‘So the last shall be first, and the first last; for many be called, but few chosen.’
Mat_20:16
St. Peter tells us there are many things in the Bible hard to be understood. This is one of them. It is necessary to read the whole discourse in the midst of which it comes. The young man’s question, ‘What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?’ led to the Lord’s warning of the danger of earthly riches. He explained to the disciples the reward of those who fully follow Him, and added, ‘Many, therefore, that are first shall be last, and the last first.’ This solemn truth He explained by the homely parable of the labourers in the vineyard.
I. The dangerous practical perversion to which the parable is liable is twofold. It may foster sloth (people saying, ‘I must wait till I am called before I set to work at all’) or presumption (people thinking that they will fare just as well at the great payment of wages if they begin to work at the eleventh hour).
II. Every baptized Christian is ‘called,’ and the Apostle in his exhortation ‘to walk worthy,’ etc. gives the practical rules for daily life and work. Who then can say that God has not given him enough to do? God has called us to Holiness: our duties await us every morning.
III. God measures our claims upon His favour by our earnestness and our opportunities. He will not ask us how long we have known His will, but whether, since we have known it, we have done it.
IV. Your work never done.—In spiritual things a day is a lifetime. On this side of the grave it is all work; on the other it will be all rest.
