I. A profound truth about human nature-man works for reward.
II. There is a suggested contrast-“their reward.” In God all the noblest aspirations of men are met.
III. A sentence which the Divine Speaker passes upon some of the men of the time. “They have their reward.” They have it altogether. Irony, pathos. Their reward was transient, worthless. It does not necessarily follow that all good works done publicly forfeit God’s approval hereafter. (Canon Liddon.)
Their reward
Ostentatious piety has its own remuneration. There is real happiness in other things besides goodness. There is pleasure in wrong-doing; quarrelsome, destructive, lazy, gluttonous men find a certain kind of enjoyment in these. There is pleasure in the love of praise and pride. But that is all their reward. The gospel points out the great life that lies beyond; it charges man to use himself in this life that he may gain the higher. (Beecher.)
