<p>20:14&nbsp;<em>Take</em>- This is a slightly strange way of talking about a penny which the Lord had given to the worker. It might imply that the worker had thrown it down on the ground in protest. Or the sense of &lsquo;take away&rsquo; which is in the Greek may suggest &lsquo;Take it and go away from Me&rsquo;, lending weight to the possibility that the subsequent &ldquo;Go your way&rdquo; is effectively a firing of the man from the Master&rsquo;s service- a hint that the penalty for superior thinking concerning little ones is in fact rejection by the Lord.</p><p><em>That which is yours</em>- Salvation will be intensely personal, it will be as it were &lsquo;our very own&rsquo;. Having been faithful in what the Lord entrusted to us in this life, we will receive at the day of judgment &ldquo;that which is your very own&rdquo; (Lk. 16:12).</p><p><em>And go your way-&nbsp;</em>This could be interpreted as meaning &lsquo;You&rsquo;re fired&rsquo;. Harry Whittaker was a great fan of this view in his&nbsp;<em>Studies in the Gospels.&nbsp;</em>Perhaps the hard working labourers were sent packing by the Lord because of their complaint at the others getting the same payment for what they considered to be inferior work to theirs. If the parable is meant to be read in this way, then it seems so sad that those hard working men (cp. brethren) were&nbsp;<em>almost</em>&nbsp;saved, but for their attitude to their brethren.</p><p><em>It is my wish to give to this last even as I gave to you</em>- Here and in :15,&nbsp;<em>thelo</em>, &ldquo;I will&rdquo;, doesn&rsquo;t mean &lsquo;I want&rsquo; but rather to choose, to be disposed to. The idea connects with the conclusion in :16, that the saved are those who are &ldquo;chosen&rdquo;. These ideas of a sovereign undeserved gift, the will of God, Divine choice and election <em>elektos&nbsp;</em>is the word used for &ldquo;chosen&rdquo; in :16 are all found again in Romans, where Paul makes the same point more pointedly and directly: Salvation cannot be by works, but by grace. And the element of election and predestination within the final algorithm of human salvation is proof enough that works are not and cannot be of paramount importance.</p>