From Derek’s perspective, LGBT people are in this last group. We’re in the church without any guarantee of what our “reward” will look like.
The people who were hired in the beginning know the reward they’re promised.
All of these journeys are different and we should respect that.
At the end of the day, when the Master paid the workers, he didn’t start with those who had been there since the morning. If he had, they’d have taken their money and gone. The Master wanted them to see just how generous he was. All the laborers would have expected to be paid proportionally, so those who worked less time would expect to receive less. Instead, the Master gave each of them what they needed for their journey, what they needed to survive.
The morning laborers complained that the Master had made the others equal to them. Lesson here is that Christ makes us equal. He does this not in terms of our circumstances but by giving us what we need to survive and thrive.
And it may not seem fair to the people who worked since the morning, but that’s not the fault of those who were hired later. They had been at the marketplace standing all day, they were there at the beginning of the day. Through no fault of their own, they were left out. They were left out of the “covenant path,” but God made a way for them.
But those who were on the covenant path and knew what they were getting, what they were working towards, they complained. They checked all the boxes of the requirements. The response to their complaints was “pick up what is yours (the payment) and go.” He didn’t even hand it to them, either it was on a table or he’d tossed the money at them and told them to pick it up.
So yes, those people are going to get their denarius, but so am I. No one should ever feel inferior in church.
Let’s talk about the principal of the first shall be last. Right now people who are queer are pretty last in this church. There are a number of people who are marginalized in our church: women, people of color, people with disabilities, economically disadvantaged people, citizens of other countries. And among all of those groups will be some who are also LGBT. So those who are first should be careful in dealing with and talking about these marginalized peoples. Look at who’s on top in this church right now and look at who is not.
Many members of the church think that we have it all figured out. That’s because the covenant plan that they were told at the beginning of the day was spelled out. We have not gotten to the end of the day yet. We have not figured out what the landowner will surprise us with. It will be even more beautiful than we can imagine. It is going to be better than everything we hope for. The Last shall be First.
Here are examples in the scriptures of when the Last was made First
Number chapter 9 – This is the first anniversary of the original Passover. Several men were unable to participate in this important covenant ritual because they were unclean for having to deal with a dead body.
They went to Moses and asked why they should be left out? Moses didn’t say, “You need to get with the covenant path.” He told them to wait right here and went and asked the Lord. He received a revelation that said they should celebrate the holiday 1 month later. They were able to restore their place in the community, which they would not have been able to do if they had not asked that question.
This simple story teaches us 3 important things, something about God, something about the prophet and something about us.
God is our loving father and is more eager to give us what we need than we can even imagine. God is generous and compassionate and anticipates every need and every circumstance and is waiting for us to ask.
If they hadn’t had a living prophet, they wouldn’t have gotten the update. They’d of had to deal with the law the way it was with no way of achieving justice, no way of adapting to the situation that emerged.
It takes faith to go to the prophet and ask these questions. Almost every section of the Doctrine and Covenants came to be because of a question, either about a scripture or about a situation that emerged. These questions prompt revelation from a loving God.
This is an example of when the last were made first, because these men had been left out but then they got a holiday created just for them which is still celebrated today among Orthodox Jews—Second Passover.
In the Book of Acts you’ve got 1 narrative that is repeated 3 times—the conversion of Paul. It’s in Acts chapter 9, chapter 22 & chapter 26.
And there’s another account that is recorded by 3 times, which is the conversion of Cornelius and it’s found in Acts chapter 10, chapter 11, and chapter 15. The conversion of Cornelius is another example of the last being made first because Cornelius was knew he was right with God. He got the vision before Peter did that he was part of the community.
Cornelius was a God-fearing gentile who prayed, and his prayers were answered. Peter had to get the message from God 3 times before he would even consider that what God has declared clean, he should not call unclean. After that, Peter recognized the legitimacy of Cornelius getting to belong to the community and to not withhold baptism from him.
At that time, the covenant path was circumcision, keeping kosher, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the calendar, none of which Cornelius did. For thousands and thousands of years the covenant path was clear, yet somehow Cornelius got wedged in. This is like one of those who came at the 11th hour not knowing exactly how it would work out, but there was room made for him.
There was a way for Cornelius to join the Jewish faith, but Paul argued forcibly that wasn’t necessary, we’re unified in Christ. There’s neither male nor female, neither slave nor free. It’s a beautiful way of God surprising us by making the last, first. It probably disrupted the comfort of some of those people who were first.
Romans chapter 8 has a special place in the heart of anyone who is marginalized or persecuted, which was Paul’s own experience.
16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us call things?
The logic is, if God isn’t going to hold back his son from us, then he’s not going to hold anything back from us, including all those blessings that those morning workers think we shouldn’t get. All those things that people think are only for the few and the first, won’t be held back.
33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth.
34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Nothing can separate us from the love of Christ, Jesus. Not people’s misperceptions of us, not death, nothing. Do you not think that the Lord of creation will not tie up every loose thread?
One thing I love about scriptures is it’s about real people’s lives. And what seems to be problems are actually solutions. When there’s questions is when revelations can come.
