The Kingdom of heaven is like a landowner
who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage,
he sent them into his vineyard.
The laborers had no problem with the usual daily wage when the agreement was made. It was only later, comparing themselves with others, that they began to grumble.
So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more,
but each of them also got the usual wage.
The landowner was by no means providing a wage commensurate with the work performed. He was providing for the needs of the laborers he hired. For in fact those hired at the last hour stood no less in need than those hired at the first. If he paid the last for only an hour they might have been unable to provide for themselves and their loved ones.
Still, those who were hired first now saw those who were hired last and regarded them with envy. They thought to themselves that it would have been better to do less work and receive the same amount. But what they did not realize was those who heard, "Why do you stand here idle all day?" were not living it up and enjoying themselves. They were idle, disengaged, not connected to a life of purpose. In a sense, once the last finally got their hour of work they valued that hour as much as the first valued their entire day, or even more.
‘These last ones worked only one hour,
and you have made them equal to us,
who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
The landowner provided the same wages to all but they were not equally received by all. Those who were hoping for something based on what they deserved, and something that demonstrated their superiority over others, received the same amount, but as something less. Those who realized the surprising and unearned nature of what they received got the same amount but received it as much more.
What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?
Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money?
How does our desire to compare ourselves with others and our desire to strictly earn what we receive prevent us from appreciating the generosity of God? Does it make us at once cheapen what he has given us and make us jealous of what he has given others? Do we have the attitude of the older brother of the prodigal son, frustrated that the father would shower such generosity on such a delinquent immediately upon his return? Do we see the repentant thief on the cross with envy, wishing that we ourselves could go on sinning and finally make a deathbed conversion? Is our complaint really against our own time in the vineyard, or is it rather only when we see those who seem to have an easier time that we protest?
Are you envious because I am generous?
If we stop comparing ourselves to others we will save ourselves a lot of grief and grumbling in the long run. The usual wage that the landowner pays is more than enough for all we need. Our work in the vineyard, if we have been faithful to it, has kept us from an idleness that is ultimately dehumanizing and ought to give us a sense of purpose. If we realize that even our time in the vineyard is a gift then there is a sense in which those who put more in get more out, as their own hearts are enlarged and more able to fully receive what the landowner has to give. It is typically the last who are more able to realize this. But it need not be them alone.
Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.
The landowner with the generous heart in the parable refers to the same One who calls himself the Good Shepherd. He himself desires that all of his sheep flourish and that none use positions of power to the advantage of only a few. He himself will be the first one opposed to any true injustice. He himself is the one who most desires his sheep to be well tended. We can imagine that some of the shepherds who were pasturing themselves justified it because they thought they deserved it based on work they had done, based on comparisons with those around them. What they failed to realize was that the whole enterprise belonged to the Lord and that their part in it was a privileged gift. But because they were not good stewards of the gift it was taken from them.
I swear I am coming against these shepherds.
I will claim my sheep from them
and put a stop to their shepherding my sheep
so that they may no longer pasture themselves.
The Lord himself provides food for the sheep, daily wages for the laborers, because he himself loves us and desires us to flourish. It is not because he has calculated some sheep to be better than others, but rather because his love for all of them is so generous as to strike us as unreasonable. He is madly in love with his creatures.
For thus says the Lord GOD:
I myself will look after and tend my sheep.
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