THE ELEVENTH HOUR
The ‘eleventh hour’ refers to getting things done at the last moment. It is usually a negative connotation. We see mention of the eleventh hour in a parable narrate by Jesus, where the owner of a vineyard goes out and hires workers throughout the day, agreeing to pay them a denarius for their labor.
At the eleventh hour, he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ (Matthew 20:6,7)
The owner represents God who is calling people into his kingdom to be his disciples and workers, with the denarius representing eternal life. Multiple lessons about God’s kingdom are evident.
First, it is God who calls people to follow him. The sovereignty of God is seen in his calling, in his timing and in his reward. Even though we understand from the Bible that God wants everyone to be saved and to come to experience salvation, it is obvious that it is God who initiates the call. The timing of his call sometimes defies understanding. Here in the parable, the reference is also to Jews who had for generations followed God but were wondering how non-Jews could now experience salvation through Christ despite having no history of knowing God. Likewise God might call people, young and old, to follow him at a timing of his choice. The reward of eternal life is also for him to decide. To everyone who accepts his call to follow, eternal life is granted. The workers who were hired earlier complain that they should be given more, but the nature of God’s reward is such that eternal life comes to all who believe.
We also see the compassion of God. He is constantly on the move searching for people to come in and experience salvation. Some are called early, but there are those who are called to follow him at the eleventh hour. The workers, who were hired at the eleventh hour, had waited for the entire day waiting for someone to hire them, but without success. To those who search for the truth and give up their search is like those who go home after waiting for a few hours. But here the workers were still waiting and hopeful of being hired and God does not disappoint. For most owners, these workers would be worthless, putting in only an hour’s worth of work. But here we see the compassion of God, as he values each person who earnestly seeks the truth, and grants them eternal life despite their lack of obvious productivity.
Does this mean that a person can say, “let us forget God for most of our life and then turn to him when death approaches?” By no means! When the call comes from God, there needs to be a positive response, because once man rejects God, the call might never come again. Now is the time for salvation! Man cannot mock God. The decision to believe and follow him is the most important decision man can make in this life. A person who refuses to go with the owner of the vineyard would return home without a denarius and likely go hungry for the night. Likewise refusing God when the call comes makes the difference between eternal life and destruction.
