Matthew 21:28-32 But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.… Am I wrong in saying that when this command reaches us, the common interpretation of it is that we are thus bidden to enter upon distinctly religious exercises and observances, and that the command goes no further? Church, prayers, sacraments, spiritual exercises — these cover and limit the vineyard of God. And then the assumption is that as this enclosure is God's vineyard, so, on the other hand, the so-called world and the life in the world are each man's personal property, to do with as seems to him best. When, e.g., you go to-morrow from the services of to-day, or from the devotions of your closets, to your evils or to your pleasures, you leave one territory and enter upon another. But there is no such separation or distinction in the command. God, be assured, does not limit His vineyard by the boundaries of Church or sacrament or prayer. He sends out His voice into the very thick of the crowd to-morrow, and that voice follows you wherever you may be, in the street or the office or the study, in the counting-house or the workshop, on the large and public arena or in any narrowest corner where some poor woman endures and labours patiently for love and God's dear sake. Here is my vineyard; here work out your salvation; here, amid these seemingly most unfavourable conditions, gather sweetness and beauty, strength and glory into your souls; here prove yourselves true sons and daughters of God, and know that in all your ways, the hardest and darkest, your steps are directed by a Father's care, and over all is His unsleeping love. How this truth brightens and ennobles all our life — lightening labour and sorrow by love and the consciousness of being loved, and changing the meanest drudgeries to worship and praise! (W. Rudder, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. |
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