“The Last Will Be First . . .” (Matthew 20:16)

This is the culmination of the parable of the householder (Matt. 20:1-16), in which the householder concludes, “So the last will be first, and the first last.”

In this parable, Jesus explains that while the Jews have labored throughout salvation history, God welcomes the Gentiles later, “in the eleventh hour” (Matthew 20:6), i.e., at the establishment of the New Covenant by Christ. Here we are reminded that eternal life is fundamentally a gift from God, and while our reward may be different in heaven based on our respective good works (Rom. 2:6-11, Gal. 6:6-10), the paramount gift of eternal life is something all who turn to Jesus, whether early in life or late, receive because of God’s great generosity and mercy.