now, to give up all their hitherto religious advantages in Israel and to receive the holy spirit outpoured by Jesus Christ and thus be anointed to do the work of disciples of Jesus Christ along with his apostles, people of the “last” rank, eleventh-hour workers, all this would cost them too much.

37. So were they satisfied to receive just the “penny,” and how did their attitude express itself toward the “last” laborers?

³⁷ In their pay from God they wanted more than the holy spirit and its miraculous gifts and its associated Kingdom privileges. So they wanted more than the symbolic “penny.” Hence these “first” laborers murmured against the Owner of the “vineyard” and were loath to accept just the “penny,” just as doubtless the rich young ruler did in contrast with the apostle Peter. Their murmuring and objections took the form of persecuting Christ’s disciples, the “last” laborers to be engaged in the “vineyard.”​—Matt. 20:10-12.

38. What shows whether all those “first” laborers refused the “penny,” and at what did some prefer to keep working?

³⁸ Of course, there were some temple Levites, like Joseph Barnabas of Cyprus, that accepted the “penny.” (Acts 4:36, 37) And even after the twelve apostles were imprisoned and tried by the Jerusalem Sánhedrin for using the “penny” in God’s service, the report in Acts 6:7 informs us, “the word of God went on growing, and the number of the disciples kept multiplying in Jerusalem very much; and a great crowd of priests began to be obedient to the faith.” Even Saul of Tarsus, a personal friend of the Jewish high priest, accepted the “penny,” even though he had been a Pharisee. (Acts 9:1-22; Phil. 3:4-6) But most of these “first” laborers, these religious leaders of Jewry, kept on working at their hitherto religious privileges in natural Israel and getting their regular pay for this as allowed by the Law of Moses, refusing the “penny.”

39. How long did they keep at this type of religious service, but what did Jesus’ disciples keep using?

³⁹ They kept up this type of religious service until the year 70 C.E. Then their temple in Jerusalem was taken away from them. They lost their jobs there and the Romans came and took away both their place and their nation, not because of accepting Jesus Christ, but because of rejecting him and refusing the “penny.” (John 11:47, 48) Their eye was wicked because Jehovah God was good toward the disciples of Jesus Christ. As for these disciples, including the apostle John, they continued using their “penny” to accomplish God’s Kingdom service and to gain their own everlasting life, despite the persecution.​—Mark 10:29, 30; Rev. 1:9.

The Modern Fulfillment of the “Penny”

1. Because of what happened on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E., why must there be a final fulfillment of the parable of the “penny”?

SOMETHING similar to the experience of the workers in the “vineyard” of the ancient nation of Israel nineteen centuries ago has happened in these last days with regard to what is called Christendom. The ancient “vineyard,” the nation of Israel