The method, with which Jesus taught the crowds of people during His 3.5 yrs. of ministry, was through the use of parables.  A plain and simple story that the average person could identify with, yet not understand the hidden message.   You can google any of the parables today and get a variety of explanations for each one.  Most of them refer to God’s Love and Patience with mankind. 

 

Let’s look at the Parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard.   It begins like many others do, The Kingdom of Heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers to work in his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them to his vineyard.  The landowner went out in the third hour, which is nine o’clock in the morning, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace.  He said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.  The parable goes on to say that the landowner also went to the marketplace at the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing to even more workers. 

 

About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ "They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ "He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’

 

When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ "When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius.  

 

Every worker that was called from the early morning, to the ones called at the eleventh hour, all were paid the same.

 

 In my humble opinion, the vineyard is a salvation, the landowner is Jesus.  He is out calling us all life long, early in our lives, to guide us along; mid-life after we have failed so many times that we are ready to go to the vineyard, and even at our eleventh hour when we know that He is the only way. 

 

The best news is that we will all get paid the same, The beaten down hopeless sinner will receive God’s forgiveness and Grace the same as the ‘good’ sinner.   The Pastor at our Bible study said it best, I don’t care if I’m absolutely the very last one in, that they have to push on me to close the gate, at least I will be there!