The Laborers in the Vineyard
1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ 7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ “He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 8 “When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ 9 “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 12 saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ 13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 15 Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”
Everyone is paid the same regardless of hours worked, and the men who worked longest are the only ones unhappy.
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard.
The parable belongs to Matthew alone, and it is attached to what has just been said — it opens with for, and it closes by repeating the line about the first and the last Matthew 19:30. It is an explanation of that saying aimed at men who have been promised thrones and are counting.
The day-laborers standing in the marketplace were the bottom of the economy, hired by the day and eating that night only if someone hired them. A denarius was the standard day's wage. The owner goes out five times, and by the eleventh hour — an hour before sundown — the men still standing there have failed to be hired all day. Their answer when asked is not laziness but the plain fact: "Because no one has hired us" Matthew 20:7.
“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’
The order of payment is deliberate. Paid the other way around, the first men would have taken their denarius and gone home content. The arrangement guarantees they see what the latecomers get.
saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’
The complaint is not that they were underpaid, and they know it. The word is equal. What they cannot bear is that a distinction they had earned has not been recognized, and it is worth granting how reasonable that is. By every standard of fairness in employment they are right.
“But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius?
The reply concedes the contract and holds them to it. They received what was agreed; nothing was taken from them. And what they are angry about did not cost them anything — which is the tell, because envy always argues in the language of justice.
"Isn't it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?" Matthew 20:15. The question turns on the difference between a wage and a gift. The first men negotiated a rate; everyone hired later was told only whatever is right and went on the owner's word. They worked all day for a wage. The others worked for a person, and the parable's sympathy is with them.
Read against the road to Jerusalem it is pointed enough. The twelve have left everything and are asking what they will have; the parable says the last man hired gets the same eternal life, and that the men who have served longest are in the most danger of resenting it. Grace that can be calculated has already stopped being grace, and a laborer who is owed nothing cannot be cheated.
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