HAVE YOU SEEN PETER, RECENTLY?
Mat 20:1 For the kingdom of the heavens is like a householder who went out with the early morn to hire workmen for his vineyard.
Mat 20:2 And having agreed with the workmen for a denarius the day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:3 And having gone out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle;
Mat 20:4 and to them he said, Go also ye into the vineyard, and whatsoever may be just I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:5 Again, having gone out about the sixth and ninth hour, he did likewise.
Mat 20:6 But about the eleventh hour , having gone out, he found others standing, and says to them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:7 They say to him, Because no man has hired us. He says to them, Go also ye into the vineyard and whatsoever may be just ye shall receive .
Mat 20:8 But when the evening was come, the lord of the vineyard says to his steward, Call the workmen and pay them their wages, beginning from the last even to the first.
Mat 20:9 And when they who came to work about the eleventh hour came, they received each a denarius.
Mat 20:10 And when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more, and they received also themselves each a denarius.
Mat 20:11 And on receiving it they murmured against the master of the house,
Mat 20:12 saying, These last have worked one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the heat.
Mat 20:13 But he answering said to one of them, My friend, I do not wrong thee. Didst thou not agree with me for a denarius?
Mat 20:14 Take what is thine and go. But it is my will to give to this last even as to thee:
Mat 20:15 is it not lawful for me to do what I will in my own affairs? Is thine eye evil because *I* am good?
Mat 20:16 Thus shall the last be first, and the first last; for many are called ones, but few chosen ones. (KJV)
What W. Lee says in his footnotes on verse 1, 3, 5, 6, 8, could be put in this way:
6:00 am The earliest part of the church age
9:00 am The second part of the church age
12:00 am The middle part of the church age
3:00 pm The fourth part of the church age
5:00 pm The fifth part of the church age
6:00 pm The end of the church age
Basically he is saying that this parable indicates the entire church age, and the workmen are the Lord's disciples. “These first workmen included Peter, who made a deal with the Lord in 19:27-29.” (See footnote 10.1 in Matthew 20 in the Recovery Version of the Bible)
W. Lee assumes that in verses 11-15 the 12 disciples, but in particular Peter had a “natural and commercial mind” (See footnote 12.2 and 14.1 in Matthew 20 in the Recovery Version of the Bible), and so the rebuke in verse 15 is an answer to Peter (See footnote 15.1 in Matthew 20 in the Recovery Version of the Bible).
Now, all this interpretation has a big flaw. It considers the workmen of the first hour working only in the first period, which W. Lee calls the earliest church age. That the workmen of the first hour worked the entire day is clearly stated in verse 12 were the workmen said,
“These last have worked one hour, and thou hast made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the heat.”
That Peter and the other disciples are not here working until the end of the church age, is something that every sane person would agree with. Or is there someone who has seen Peter around?