took the wounded Jew to one of these humble places of rest and refreshment, he gave the innkeeper "two pence" to take care of his guest, and provide for him, and promised to pay any more expense should it be incurred. The terms were very fair and liberal for a full day's work; but more hands were needed, and the master went out again at nine o'clock in the morning, then at noon, at three in the afternoon, and yet again at the eleventh hour, five p.m.; and finding still some unemployed, he asked, "Why stand ye here all the day idle?" "Because," said they, "no man hath hired us." "Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive." Such were the terms on which all except the earliest labourers were hired. The working day of twelve hours is ended; the men are called to receive payment; but, strange to say, the latest comers are first called, and each one receives the full amount--one penny. The whole-day workers are now dissatisfied. They have got all they were promised, but why should those latecomers have as much as themselves, who had been working all the time? "Friend," said the good man of the house to one of the complainers, "I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, or envious, because I am good?" "So," said the Lord Jesus, "in My kingdom the last shall be first, and the first last." And has not He, who is your Lord and Master, a right to do what He will with His own? The disciples were thinking that Jesus would reign on earth, and make the Jews a free, prosperous nation, and they, as His first followers, wanted to be great men in His kingdom (see verses 20, 21 of this chapter). Christ, on the other hand, was thinking of a spiritual, heavenly kingdom, where He would reign for ever, ruling His people's hearts by love. In this kingdom God has always blessed His servants according to His own good pleasure. Abraham, Isaac, David, and a host of others who served the Lord for many years, looked forward to dwelling with Him in blessedness for ever. The dying thief, whose day of life was spent in worse than idleness, in the service of sin and Satan, received, in answer to his earnest prayer, the wonderful assurance, "Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." Prophets laboured, and Apostles reaped the fruit of those labours (John iv. 37, 38). John the Baptist was great and honoured as the herald of Jesus, yet the least one in Christ's kingdom is equal with, and in some respects even greater, than he (Matt. xi. 11). The Gentiles, in time past, were not a saved people; but now multitudes of them have been gathered to Jesus, and become the people of God, while the Jews (God's ancient people) have to a great extent despised the Gospel, and been shut out from its blessings; so the last have been first, and the first have become last.