The eleventh hour is not too late for the landowner.
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Why do you stand here all day idle?" The landowner's question reaches you before any employer's call does. But you have an answer ready: "No one has hired me." Is that the whole truth?
The marketplace has taught you to measure yourself in hours and wages, and when no one hires you, you begin keeping a ledger of your waiting. You have watched the hired ones leave without you, and now you compare your empty hands to others' full ones. That ledger is a false refuge—it turns the landowner's goodness into a debt you think he owes you.
The landowner goes out at the eleventh hour and finds you still there. He does not ask for your résumé; he says, "You also go into the vineyard." In Christ, the cross is the full denarius paid to those who brought nothing. The landowner's eye finds you before any hand hires you.
Will you trade the ledger of your waiting for the goodness of the landowner?
The landowner's eye finds you before any hand hires you.
Lord, let me receive the denarius of your grace and stop counting my idle hours.
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