The Parable of the Workers 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 laborers to his vineyard. He agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day and sent them into the vineyard. When he left approx three o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the market place, and he said to them, "Go you also to mine vineyard, and what is right I will give you." he did the same. When he went out about eleven o'clock, he met others standing and asked them, "Why are you here have you been idle all day?" They answered him, "Because no one has hired us." He said to them, "Go also to vineyard." And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, "Call the laborers and pay their due, from the last to the first!” They came hired about the eleventh hour and received it after a denarius. So when the first came, they thought they would get more; but they each received a denarius. When they took it, they murmured against the landowner, saying, "These last labored one hour, and you made them equal with us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat." He answered one of them, "Friend, I do not you harm; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what's yours and go! I also want to give the latter just like you. Am I not allowed to do what I want with mine? Are you looking at it with the evil eye that I am I good?" So the last will be first and the first last."

Issues and message

The workers who worked in the vineyard perfectly illustrate the saying that appetite grows with eating. They worked for one denarius a day and agreed to such conditions. However, when it turned out that they work more than others for the same amount of money, they feel injustice.

In reference to the Bible, the farmer is identified with God and the workers with sinful people. God then he is a good and just host, because he wants to give everyone equally. So it doesn't matter how long a man has been doing something, but how he has done it. What matters is the quality of the actions, not the quantity.

Parables can be read in a universal way. This one raises the issue of justice. The payment should be commensurate with the work done. However, in this situation justice is understood somewhat differently, because they were all rewarded equally for their hard and solid work.