First and Last in the Kingdom

Matthew 19:16-20:16
 

Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is do to get eternal life?”
only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.”
“Which ones?” the man inquired. Jesus replied, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother,’ and ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’” – Matthew 19:16-19

Now why do you think Jesus mentions these and in this order? I am not really sure. I know nothing Jesus said or did was random or by accident.  We know by Matthew 22:37-40 that Jesus said,
 
‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” – Matthew 22:37-40
 
However, the order that Jesus used in today’s passage was different.  To the crowd whom He was speaking to in today’s passage this order may have been the order of what they would normally perceive was most important to least important commandments.
 
Maybe Jesus was trying to get the young man to think that he obeyed these so that he would ask the right question and if that is the case it worked.  The man reviewed this list in his mind and thought that he had obeyed all of these.  But I question whether the young man did indeed obey the love your neighbor as himself command but I can see how he could think that he had especially if all of his neighbors were rich like he was.  I think the right question that Jesus was looking for was “What do I still lack?”.
 
“All these I have kept,” the young man said. “What do I still lack?” Now that the young man asked the right question, Jesus could then point out the fact that he did not obey the greatest commandment i.e., to love the lord with all his heart and all his soul and all his mind but instead the young man loved his wealth more than God.
Jesus answered, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Now the eye of a needle is used here as a metaphor for a very narrow opening.  This would have been impossible
When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, “Who then can be saved?”
Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
Peter answered him, “We have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?”
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. – Matthew 19:20-30
 
Now Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all he had and give to the poor and then he would have treasure in heaven.  Peter seems curious about this and indicates that he and the other eleven disciples have indeed left everything and indeed have followed Jesus. So he asked about the rewards.  Jesus explains to Peter that he and the other eleven will sit on 12 thrones as judges of the twelve tribes of Israel in addition they would receive as their treasure 100 times as much and something even more valuable i.e., eternal life. “But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.” Verse 30 is explained in the parable that directly follows it in Matthew 20:1-16
 
“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
“About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
“He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. “He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
I want to point out here that they all were hired and they all worked in the landowner’s vineyard.
“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.’
Here the landowner intentionally sets the order that the workers are to be paid. Why the reverse order?
“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.
Note Jesus does not mention the joy of the laborers that were payed more than they expected or deserved.  But instead he mentions the discontented attitude of those that were hired first.
‘These men 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.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” – Matthew 20:1-16
 
Notice Jesus is addressing more than one issue here.  The first is everyone is going to get paid.  The landowner orders that the workers be paid in reverse order of the time that they were hired.  This show cases the fact that they are all going to get paid the same amount.  It also shows that the human tendency is to be envious of those who did not work as much getting paid as much as those who worked all day in the hot sun. It shows that everyone is going to get rewarded no matter how much they worked because God loves to be generous.  He also loves a cheerful giver and a cheerful and grateful receiver.  There is no reason for them to be discontented or envious. 
 
This tendency of envy over wages is well known and that is the reason why in the professional world discussions of salary are highly discouraged and in most cases are forbidden and punishable by written reprimand or other disciplinary action up to and including termination.  As an Engineer we all knew that all of the Engineers fit in a certain published salary band but we only the individual Engineer knew the exact amount of his or her salary and not the salary any of other Engineers.  We also knew that the new Engineers fresh out of college would have starting salaries that were greater than our starting salaries.  This had to be so in order to account for a cost of living increase and to attract new and young talented Engineers.  Indeed, this made many of the older Engineers grumble and complain because they had to suffer more hardships in the earlier years and then in the later years the new Engineers reaped the benefits of older Engineers labor.  Eventually however, we all would reach the point where our salary was bumping up against the ceiling of our salary band.  So, at that point it did not make a difference at what salary point you started at you would all end up at the same point.  However, some Engineers still grumbled and complained.
 
So, what was Jesus’ points here in this parable? More specifically who were the first that He was referring to?  I think we would all agree that the First were the people of the nation of Israel. For in Matthew 10:5-7 we read:
 
These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near. – Matthew 10:5-7
 
In Matthew 15:21-28 we read:
 
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is suffering terribly from demon-possession.” Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to their dogs.” “Yes, Lord,” she said, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” – Matthew 15:21-28
 
God had revealed Himself and made a covenant with Abraham and his seed and He delivered the twelve tribes of Jacob from slavery and death by the Egyptian Pharaoh and his army in order to make His name known throughout the earth.  He also gave Moses His written laws and commandments to keep them from following the paths of the nations that occupied the land that He had promised to Abraham.  Those who came along after the majority of Israelites had rejected God’s New Covenant were the Gentile believers.  Life for them was not easy and they did not expect the generosity of the landowner.  And we the believing former Gentiles are the last or almost last who have come along at or near the end of the day and had been sent into the field.  Yet to demonstrate his abundant mercy and generosity He will call us before those that came before us that were the first to be called i.e., Israel.  Of them He says in Isaiah 49:3-6
 
He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.” But I said, “I have labored to no purpose ;I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the LORD’S hand, and my reward is with my God.” And now the LORD says: He who formed me in the womb to be His servant to bring Jacob back to Him and gather Israel to Himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD and my God has been my strength—He says: “It is too small a thing for you to be My servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the earth.” This is what the LORD says— the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel – Isaiah 49:3-7a
 
So the first to be called appears to be the tribes of Jacob and then the 12 apostles to bring them back to God but that was too small a thing so God assigned Paul to be a light to the Gentile believers so that they may bring His salvation to the Ends of the earth along with the 12 tribes of Jacob.  So now here we are Gentile believers at a time that almost appears to be the end of the work day (figuratively speaking).  We have been sent to the fields that He days are white for harvest to join the labors who have gone before us or who are already there in the fields to bring in what appears to be the last of the harvest.  But that is not the end of the story. Paul writes in Romans 11:11-36
 
I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. In as much then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?” For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen. – Romans 11:11-36
 
When the Day of Judgement for rewards comes, we won’t be the last because that position has already been taken by all those who have come before us but we may be near the first since it is looking more and more like we have joined the laborers nearer to the end of the day than at the beginning.  So, we may actually be the last of the labors. So, what should our attitude and behavior be like then.  Well, our attitude should be one of gratitude and joy in being chosen to be one of the reapers.  Our behavior should be to work whole heartedly as unto the Lord and not to men.  We must be careful not grumble or complain about His generosity.  Let’s pray.