The parable of the lost sheep, Matthew 18,12-14.
(All Bible texts are from the King James Version 1611/1769, unless otherwise stated.)
Here we have a parable that touches on the same issue as the parable of the two sons we looked at in part 1.
Verse 12: How think ye? if a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leaves the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?
Verse 13: And if so be that he finds it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that [sheep], than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.
Verse 14: Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
This parable has its parallel in Luke 15:4-7. Here is the text as follows: What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he finds it? And when he hath found [it], he layeth [it] on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together [his] friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
These two parables are about the same thing, namely a person who in Matthew has gone astray, and who in Luke is lost. It seems like there is not much difference, but there is a small and distinct difference between going astray and being lost. Gone astray can be done intentionally, by making an active choice against God. That someone (or something) is lost is not something that is done intentionally.
Synonyms or concepts for gone astray are to be lost and to be prodigal. Synonyms or concepts for being lost are to get rid of or to pretend (to be).
On the one hand, it is no surprise that those who are not members of God’s church are considered as gone astray, and we often say of these people that they are lost or prodigal. In Matthew, therefore, it is the wicked, those who have never taken a stand for Christ, that are in question. There are two main ways to be considered gone astray, either one has made an active choice against God and has never had anything to do with Christianity, or one has once been a member of God’s church but has left it for various reasons. Whatever the reason for their gone astray, God will search for them relentlessly until it is too late. God does not want a single soul to be lost.
On the other hand, it would be a great surprise if someone who goes to church week after week, who is active in church activities and who perhaps holds the office of elder, deacon, or even pastor, were to be lost in the sense that he has lost his faith or pretends that everything is fine. But the God of love wants to find the lost regardless of whether they have gotten lost, which is a picture of them living a life without God, as in Matthew, or whether they are lost, which is a picture of a) that they were once faithful members of God’s church who have strayed from the true faith, b) that they are nominal members of God’s end-time church, or c) that they are members of the fallen church denominations.
As we see from Matthew 18:12, God will search for this lost one until He finds him. It is always the case that God does not force anyone to come to Him. God wants us to love Him because we understand that God loved us first and gave His Son to atone for our sins.
When someone who has been lost or strayed returns to God, God will rejoice, but not just rejoice, He will run to meet that person now that the lost or strayed person is on their way home to God.
The Parable of the Sower, Matthew 13:3-9,18-23.
Jesus gives his explanation of this parable. He does this because the disciples ask Him why He speaks in parables, (verse 10). To this Jesus replies: … … Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. But blessed [are] your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous [men] have desired to see [those things] which ye see and have not seen [them]; and to hear [those things] which ye hear, and have not heard [them], (Matthew 13:11-17).
Verse 3: … … a Sower went forth to sow.
Anyone who knows how people sowed in the old days knows that they took the seeds in their hands and threw them out over the ground in a kind of fan shape. This undoubtedly caused that some of the seeds fell where they could not grow, and that the birds could eat many of the seeds. This image was well known to Jesus’ listeners, but most of them still did not understand what the parable meant.
They all knew how it happened when people sowed and could understand that some of the seeds did not end up in good soil, but that was where their understanding stopped. They did not understand that it was about the proclamation of the kingdom of God, and that the listeners had different ways of receiving the message. This has not changed over time, and we see that it is the same in our time. The question is really how we receive the gospel.
Verse 3 shows us what the parable is about, and this verse shows us, as already said, that God sends out his servants to preach the gospel of repentance and salvation to the lost and straying sheep. In the next verses we see that not everyone who hears the gospel accepts salvation, and in our time there are only a few worldwide who accept Christ as their Savior. The seeds that Jesus’ servants sowed then, and that they continue to sow in our time, did not always fall on good soil, fell then, and they do not always fall on good soil today. What is special about this parable is that Jesus himself explains it to his disciples. Let us go through the parable and put next to each verse the explanation that Jesus gives.
Verse 4: And when he sowed, some [seeds] fell by the wayside, and the fowls came and devoured them up:
These are those who hear the gospel but do not understand it (verse 19). They have no interest in investigating what they have heard and dismiss it, calling the gospel a fable and showing only contempt for the Word of God.
Verse 5: Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth:
Verse 6: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.
These are those who hear the word and receive it with joy, but since it falls on rocky ground and not on good soil, they become discouraged and lose faith as soon as they encounter the slightest opposition, (verses 20 and 21). They are very enthusiastic right away but are unable to resist pressure from their surroundings such as family, friends, schoolmates or work colleagues. In order not to lose their status in the group of friends, they choose the path of least resistance out of the problem and choose to leave God and God’s Word rather than lose their friends.
Verse 7: And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:
Here it is those who are more concerned with the world than with the word of God that are described, and their love for the world is stronger than their love for God, and they become fruitless, (verse 22). This could fit those that Luke 15:4-7 tells about, those who are lost in the church. These are people who are more concerned with earthly wealth and prosperity and have difficulty conforming to what God expects of his people. It is wealth and status symbols that are important to this group and thus have no room for God in their lives.
Verse 8: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold.
These are those who hear the words and see the love of God and desire with all their heart to know God, and then they will bear good fruit, (verse 23). Here we see those who are influenced by the Word of God so that they joyfully accept Christ as their Savior, and align their lives with God’s commandments, no matter what the cost in this life may be.
From these two parables we can learn that God will continue to send out his servants to preach the good news, or the gospel, and God will seek the lost whether they have come astray, which is described here as being lost or prodigal, or whether they are lost, which is here having lost their faith or pretending that everything is fine.
Verse 9: Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
This is a solemn exhortation that Jesus often used to emphasize an important truth that has just been stated, and we find this statement in many places in the New Testament. In a general sense, all people have “ears” and should therefore “hear” what Jesus says, but not all do. Jesus is probably referring primarily to spiritual attention that enables those with sincere hearts to perceive his true meaning and be enlightened by it, while those who are not in the right spiritual place are included in what Jesus says in Matthew 13:13-15: Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people’s heart is waxed gross, and [their] ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with [their] eyes and hear with [their] ears, and should understand with [their] heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.
The parable of the fig tree, Luke 13:6-9.
Verse 6: He spake also this parable; A certain [man] had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none.
Verse 7: Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
We have some key words in this parable, as in all of Jesus’ parables. Here we find a certain man, a fig tree, a vineyard, and a vinedresser. The man is God the Father, the fig tree is the man He called out of Haran (planted in the garden), and the vineyard is the whole earth, the vinedresser is Jesus.
When God called Abraham, it was to preach the gospel – the good news of salvation – that was to come. For a few years, at least as long as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph lived, the gospel was preached. But shortly after Israel had been delivered from slavery in Egypt and entered the promised land, Canaan, decay began, and God’s chosen people fell further and further away from their God, Creator and Savior.
What is this parable really about? By telling this parable, Jesus primarily points to the connection between divine grace and divine justice, but also that God’s patience comes to a point where He says enough is enough.
What God does with the fig tree shows us that God loves all people, even if they do not bear good fruit, but at the same time it tells us that one day God’s grace will end. In general, the fig tree represents every individual person, while it specifically represents the Jewish nation.
When Jesus says three years, it means that the fig tree had reached the age where it should bear fruit, good fruit. The tree had been given the best conditions to grow under, but it did not bear fruit. When the tree did not bear fruit, it took up a place in the vineyard that could have been used for something that did bear fruit. This really means that the Jewish nation had come to the point where it was not only completely useless by not bearing fruit and fulfilling the mission God had given them, but they had also simply become an obstacle to the fulfilment of the plan of salvation.
Verse 8: And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung [it]:
If we put this verse in the context of the Jews’ rebellion against God, we see God’s love once again. If we look at what the prophet Daniel says about the Jews, we see in Daniel 9:24 that 70 weeks were determined for Daniel’s people and the holy city (Jerusalem), and to make an end of sins. It was because of their sins that the people were taken captive to Babylon (see The 70 Weeks in Daniel chapter 9 under the title The book of Daniel). The Jews were given a grace period of 70 weeks of years, which is the same as 490 years.
Not even when Jesus came at the end of the 70 weeks would the Jews turn to God. This is what lies behind the text in Luke 13:7, where the man will cut down the fig tree, but the vinedresser will try one last time to turn the stubborn and obstinate people around. We know from history how it went. The Jews, of whom the fig tree is a picture, demanded that Jesus be crucified and thus it was cut down.
Although there were some in every generation who bore good fruit, these were the exception and not the rule. Time after time God has looked for good fruit among His people, without finding it, if we are to believe the Bible, and finally He cut down the tree. The time that Jesus worked on earth was three and a half years, from the fall of the year 27 to the spring of the year 31. During this time He showed God’s infinite and boundless love, He healed the sick, cast out evil spirits from the possessed and raised the dead on three occasions, (John 11:43-44; Luke 7:12-15; Matthew 9:24-25). All this was digging around the fig tree and fertilizing it and giving it the best conditions to make the «fig tree» bear good fruit, but it was useless, as we know. The result was that God’s own people, the Jews, renounced the honor of being God’s special people when they answered Pilate that: … … we have no king but Caesar, (John 19:15).
Verse 9: And if it bears fruit, [well]: and if not, [then] after that thou shalt cut it down.
This is a parable that we have understood is not about the fig tree, but we can put this parable together with the story of the fig tree that withered. Here is the text: Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered. And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever. And presently the fig tree withered away, (Matthew 21:18-19).
A seemingly innocent story, but is it? Here too, the fig tree is used as an image of the Jewish people. This story took place the day after Palm Sunday. Jesus was hungry when He and the disciples had left Bethany. He saw the fig tree and thought it was fruit on the fig tree, because it had leaves. The thing about the fig tree is that it puts forth flowers and fruit before the leaves come out, and when the tree had no fruit, He cursed it. When Jesus rode into Jerusalem the day before, on Palm Sunday, the crowd praised Him, but Jesus knew that it was only an outward homage to Him, He was not praised because He was the Son of God, and in this sense, they bore no fruit.
The Parable of the Talents, Matthew 25:14-30.
This parable was told by Jesus shortly after He gave His end-time prophecy in Matthew chapter 24. Along with the prophecy, Jesus told four parables, “Faithful and unfaithful servants” in Matthew 24:45-51; “The Parable of the ten virgins” in Matthew 25:1-13; “The Parable of the Talents” which we are looking at specifically here; and “The judgement” in Matthew 25:31-46. In this parable, it is necessary to include all 17 verses.
Verse 14: For [the kingdom of heaven is] as a man travelling into a far country, [who] called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
Verse 15: And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several abilities and straightway took his journey.
That a landowner could travel away was well known to people in Jesus’ time. The servants he had were to run the farm in the same way as when the landowner was at home, and in this story the landowner gives them various tasks to look after the farm so that the landowner would not suffer losses while he was away.
These are called talents, and the word talent can be understood in two ways.
1) Talent is a unit of weight that was used in the ancient world and was often used to weigh gold and silver. The usual talent, used in New Testament times, was 58.9 kg. Put in this context, we can see that a talent represents a large fortune, equivalent to 58.9 kilograms of gold, which at today’s value is approximately 5.006.761,00 EUR. (24 carat gold – pure gold – cost as of April 3, 2025, 85 EUR per gram.) One was awarded one talent = 5.006.761,00.00 EUR, the second received two talents = 10.013.522,00 EUR, and the third received five talents = 25.033.805,00 EUR.
2) Talents are a variety of spiritual gifts given to us by God. These types of talents are given to us to help in the work God wants us to do for Him here on earth. When we use these talents correctly, according to God’s will, it will lead to the church going out and doing God’s will and it will lead to spiritual unity that will strengthen the church. We can also draw the conclusion that these spiritual gifts are gifts of inestimable value for us Christians in the work we have been called to do.
Verse 16: Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made [them] other five talents.
Verse 17: And likewise he that [had received] two, he also gained other two.
Verse 18: But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his lord’s money.
When we have accepted Jesus as our Savior, we become servants of the landowner, and through this we are required to do the work he asks us to do for him. We see that the first two servants willingly do the work they have undertaken and lead other people to Christ. The third servant, on the other hand, is satisfied that he has become a servant, but does nothing to bring other people to the kingdom of God.
Verse 19: After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
Verse 20: And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
Verse 21: His lord said unto him, Well done, [thou] good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
Verse 22: He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
Verse 23: His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
As always, there comes a time to settle our accounts with God. Both the first servant and the second servant have borne rich fruits and are rewarded by entering into the joy of their Lord, that is to say, they gain access to heaven. These two were richly rewarded for the work they did here on earth.
Verse 24: Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
Verse 25: And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, [there] thou hast [that is] thine.
Verse 26: His lord answered and said unto him, [Thou] wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
Verse 27: Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and [then] at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
Verse 28: Take therefore the talent from him and give [it] unto him which hath ten talents.
Verse 29: For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.
There are many who blame God and say He is a hard God who demands a lot. These are usually people who feel they have to defend their actions, or lack of actions, to God, by pointing to God and say that it is not easy to please God. Others will argue that we are not saved by doing works, which is absolutely true. We are not saved by doing works, but when we are saved, the fruits of our repentance should be that we go out and use our talents to do the works God wants us to do to bring other people to Him.
But God does not force anyone to do anything. It must come from the heart of a person who is filled with the love of God and the Holy Spirit, and who in turn is overflowing with love for our God and Savior. It is clear from this parable that God is indeed strict when it comes to how we use our talents. We have been given the talents to help us in our Christian life, and if we do not use them for what they were given to us, they will eventually be taken away from us, and the gifts that we do not use were never really ours. This is what is implied in the last sentence of verse 29: but from him that hath not (bear fruit), shall be taken away even that which he hath, (the talents they were given when they surrendered to Jesus Christ).
Verse 30: And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The end of this parable symbolizes the final judgment. The man in this parable is God, the servants are God’s people. Talents are gifts of grace, and this is something that all Christians are endowed with by the Holy Spirit. In 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 Paul tells us what talents or gifts the Spirit can give us, and these are the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, faith, the gift of healing, the working of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, divers kinds of tongues, the interpretation of tongues.
The parable is about how we manage the talents we are equipped with, and verse 30 tells us that we will be judged by how we manage the gifts we have been given. We cannot hide, cover up or be silent about what we have been given, and in this parable, Jesus asks us to manage what we have been given in such a way that we go out and preach the gospel, and share the good news with the whole world, and in this way bear fruit worthy of our salvation. As we understand, not all Christians use the talent or talents that they have been given by God. Everyone who accepts Christ as their Savior will be equipped with one or more of the gifts of the Spirit. Faith is a gift from the Holy Spirit, and if we hide our faith from others, we are not actively using this gift. In some cases, it may be enough to testify of our faith for other people to dare to throw themselves into the arms of Jesus. If we do not testify of our faith, we are doing the same as the person in the parable who buried his gift in the ground. The gifts of the Spirit are given to us to be used in our work to advance the kingdom of God, if we do not do so we will lose our gifts and thereby eternal life, and then perdition is the last stop on our journey.
The Parable of the mustard seed, Matthew 13:31-32.
Here in the parable of the mustard seed, and in the next parable we will look at, the parable of the leaven, Jesus tells how the kingdom of God grows.
Verse 31: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Verse 32: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Many use the least of all seeds to reject the Bible because it is demonstrable that there are seeds smaller than the mustard seed, but the other seeds that are smaller, and that were known in Judea in Jesus’ time were herbs and similar plants that were not cultivated by the farmers. We see from verse 31 that a man cultivated this mustard plant by sowing it in his field, and it grew and reached a height of three to five meters. It is to describe the contrast between the beginning of the kingdom of God, and what the kingdom of God develops into that the mustard seed is used.
We must also put this parable in the context of the great conflict between Jesus and Satan. Satan claims that this world is his, but yet it is in God’s field that God sows the mustard seed and plants the first church in the world. We then see the allegory in the parable. We see that the kingdom of God (his church) began with a handful of men in Jerusalem, a small mustard seed, despised and opposed by the religious leaders of Judea, and considered easy prey by Satan. Despite this, the kingdom of God has grown larger and larger over time, and in our day the kingdom of God consists of millions of faithful people.
The Parable of the leaven, Matthew 13:33.
Verse 33: Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal, till the whole was leavened.
This parable also has the theme of the spread of the kingdom of God. In Jesus’ time, everyone baked with leaven, and everyone knew the effect of leaven on what it comes into contact with. When a lump of leaven is added to flour, the flour will slowly and surely be leavened by the leaven. This is how the kingdom of God spreads and grows. It starts small and then eventually affects the whole world with the gospel. This does not mean that everyone accepts the gospel for that reason. The point of this parable is to show how the kingdom of God develops and affects the whole world.
The Greek word for measure used here is saton and is equivalent to about 8.5 litres. In the New Testament it is used to describe a quantity of flour. Three measures of flour are then 25.5 litres of flour. A considerable amount of flour that a small lump of leaven can change and shows us the enormous power of God’s word if it is preached in the right way.
The Parable of the hidden treasure, Matthew 13:44.
Now here are two parables about what happens when someone finds the kingdom of God and is thrilled by what they have found. There is a significant difference between these two parables. In this parable of the hidden treasure, a man who did not seek God found this hidden treasure, the kingdom of God, while in the parable below, a man seeks God and finds Him.
Verse 44: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
This parable deals, as mentioned above, with those who find the treasure by chance. They have not actively sought it but have stumbled upon it quite by chance. The parable shows us the price we must pay to become citizens of the kingdom of God. When the man found this treasure, he sold everything he owned and bought the field where the treasure was. This treasure was more valuable to the man than anything he owned, but he still wanted this treasure, no matter what the cost.
Let me state right away that the entrance ticket to the kingdom of God – salvation – is given to us for free. There is no person on earth who is able to pay the price for this entrance ticket. Fortunately, God has already paid the staggering price that the entrance ticket to heaven costs when He sent His Son to earth to die for you and me, so that we can share in the salvation in the blood of Jesus. Without being saved, we will not enter heaven. This is also a picture of God’s justice. Everyone is offered salvation for free, undeservedly and only by God’s grace because God loves every person equally.
The treasure in this parable is the kingdom of God. When we accept the kingdom of God, we will do what is in our power to keep it. Even though salvation, or the entrance ticket, is free, it costs us everything when we have accepted salvation.
If we look at the sequence of events in this parable, we see that salvation costs us everything we have and are. First, this man finds the treasure, which means that he has been saved by grace and grace alone. Then he sells everything he has to buy this treasure. There are many different interpretations that have been put forward, but when this man buys the field, it means that he secures this treasure. He had already been saved, because he had found this treasure, and the next step to preserve salvation, or to keep the treasure, was to sell everything he owned, which simply means that it cost the man everything he had and was. When we are saved, we must put away the old life with all the habits we had and align ourselves with how God’s word tells us we should live.
We must ‘die’ from the old life, which is figuratively represented in baptism by being completely covered by water in the baptismal font, which is to bury the old sinful man, and by being raised from the water, the new life in Christ begins. We must lay aside all old habits and sinful actions and thoughts in the (baptismal) grave where the old man was symbolically buried, in order to enter the kingdom of God. The price we pay to remain saved is that we must align our lives with God and God’s commandments.
Ludvig Hope, a Norwegian theologian, says in his book A Word Today: “The purest joy and greatest wealth we can get in the world, we get when we find Christ. But what is difficult and to the outrage of many is that we must give up everything to get the one thing. Why can’t we be allowed to be Christians and otherwise love what we want most? People think this must be right, and then they go away in anger and say that Christianity is unreasonable and strict in its demands”.
The Parable of the Pearl of Great Price, Matthew 13:45-46.
Verse 45: Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Verse 46: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
This parable is almost identical to the parable of the hidden treasure. The man who found the hidden treasure did not look for it, but the merchant in this parable did. He is looking for beautiful pearls, and he does not give up until he finds one. Finally, he found the ultimate pearl, the one that was more beautiful and more valuable than all the other pearls put together.
Regarding the expression bought it, it must be said that salvation cannot be bought in any way. This is a form of expression that tells us that man «buys» salvation at the expense of things that in themselves have no value anyway and thus loses nothing of value in the transaction. The price we pay is the price of pride, ambition and bad habits. When man finds peace with God, it costs him everything he has of such things, but in return the peace we gain with God is so infinitely more valuable.
Both of these parables are about finding Jesus and salvation in Him, and those who are saved gain access to heaven. Whoever gets to heaven has become a controversial issue over time. The early church, which held to Jesus’ teachings – and only to them, believed that there was only one way to heaven, and that is through salvation in Jesus Christ, and a life lived in accordance with God’s commandments and laws. In our time, however, there are many who claim that everyone gets to heaven, even those who wanted nothing to do with God while they lived on earth. Others say once saved, always saved, and in that they add that even if one were to fall from the faith, one will still get to heaven.
The Catholic Church says that salvation can only be found in the Catholic Church and through the seven sacraments that this church has. The following is taken from the Catholic Church’s own pages, see (https://prisherren.wordpress.com/desjusakramentene/) In the Catholic Church we have seven sacraments; Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist (Holy Communion), Holy Communion, Marriage, Ordination and Anointing of the Sick, of which the Eucharist is the most important sacrament. These sacraments are means of grace for achieving salvation and are central to Catholic Christian life.
The Catholic Church claims that only those who participate in these sacraments will be saved, despite what Jesus himself says in John 14:6. There He says: … … I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. In other words, there is nothing we humans can do for ourselves or for others to be saved except to go to Jesus.
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Matthew 20:1-16.
Verse 1: For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man [that is] a householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
Verse 2: And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Verse 3: And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Verse 4: And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Verse 5: Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour and did likewise.
Verse 6: And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Verse 7: They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, [that] shall ye receive.
In this parable, Jesus uses words and expressions that we have become familiar with over time. Here we find a man (householder), some workers, and a vineyard. We also see that the man went out several times to find workers who were willing to work in the vineyard, and in addition to going out early, he goes out at the third hour, the sixth hour, the ninth hour, and the eleventh hour. Verse 2 states that the first workers were to receive a denarius, which was a normal day’s wage, for their work. So they received a fair wage. However, it does not say how much the other workers who did not work a full day would receive in wages.
This parable is about how God treats those who take part in the work required to preach the gospel to the wicked. The gospel is to go out to the whole world, to every language and people group. As we see from the parable, not everyone has worked the whole day, that is, their whole life, some have only worked one hour, that is, the last days of their lives. But the man, who is a picture of God, says in verse 7 that everyone should receive what is a fair wage.
When the day is over, the man will pay his workers their wages, and now the man starts paying those who were hired last to work, and then those who worked from the 9th hour, etc. and finally he pays those who have worked the whole day, and the special thing about this parable is that everyone, without exception, receives a denarius, a full day’s wage for their work. When the first ones had received their wages, they complained to the man and thought they had been treated unfairly, but they had been promised a denarius for a day’s work. From a human point of view, it may seem that the man treated the workers unfairly when those who had only worked one hour received the same amount in wages as those who had worked 12 hours. This shows that God will reward everyone who participates in the preaching of the gospel equally. Everyone will receive what they deserve. The conclusion and moral of this parable are that God will not make any distinction. There will be no A-B- or C-group of saved people, everyone will be equal in God’s eyes.
Jesus ends the parable in verse 16 by saying: So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
There are many who believe themselves to be the first to enter heaven, but they will actually be the last to enter. This is really a great paradox. In verse 14 Jesus tells the first workers to take what is theirs and then tell them to go away. I have to ask myself: Why?
If we look at the sad story of Judas, we can say that he got his reward when he betrayed Jesus, he got 30 pieces of silver, but lost salvation and eternal life. We often see this among those who call themselves Christians in our time as well. There are many who present themselves as “the first” by pretending to be pious and magnificent, but who are left out when the accounts are finally settled.
There were many who were called to work in the vineyard, but a large part of them received only the temporal wage – a denarius – in wages. Here we see the first who became the last, and they were also among all those who were called but not chosen, and again this eternal question: Why?
The first who were hired did not really work for the man, only for their own glory and the wage they were to receive. It can truly be a tiring work that is done for the kingdom of God, and those who then come to see it as a problem instead of a privilege to work for God will be relentlessly exposed to the devil’s subtle tricks. For the devil also plays his tricks against those who profess their faith in God, and who have worked all their lives in God’s vineyard. In this parable he manages to fill the hearts of those who are the first with bitterness towards those who came last because they received the same wage as the first, which the first considers to be extremely unfair. But God is not unjust, He gives everyone a fair reward for what we accomplish for the kingdom of God here on earth.