Israel was full of vineyards at the time of Jesus as the spies had also discovered when exploring the promised land many hundreds of years earlier. The vine and the yard had become symbols of Israel with God as its owner but Jesus told his followers that he was now the new vineyard and the true vine. The vineyard is used as the setting for one of Jesus best known parables also known as the The Parable of the workers ( labourers ) in the vineyard or The parable of the generous employer. This Parable appears in only one of the canonical gospels of the New Testament in Matthew 20: 1-16 and should not be confused with other parables relating to vineyards such as The parable of the wicked tenants also known as the parable of evil farmers.
Jesus tells the parable "For the kingdom of heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work. At nine o clock in the morning he was passing through the marketplace and saw some people standing around doing nothing. So he hired them telling them he would pay them whatever was right at the end of the day. So they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and again at three o clock he did the same thing. At five o clock that afternoon he was in the town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them "Why haven’t you been working today" They replied "because no one hired us" The landowner told them "Then go out and join the others in my vineyard" That evening he told the foreman to call the workers in and pay them beginning with the last workers first. When those who were hired at five o clock were paid each received a full day’s wage. When those hired first came to get their pay they assumed they would receive more. But they too were paid a day’s wage. When they received their pay they protested to the owner. Those people only worked one hour and yet you have paid them just as much as you have paid us who worked all day in the scorching heat. He answered one of them "Friend I haven’t been unfair didn’t you agree to work all day for the usual wage? Take your money and go, I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be jealous because I am kind to others? So those who are last then will be first and those who are first will be last".
The parable indicates that workers are seen as any person who wants to work for the kingdom and the vineyard is the kingdom of heaven itself. God is seen as the employer. The wage in those times for a day’s work was a denarius which was a Roman silver coin and this would have given them enough to feed their families. Those hired at the end of the day would have been known as the eleventh hour workers as the working day would have begun at around 6 am. The custom of paying workers at the end of the day would have been usual for that time and follows old testament guidelines found in Deuteronomy to pay on time, strangers, the poor and needy because they would have set their heart on it for their needs.
The central ideas around the Parable are about God’s grace and generosity stressing that this is unmerited and that we cannot earn God’s grace and our reward does not depend on how hard (or however many hours) we work so this has parallels with the parable of the Prodigal son. The parable is also asking who the eleventh hour workers are. Some see them as those who convert to faith late in life, even those on their death bed will receive the same reward as those who are life-long believers in Jesus. The Parable is one of many that introduce difficult ideas of equality, that God holds us all in equal worth, that those who are seen to be of higher status or more worthy in the sight of men will in Gods eyes be honoured no greater in his Kingdom.
In one sense we are all eleventh hour workers, We are all prone to looking across at others, comparing our worth in relation to them using all sorts of factors such as income ,intelligence, ability status and many other things but God is asking us to look to him instead, to his love, grace and generosity. Some have suggested that politically this parable is calling for a fair living wage for all people because we know that those with power and money have exploited the poor and vulnerable throughout history. When workers have been able to organise through trade unions and stand together they have been able to obtain justice and fairness. It is natural that the workers would have grumbled and felt the same sense of unfairness and injustice though the employer in this case was showing generosity. It may also have been that those hired later in the day were not so hard working or able, hence not having been taken on by anybody else earlier in the day, which may have added to the feeling of injustice in those who had worked in the day long heat. After all appropriate reward for appropriate work is deeply ingrained in us.
Our work for the kingdom though should reflect more a deep love for Jesus rather than an expectation of reward. Jesus is also warning that those working most closely with him like the disciples or those committed people in the church would not be any more favoured than others. Because we cannot bargain with or store up God’s grace, this is not a wage that can be negotiated like a contract for a better deal. It is rather more like a covenant or marriage in which God promises us everything and asks us for nothing in return other than our love and devotion. In his loving nature he continues to look for those left behind in the marketplace and welcoming them into the vineyard on the same terms. God wants to welcome you too. Whoever you are!!