As is often the case, the break for a new chapter here is not helpful because we lose some of the continuity of Jesus’ thought. It’s like when someone tries to tell a joke, but when he is finished, no one laughs. Then he suddenly says: “Wait, I forgot the punchline!” Sometimes the publishers of the biblical text leave Jesus hanging.
20: 1-4. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.
See what I mean? No one begins a new topic with ‘For….” That preposition means ‘Since’ or ‘Because’. As with any passage, we always have to ask the question, “Where are we in the story?” Clearly we are not at the beginning, but part way through some story.
Why is this important? Because we can and should use the structure of the text to help us get at the meaning. In this case, the parable clearly is meant to illustrate the previous teaching, so what is that teaching?
The teaching of Chapter 19 has been about who can enter the Kingdom of Heaven and how people rank in the Kingdom. Jesus says that people who are of lower rank in the world, people like women, eunuchs (single people), and children actually have a respected place in the Kingdom. Concerning children, Jesus said, “it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs.”
Following this event, a rich young man comes seeking some good deed that will be his ticket into eternal life. Jesus invites him to come and follow him; but the cost of discipleship seems too great and the man turns away. Then Jesus tells the disciples how difficult it is for rich people to enter the kingdom. Jesus concludes his teaching by saying that with God anything is possible; however, “many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” That is where the last chapter ends.
Now we are ready for the parable. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who….” Wait. Is the kingdom like a landowner? No, the kingdom is like the inner dynamics of the story Jesus is about to tell; “...like a landowner who acted like this.”
The story is set in a typical First Century Palestine scene. A landowner goes to the village square at dawn to hire some day laborers who gathered there waiting for work. He offers the standard pay for one day’s work: one denarius. The laborers agree; they have a contract, so they go to work.
Still needing more help to harvest grapes while they are ripe, he returns to the town square at 9:00. This time his offer is a bit vague: ”Go to work in the vineyard even now and I will pay you what is right.” A rather open-ended agreement. The laborers must trust that the landlord will be fair; nothing is guaranteed.
20:5-7. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
It seems that the landowner checks the labor market every couple of hours: 6:00 a.m., 9:00 a.m., 12:00 noon, 3:00 p.m., and now 5:00 p.m. Except for those hired at dawn, none of the rest have a binding agreement. They only have the promise that the landowner will pay them what is right. However, they can do the math: a full denarius, ¾ of a denarius, ½ of a denarius, ¼ of a denarius, and finally, 1/12th of a denarius. That would be fair. Everyone would get the same hourly pay. Is that how rewards in the Kingdom work?
20:8-12. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’
Jesus is telling this story, so he structures it the way he wants in order to make his point. The hiring of day laborers is realistic, up to a point. Beginning at dawn and paying one denarius for 12 hours is usual for the period. The hiring again at 9 and noon is realistic, but the afternoon hirings seem less so. The hiring at 5:00 for a work day that ends at 6:00 seems a stretch…but maybe that’s the point. Jesus is telling the story, not me.
Now comes the payoff. No, not the pay, but the payoff for framing the story this way. The parable began to illustrate the principle: “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” Why are the last-hired the first-paid? Because to do it the other way around would be to lose the punchline. The one-hour wonders receive a full day’s wage: one denarius.
Presumably, although the storyteller does not say this, every worker in between has also received a full day’s pay. This happened in full sight of those who worked all day. They watch and begin to think that something unusual is going on. They wonder that if those who worked only one hour get a denarius, then what more will 12-hour workers get?
Now comes the punchline; they get one denarius. In the story, the regular workers begin to grumble. That is realistic because every time I have preached this story, the congregation begins to grumble.
I have preached mostly in southern Indiana, and both German and English communities tend to have the same work ethic: ‘You work hard and earn your pay. People don’t deserve more than the effort they put in.’ I know this, so one time I came down from the pulpit at this point. I walked down the aisle and said, “You don’t like this parable, do you?” They sheepishly admitted that they did not agree with the landlord’s practices. So, they fell for the parable, hook, line, and sinker.
Like the 12-hour laborers, they grumbled. Like the elder brother complaining to the father about his younger brother, they grumbled. Are they right? Has an injustice been done? Turns out, this parable is not about how to run a business. Look deeper.
10: 13-15. But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?
The landowner is not being vindictive or acting unjustly. He has no beef with the all-day laborers, so he calls one of them ‘Friend’ and explains this way: “I am not treating you unjustly; I am paying what we agreed to, so I am surprised that you are complaining.”
Think about it. The laborers were not working at all when the landowner showed up at dawn. He owed them nothing, but he offered them a contract for one denarius for one day’s work. They worked all day and they received one denarius. No mistreatment there. The landowner would have been unjust if he had paid them less than one denarius.
Next, the landowner has no contract with the other workers, so he is free to do as he pleases. He promised only to “do what is right.” Again, no one was cheated along the way.
The landowner then asks what the real problem is. He says, “Is your eye evil because I am good?,” at least that is what the Greek says and the King James Version leaves it that way. This is probably an idiomatic saying of the times. The point is this. If there is any evil in this situation, it lies in the eyes that were watching closely the payments of all the laborers. The laborer said: “You have made them equal to us.” Where is evil? It’s in the evil eye; it is that green-eyed monster.
That is what William Shakespeare called ‘jealousy’. In The Merchant of Venice, Portia refers to “green-eyed jealousy” (Act 3, Scene 2). Then, in the play Othello, Iago tries to stir jealousy in Othello by implying that Desdomona is being unfaithful. He pretends to be sympathetic, but is using reverse psychology: “Oh beware, my Lord, of jealousy; It is the green-eyed monster which doth mock the meat it feeds on” (Act 3, Scene 3). Not unsurprisingly, even today some of us still say: “I’m green with envy.”
Thus ends the parable. Jesus is not giving advice on how to structure benefits for laborers. Jesus told the parable to explain a teaching about who enters the kingdom and who receives rewards. Remember the last verse of Chapter 19, which is the reason for this parable: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.” Now what is the last verse of this parable?
20: 16. So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
The first lesson is that no one earns their way into the kingdom of heaven, period. No one deserves entry. That power belongs to God, and God will dispense grace the way God chooses. There is no business algorithm, no calculus for figuring it out. There is no Karma nor Kapitalism nor Kommunism running the universe. God’s choice, that’s all.
Second, in this system, no one will be mistreated. In fact, everyone will receive better than they are due. Remember, at the beginning of the day, the day laborers were themselves unemployed, and they would have remained on the outs if the landowner had not found them. They had no right to one denarius until the landowner made himself liable by offering them a contract.
The third lesson is that God is gracious beyond our wildest imaginations, gracious both to us (who think we deserve it) and to others (who we suspect don’t deserve it). Jesus went to the cross to find the penitent thief, among others. That’s generous to a fault, but it doesn’t hurt us if God is generous to others. This is not a limited goods system, not a zero-sum game. There is plenty more grace where that came from; the heavenly supply chain will not fail.
The fourth lesson concerns the operation of faith in this parable. We are fortunate to be offered great grace by God, but we have to respond with faith and action. Notice again that most of the laborers went to the field without a clear contract. They only had the promise that they would be properly cared for. They had to trust that the landowner would act with justice. Now, that’s stepping out on faith. Then they were surprised, perhaps, when the landowner acted with more generosity than they had faith.
It’s all a gift, and it is God’s gift to give; we can demand nothing. However, we must accept the offer and begin to operate on faith. Perhaps there were some who, even at 5:00, did not go to the field. Remember that the rich young man walked away from the offer.
Remember also that the context of this parable includes Peter’s question. The disciples still have some problems if they are stopping at every step to ask: “Hey! What am I getting out of this?” It will take them a while to have faith that does not depend on a contract.
God says, “I will pay you what is right.” Let’s let God do the deciding since God seems to be overly generous anyway. In the end, everyone will be treated fairly though some may choose to walk away.