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MATTHEW 20:1 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 20Matt 20:2
“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.”
For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard — introduced with for, connecting it to the first-last reversal of 19:30 — is the illustration of the kingdom's grace-driven economy. The landowner who hires workers throughout the day is the parable's central figure; the vineyard is the kingdom's work.

Church Fathers on Matthew 20:1

To establish the truth of this saying, 'There are many first that shall be last, and last first,' the Lord subjoins a similitude.

Remigius · 9th century

The Master of the household is Christ, whose house are the heavens and the earth; and the creatures of the heavens, and the earth, and beneath the earth, His family. His vineyard is righteousness, in which are set divers sorts of righteousness as vines, as meekness, chastity, patience, and the other virtues; all of which are called by one common name righteousness.

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Or; The Master of the household, that is, our Maker, has a vineyard, that is, the Church universal, which has borne so many stocks, as many saints as it has put forth from righteous Abel to the very last saint who shall be born in the end of the world. To instruct this His people as for the dressing of a vineyard, the Lord has never ceased to send out His labourers; first by the Patriarchs, next by the teachers of the Law, then by the Prophets, and at the last by the…

Gregory the Great · 6th century · Hom. in Ev., xix, 1
Read all 47 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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