The Parable Of The Workers In The Vineyard
ATTENTION GRABBER!
While your children are at worship, have your aide or other helper take toys from the toy box or crayons and pencils from the supply cabinet and scatter them around the room.
When your students return, tell them that you want some volunteers to clean up the classroom. Tell them that you will reward them with a small prize. When the children who are cleaning up are over halfway finished, tell the rest of the class that you will reward them with the same prize if they help with the remaining work.
When the class is cleaned up, reward every child with the same small prize.
If the original workers do not grumble, coax them a little with questions like,
“Do you think it is fair to give the kids who did not work as hard the same prize?”
After some discussion, explain that they are going to learn a lesson today that Jesus taught about this exact same situation.
Matthew 20:1-16
1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went. “He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’
7 “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9.The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Jesus often told stories called parables.
If you remember, a parable is a story that is alongside a truth.
A parable helps us understand the spiritual truths Jesus is sharing, but for those not interested in truth, they would not understand their meaning.
Jesus wants each of us to understand more about His kingdom. He explained many of the parables that He told to His disciples.
Those who truly listened to Jesus’ parables would be able to understand more about the kingdom of God. This is why Jesus starts most of His parables with the phrase
"The kingdom of God is like...” This means that if you understand the meaning of the story, you have understood more about what God is like.
Who wants to know what God is like?
Then let's listen carefully to today's lesson.
Play “Pictionary
What Is a Parable? Play “Pictionary” with your class.
Have a student draw for the class on the dry erase board an object of your choosing, etc.
Without saying anything, allow the class to guess what the object is. The first child to guess correctly gets a turn at the chalkboard. After playing for a little while, explain to the class that Jesus was drawing pictures for the people He taught with words.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard has several important lessons to teach us. But first, let's try to understand the main truth.
In verse eleven, we read the response of the workers who were hired at the beginning of the day. "And when they received it (their money), they murmured against the landowner...”
Why were they upset?
Did they not agree to work the whole day for a denarius a(penny), and did they not receive the agreed amount at the end of the Day?
A denarius was a fair wage in those days.
So why were they all grumbling?
They were grumbling against the landowner because they were envious of the other men who received the same pay for less time worked.
To illustrate how they might have felt,
let's say your parents ask you to do all the chores around the house in one day, and there were so many chores that it took you from morning to the evening to complete all of them. Your parents promise to pay you a whole month's allowance for the day's work (chores). So you work all day long anticipating the pay at the end of the day. Just as you are finishing the last chore your brother or sister walks over and helps you. All he or she did was to help for a few minutes. When you were finished, your parents gave your brother or sister the same amount as they had given you for the work. How would you feel? (Take time to let your class respond.)
This is how the workers who were hired at the beginning of the day felt.
They were envious of the others!
What is wrong with envy?
Envy is one result of a poor attitude or outlook regarding another’s good fortune.
The bible says to put that away from us…
They also felt they were treated unfairly.
But were they? No.
The landowner has the right to do whatever he wants with his money, just like the parents in our illustration did.
The worker's attitude about their service to the landowner was not good. They wished they could have served less for the same pay.
It is also important for us to remember to have a joyous heart for the people who God chooses to bless, even though they may not deserve it. The workers who came late and worked did not deserve a full day's pay.
Another lesson we can learn
is that the landowner has the right to be gracious to whomever he wants to.
In verse 15 the landowner explains to the grumbling worker, “Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things?”
God also has the right to be gracious to whomever He wants to.
We should be thankful to God for graciously sending us His Son, Jesus Christ to die on the cross for our sins.
We also learn
that we need to look at our own lives and not focus on others.
God blesses all of His children greatly. Let’s keep focused on the Lord.
Finally,
we see that God is gracious, and He gives His grace to us through His Son, Jesus.
Should we be envious that God is gracious to others?
Review Questions
How many groups were they? Five
How many hours did the first group of workers work? (3)
The second group? (3)
The third group? (3)
The fourth group? (3)
The fifth group? (1)
How much money did they receive? denarius
What should our attitude be toward others? Gracious and good
MEMORY VERSE: 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
Pray!
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