The Eleventh Hour

What you get out of a parable may depend on which characters in the parable you identify with.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard teaches us not to be self-righteous—if we identify with the first group of laborers. I’ll say more about that message in tomorrow’s post, but today, I want to focus on the eleventh-hour workers.

In the parable, a man who owned a vineyard went out early in the morning looking for people to work for him. He found a few right away and put them to work. Throughout the day, every time he found someone who needed work, he hired them immediately.

Finally, at the eleventh hour of the day, with only one more hour of labor to go (Yes, in this parable, a work day is twelve hours long!), he found a group of people standing idle. He didn’t assume that they were idle because they were lazy or because they were less capable than other workers. He simply asked them, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” When they responded, “Because no man hath hired us,” he sent them into his vineyard at once. At the end of the day, they received exactly the same pay every other worker had received. (See Matthew 20:1-16.)

Commenting on this last group of laborers, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said:

However late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.

“The Laborers in the Vineyard,” General Conference, April 2012

In the parable, the lord of the vineyard delights in putting people to work and rewarding them for their labors. Elder Holland said, “Surely the thing God enjoys most about being God is the thrill of being merciful, especially to those who don’t expect it and often feel they don’t deserve it.”

I love these words of reassurance which the Savior gave to a group of anxious disciples: “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” (Luke 12:32). God isn’t just willing to bless us, He delights in it!

Time and again in the Book of Mormon, we see God eagerly blessing His children. Here are a few examples:

• “Blessed art thou, Nephi, because of thy faith, for thou hast sought me diligently, with lowliness of heart” (1 Nephi 2:19).
• “Enos, thy sins are forgiven thee, and thou shalt be blessed” (Enos 1:5).
• “Blessed art thou, Alma, and blessed are they who were baptized in the waters of Mormon. Thou art blessed because of thy exceeding faith in the words alone of my servant Abinadi” (Mosiah 26:15).
• “Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou hast done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people” (Helaman 10:4).

This does not sound like a reluctant monarch. This sounds like a loving parent, eager to see his children grow and progress, and eager to help them find happiness.

Today, I will be grateful for the kindness of the lord of the vineyard to the eleventh-hour laborers. I will remember that God is ready to employ me and to reward me as quickly as I am willing to come into His vineyard. I will gratefully receive the blessings He offers me.