Matthew 20:12 — Community Reflections

MATTHEW 20:12 — KING JAMES VERSION 0

“Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.”

Saying: these last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. The specific complaint: the eleventh-hour workers worked one hour in the cool of the late afternoon, and the early workers worked all day in the scorching heat. The these last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us is the grumbler's accurate description of the situation and the kingdom's economy's precise point.

Church Fathers on Matthew 20:12

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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