ECONOMY 17 – Parable: Laborers in the Vineyard

ECONOMY 17 – PARABLE: LABORERS IN THE VINEYARD

Context of the Parable

Jesus tells this parable towards the end of his ministry years, basically on the road to Jerusalem, where he will soon suffer and die. The next chapter (Mt 21) will describe Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Already Jesus has announced his soon to come suffering and death twice (Mt 16:21-23, 17:22-23) though the disciples are not really in a frame of mind to really hear that message.
The immediate context of the parable is Jesus’ encounter with the rich young ruler (Mt 19:16-22) and the subsequent discussion with his disciples (Mt 19:23-30). The parable even starts with the words ‘For the kingdom …’, a very immediate link to the sentence before: ‘Many who are first will be last, and the last will be first’.
Jesus has just challenged the rich young ruler to sell his possessions and ‘come, follow me’ (Mt 19:21). He goes on to say to his disciples ‘it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven’, (Mt 19:23) which upsets the disciples enough to counter: ‘Then who can be saved? (Mt 19:25). Probably their outcry is based on the normal Old Testament theology of the righteous being blessed. That is: the most rich are the most righteous, so if the rich can’t make it to heaven, then who can?
But Jesus doesn’t link things that way; he links acceptability or entering the kingdom not with wealth, but with giving up everything (possessions, family) to follow him (Mt 19:28-29). It is in this context that he says ‘many who are first will be last, and the last will be first’. So the basic message to the disciples is not: ‘you won’t make it’, but rather the opposite: ‘You are making it and will not be sorry, though right now people might call you stupid for what you gave up.’
So Jesus tells the parable to basically bring out this point: Things will look very different suddenly.

Jesus' parable of the 'Laborers in the Vineyard Mt 20:1-16

‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4 He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock he did the same. 6 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?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us’. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’ 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 When the workers who were hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more, but each one of them also received the usual daily wage.

11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner. 12‘ 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.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong, did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous? 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

Meaning of the Parable

The parable then is meant to show the grace of God in generously giving salvation and acceptance to all.
The parable also snubs those who think themselves more appropriate and acceptable to God, for they will find they are not more acceptable on that basis, and receive the same as people they may have looked down upon.
The parable also reminds those that have thrown themselves on grace and have given up other things that look better in the eyes of the surrounding culture, will not be disappointed nor will they find themselves shamed, rather the opposite (the disciples).

Looking at this Parable from an Economic Perspective

Though teaching about economy was definitely not the main reason that Jesus told this parable, it is still interesting to look at the parable from this perspective also. Let us look at the different persons in the story:

Employer

Early morning he is employing laborers, agreeing on usual wage.
9 am ‘he went out and saw others’. He employs them though late and promises to pay ‘whatever is right’.
At noon and 3 pm ‘he went out again, did the same’.
At 5 pm ‘he went out and found others and said to them: Why are you standing here idle all day? They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He goes ahead and employs them also.
The fact that he employs laborers early morning at the usual time and the usual wage, shows him to be conscientious, not negligent with resources, his own or others’.
First his outings seem more arbitrary (‘went out and saw’), then he gets more intentional (‘went out and found’). He is initiating, asking, employing.
He has a heart to see people employed. He understands need for work, for income, for provision to meet financial obligations.
He calls them idle (a rebuke?) but does ask why, he doesn’t assume he knows.
A question arises: weren’t those later hired laborers there before?
Were they late in offering themselves in the morning?
Or were they there all along but this an after thought that the employer can afford?
He makes them confess their ‘rejection’, ‘unemployment’, their ‘shame’.
He listens to the objections, engages in communication and explains his behavior.
He is polite and honoring to the objecting workers (‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong’), argues logic, expects them to be logic, to acknowledge rightness.

First hired laborers

They are out early morning to find work as is good, agree on usual wage, labor throughout the day till about 6 pm.
Upon seeing others get a daily wage for less work time they hope for more than the agreed payment, but receive ‘only’ what was agreed upon.
They are annoyed at being put on the same level with those working less and receiving same wage (‘You have made them equal to us’), finding offense big enough to grumble against the landowner and to address him immediately.
They rightfully report their labor all day (‘us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat’), which the employer also acknowledges.

Last hired laborers

They are still remaining, standing around, hoping for work.
Maybe originally they were late for work, but now clearly they rather bear the shame of standing around till 3 pm, 5 pm, (being unwanted, being laughed at or pitied) than losing a possible chance to work.
They are persistent, committed, hopeful.
They really want work, they really need work, they make sacrifices to get work.
They are willing to go to work even when late (3 pm, 5 pm), though that presumably will give them only a very limited wage.
They are not saying ‘no point any more anyway’, rather they are saying: ‘anything is better than nothing’.

Some practical values affirmed in this parable

Employer-employee relationship, value and dignity of work, value of time, value of the worker, importance of work contract, work contracts are binding, oral contracts are binding, affirmation of the real world with real needs, essentials must be earned, need for justice processes, need to listen, right to appeal, right to explanation, honorable interaction, reasonable communication, logic, reasonableness, right to justice, yet also right to be generous beyond justice, grace is allowed.

The twist of this parable

We resent grace extended to others, especially if we worked hard ourselves (though having been treated justly).
We compare.
We are in competition with others.

Our struggle with this parable

Is this parable diminishing work ethics? Treating hard work lightly? Discouraging the hard-working? Frustrating those doing right? Is grace unjust?
Grace is unjust in the sense that grace is by definition undeserved, unmerited favor. But here justice is also maintained, nobody is wronged, contracts are maintained, respect is given.
Why then the ‘sense of wrong’ we have with this parable?
We feel justice = same work same wage.
God seems to say: their commitment to find work I count as work.
Meaning: they wanted to work, but couldn’t.
The difference was not: people willing to work and unwilling to work. The difference was: people getting an opportunity and people not getting an opportunity. The difference was not in attitude, but in circumstance. The late ones were there precisely because they looked for work.
Future effect? Will these laborers tomorrow not come for work on time?
Maybe, grace can be misunderstood, people can attempt to abuse it. Wrong understanding of grace may for a moment seem “undermine work ethics”.
But not for long: If they come late and don’t get work, or get work late and get paid less, that will be the end of it right there.
Does this then mean that there is a problem with repeated grace? Does this reduce work ethics? Frustrate hard work?
Repeated grace can’t be a problem because God is ‘repeatedly gracious’, in fact he is always gracious … but also ‘just always’.
Tomorrow the situation would be different: People coming late for work hoping for ‘an easy day and same wages’ (that is: people with reduced work ethics or commitment to work) probably would not receive grace again, because now this would mean encouraging indulgence.
Or is this just one of the risks of grace that it may breed indulgence, and there is nothing to be done about it? God battling the same thing with all of us? Seeing sin ‘lightly’ because I didn’t pay the penalty for it, still I get the benefit of no shame, a clear conscience and cancelled sentence.
But then some consequences remain, which will cut indulgence.
Also: a wrong attitude will undo the ‘no shame and clear conscience’, causing me to slither towards bad choices.
The age old question of whether I want the Giver or the gift. God will bless, he may get worship.
In the long run only those worshiping will be truly blessed.

An often overlooked aspect of this parable

God’s compassion with the unemployed, with those not being able to get the ‘dignity & satisfaction’ of work, with those of right attitude that suffer by circumstances. Work is such a high value, to not be able to work – even if not through a fault of my own – draws the compassion of God.
Importance of heart attitude and motivation over technical output. We are not judged by what we have no influence over, rather by what we choose to do in any given circumstance. In that sense ‘not to pay the same wages’ would have been ‘unjust’: ‘Punishing’ people for what they could do nothing about, which is not God’s way. A disabled, young or old person won’t be held accountable to the same output.