1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to those he said, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ And so they went. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did the same thing. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day long?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’ ”
Parables were sometimes used by the Lord to hide the truth from His antagonists (see Matthew 13:13) while revealing it to His followers. At other times, like our story today, He used the parable form of teaching to convey the truth in a way that everyone could readily understand.
Jesus had just finished speaking to the disciples about sacrifice and rewards, with the message that God’s spiritual economy runs counter to our limited, human sensibilities. The big picture, however, from God’s perspective, makes perfectly good sense. The Lord had just finished with the summary statement, “But many who are first will be last; and the last, first” (19:30). Now, He illustrated this truth with a story of a vineyard owner and workers hired at various times during the day.
The first workers hired in the morning agreed to work for one denarius (a typical day’s wage). Three hours later the owner hires more men (who had been idle) and sends them to work in the vineyard, agreeing to pay them “what is right.” They apparently trusted their new employer make good on his promise (possibly assuming that work for any pay is better than no work at all). This happened three more times, with the last group of men working in the vineyard for eleven hours less than the first group of men.
Human sensibility would tell us that each man, doing the same work, for differing amounts of time, ought to be paid according to the time he spent doing the work. Those who worked more ought to receive more than those who worked less. What’s fair is fair, right? However, notice carefully that when the vineyard owner provided terms of employment, each group of men accepted the terms. The first group agreed to work for one denarius for a day’s labor. The subsequent groups all implicitly agreed to work for the undefined terms of “what is right,” apparently trusting the owner would fulfill that appropriately. The employer was being magnanimous in giving any of them work.
Lord, I trust that in my service for Your kingdom, You will reward me “with what is right.” I don’t need to be concerned that I will be short-changed.
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