The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1914-07-02

This is another lesson connected
with our Lords Perean ministry.
l. The Calls to Service, w. ~.
To get a correct setting we must re-
turn to Peters question, 1917, which
in turn grew out of our Lords deal
ings with the rich young ruler (see
lesson of June 21sD, and which called
from Jesus the exclamation, 1T is
hard for a rich man to enter the king
dom of heaven" (19:23). At this the
disciples were exceedingly surprised
and exclaimed, Who then can be
saved?" ". 25). Jesus replied, with
God all things are possible" There
upon Peter said, "Lo, we have left
all and followed thee; what then shall
we have?" The young man refused
to leave his all and follow, whereas
the disciples had and Peter seems to
desire to know what advantage had
accrued to them, what reward they
we're to have.
Jesus Answers Peter.
Jesus closed his answer to Peter by
saying, MANY that are first shall be
last; and the last shall be first ".
30) and illustrates his reply by the
parable which is our lesson. Many
who do not stipulate a reward shall
be first, while many who work and
work long, but work only for a re-
ward, will be last. Preceding this
Jesus definitely told Peter that the
twelve should be associated with, him
judging the twelve tribes of Israel
and that all who had left all to fol-
low him should receive an hundred
fold and would inherit eternal life
(see chapter 1928, 29), that is, they
would gain what the young ruler
sought by doing what he failed to do.
Historically this is illustrated by the
Jew and Gentle, Matt. S:11, ~; Luke
13:28-30; Rom. 9;30-33
Parable of the Kingdom.
Jesus says this is parable of the
kingdom, hence the householder repre-
sents God (cf. 1927; 21:33, 43); the
vineyard is the kingdom, see lisa. 2:7;
Matt. 1888. The king is seeking
Iaborers to labor in his vineyard. He
began In the early morning ". -
and with those whom he employed he
made a definite agreement. The
penny had value of about seventeen
cents and represents an average day
wage at that time. No one works for
God without a fair wage, Eph. 6:S;
Heb. 6:10. Notice, before they were
set to their task God called them.
The call was to service, Mark 1:17
He goes out again at the third and
the sixth and the ninth hour, finds
other laborers, making no definite
agreement with them but sends them
into his vineyard to work. He led
them into the work and they trusted
him for wages. At the eleventh hour
he found idlers and asked them the
reason ". g., they replied that nc
one had employed them and them toe
he sends into the vineyard without any
bargain as to wages. None except
those at the third hour had any in
timation as to their wage and they
were to receive whatsoever is right
Those called at the first may put II
longer hours but produce poorer
at later time. The character of th'
service Is of greater value than the
amount rendered and the higher th'
service the greater the proportionatt
reward. We get in this life abou
what we work for.
II. The Reward Of Service, w. sic
At the end of the day the Lordi
steward rewards each man, beginning
with the last and ending with th'
first ". 81. The first one is paid &C
cording to the strict letter of tn
agreement, and the last is ikewis
paid in strict justice but in a mos
liberal manner He, too, was worth.
for he worked throughout all tn
time that was for him available
Giving an equal reward to all was
test of the character of those mel
who entered the vineyard in the earl
morning. The Lords answer ivy
13-15) is a four-fold one Cd Il di
thee no wrong" the contract had bee
lived up to to the very letter. u
''It is my will to give, even as unit
thee;" the Lord has right to b
generous If he SO desires (3) 1T
lawful for me to do what l will wit
mine own" God has a right to exc
else such prerogative and man ha
no right to complain, Rom. 9:16-2
(A rs thine eye evil because l al
good?" The ground of this complain
was that of envy.
IlI.-The Teaching. We must b.
ware Of trying to make this parabl
teach more than Is written. To righ
fully understand our Lords dealing
with those who serve him we mui
consider others of his parallels. Th
one has two chief lessons; first, thu
priority of time or even length I
service is not the allessential requ
site; and second, that our fidelity
and use OF our opportunity is I'll
chief desideratum. Along with tn
there are of course other lessons.
auawar IN Patar'a 0uestion our LOI