MATTHEW 20:1-16
Jesus told his disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o’clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ So they went off.
And he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o’clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’ They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.
And on receiving it they grumbled against the Landowner, saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
BACKGROUNDER
God – represented by the Landowner in this parable – is generous. The generosity of God is astounding and may be somewhat unwanted by his followers. Jesus tells the disciples this story about how much the workers got paid to demonstrate God’s nature to them.
What did the disciples expect? They probably felt that as Jesus’s first disciples they would be favoured above others. Whenever people consider themselves insiders they may look down on any others as less important. The insiders may also believe that they deserve more than the rest.
The Jewish people were indeed chosen by God to be his own people. They were like a favourite child who gets all the treats and the extra attention. And, the disciples of Jesus were chosen from among the chosen people. No wonder that they might be tempted to consider themselves better than others, even new disciples.
Jesus is teaching the disciples that God’s plan is to draw in people from other nations. They are all special in his eyes. The generous landowner in the parable reflects the heart of God, and reminds the listener to avoid envy.
The story about the workers would reflect a very familiar sight in those days. Day labourers, the lowest class, were at the mercy of landowners who could choose to hire them for the grape harvest. No really cared about them. They had no choice but to accept what they were offered. The Landowner in the parable has made an agreement with the first workers for a day’s wage. But it seems unfair that those who worked so much less got the same wage.
What did the money amount to? It was the difference between eating and going hungry. It was life to the workers. The landowner’s generosity would provide for them all.
This is the character of the God who generously gives us his only son. All of us receive the infinite reward of heaven through faith in Jesus. And our own generosity with earthly things, like money or time, only reflects how much we have received.