Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke John Calvin
HARMONY OF THE EVANGELISTS
sit down in idleness, he will offer no violence to the words of Christ. 1252 We are also at liberty to infer, that our whole life is unprofitable, and that we are justly accused of indolence, until each of us regulate his life by the command and calling of God. Hence it follows, that they labor to no purpose, who rashly undertake this or that course of life, and do not wait for the intimation of the call of God. Lastly, we learn from the words of Christ, that those only are pleasing to God, who labor for the advantage of their brethren.
A penny (which was rather more than four times the value of a French carolus,) 1253 was probably the ordinary hire for a day's work. The third, sixth, and ninth hour, are expressly mentioned, because, while the ancients were wont to divide the day into twelve hours, from sunrise to sunset, there was another division of the day into every three hours; as, again, the night was divided into four watches; and so the eleventh hour means the close of the day.
8. And when the evening was come. It would be improper to look for a mystery in the injunction of the householder to begin with the last, as if God crowned those first who were last in the order of time; for such a notion would not at all agree with the doctrine of Paul. They that are alive, he says, at the coming of Christ will not come before those who previously fell asleep in Christ, but will follow, (1 Thessalonians
4:15.) But Christ observes a different order in this passage, because he could not otherwise have expressed — what he afterwards adds — that the first murmured, because they did not receive more 1254
Besides, he did not intend to say that this murmuring will take place at the last day, but merely to affirm that there will be no occasion for murmuring The personification ({προσωποποΐα}) which he employs throws no small light on this doctrine, that men have no right to complain of the bounty of God, when he honors unworthy persons by large rewards beyond what they deserve. There is no foundation, therefore, for what some have imagined, that these words are directed against the Jews, who were full of malice and envy towards the Gentiles; for it would be absurd to say that such persons receive an equal hire with the children of God, and this malignity, which leads men to exclaim against God, does not apply to believers. But the plain meaning is, that, since God defrauds no man of a just hire, He is at liberty to bestow on those whom He has lately called an undeserved reward.
16. So the first shall be last. He does not now compare the Jews to the Gentiles, (as in another passages) nor the reprobate, who swerve from the faith, to the elect who persevere; and therefore the sentence which is introduced by some interpreters, many are called, but few are chosen, does not apply to that point. Christ only meant to say that every one who has been called before others ought to run with so much the greater alacrity, and, next, to exhort all men to be modest, not to give themselves the preference above others, but willingly to share with them a common prize. As the apostles were the first-fruits of the whole church, they appeared to possess some
1252"Cela ne sera point tirer trop loin les parollcs de Christ;" — "this will not be straining too far the words of Christ."
1253A penny ({δηνάριον}) was worth about sevenpence-halfpenny of our money. — Ed. 1254"Pource qu'on ne leur donnoit non plus qu'aux derniers;" — "because no more was given to them than to the last."