A man…..went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard (Matt. 20:1-16).
The Issue of just compensation for labor is a very ancient one; n fact some have said that it started with Cain and Abel! Today the issue is still very much alive and disputes between labor and management continue to make headline news. At the core of any labor-management question on compensation is the fact that the “boss” and the “worker” may have very different ideas on what are fair wages for services rendered. If both agree, then the workplace is harmonious; but if disagreement prevails, things can get very ugly indeed. Since human nature is the same now as it was in the first century, the picture presented in this parable of the laborers in the vineyard rings true. The “householder” finds his concept of fair wages was not accepted with unanimity by the laborers he had hired. It is a situation we can fully appreciate.
A lesson about character attributes
First, let us look back for a moment and realize the main focus of this parable carries forward the theme of the group of stories recorded in Matthew 13. Recall that these earlier parables were spoken to explain what “the kingdom of heaven is like” (Matt. 13: 11,24,44). The very same words are used to introduce this parable of the “Laborer in the Vineyard” (Matt. 20:1).
Again Jesus does not tell us anything about the majesty of the kingdom of heaven, or what life will be like in those days. The emphasis is on the character of the people who will comprise the kingdom of heaven, just as it was in the series of parables that were previously studied. This is something we should not dismiss lightly, as the idea deserves serious pondering on our part.
Do we get along now?
Just as the ecclesia is not the building but the people who comprise the body of Christ, so it is that the kingdom is the multitudinous body of Christ through the ages. In this life our characters should be refined to conform as much as possible to the spiritual image of our Lord Jesus Christ. In dealing with one another we should remember that we aspire to live in the kingdom of God with our brothers and sisters forever. If we cannot get along with each other now, what makes us think God will force us to live together forever!
Sometimes I have heard that God will solve all these problems in the kingdom age, so whatever disunity, whatever conflict, and whatever disagreements exist among us individually and collectively as a community are merely a result of human nature and nothing can be done about them. It is precisely human nature that we must condemn and conquer to the best of our abilities (I John 2:13,14).
How hard we try matters even if we don’t always succeed. How long we must work to solve a particular situation is unknown. We are completely unaware of the time scale of the Lord. He allowed Noah to preach for 120 years and our Lord Jesus Christ for a mere three and one half. The Lord God was longsuffering for centuries with His people Israel before He declared that there was no remedy (II Chron. 36:16).
This parable explores a very important aspect of character development for us. The question is: What is fair compensation for working in the vineyard of the Lord? As a corollary to that question we might also inquire: How long must we serve to receive eternal life?
The story line of the parable
The story given in this parable unfolds in an apparently very simple fashion. The Lord of the vineyard sets out to hire workers to help bring in the grape harvest and agrees to pay each worker one penny a day as his wages. He starts early in the morning to hire; but as the day progresses he realizes he will need more workers, so at the third, sixth, ninth and, finally, eleventh hours he continues to hire workers making the same wage agreement except at the last.
The picture is a realistic one. When grapes are ready for harvest it is wise to bring them in as soon as possible. This is especially necessary if one is to achieve good wine from the pressing. I am told that being one day late from the peak of ripeness can degrade the quality of wine made from a particular harvest. In wine making today, chemistry can often balance out timing in harvesting grapes, but in ancient times and in areas of the world where scrupulous tradition rules, haste is everything!
The fairness issue
The question of fairness in this parable cuts both ways. From the point of view of the householder, all previous workers had agreed to the wage he had offered so why should anyone have occasion to complain? Furthermore, as the day drew on, one could argue that labor became scarce and hence higher relative wages were required to finish the harvest (essentially a supply and demand argument). On the other hand, the laborers who had worked the entire twelve-hour shift, normal for workers in the first century, were greatly disturbed to find they received the same compensation as those who only worked one hour. We would call this wage compression. It often happens today that an employer will pay more to attract a new worker than the same employer is willing to compensate current staff who have worked faithfully and hard for many years.
There is a Jewish parable that also addresses the question of fair compensation and, while similar in many respects to the story of the laborers told by Jesus Christ, comes to a somewhat different moral conclusion. The story is told of a “king who owned a vineyard and engaged many laborers to work in it. One of them was distinguished above the rest by his ability, so the king took him by the hand and conversed with him while the others worked.
“At even, when the laborers were paid this one received the same wages as those who had wrought the whole day. Upon this the others murmured because he had wrought two hours while they had worked all day. ‘Why murmur ye; this laborer has by his skill wrought as much in two hours as you during the whole day’.”1
Jewish parable shifts from grace to worth
This is logic we can appreciate even if we might not fully agree with the king’s compensation plan. I recall having been both the beneficiary and sufferer of such thinking over the years.
In the parable, as told by the Jewish sages, the emphasis is on the value of the “works” performed by the gifted laborer and not on the prerogative and grace of the householder. In both parables those who felt wronged “murmured,” but in neither case does the recipient of the munificence of the king or householder express thankfulness. While it is difficult to argue from absence of commentary, it is nevertheless true of human nature that we immediately complain when we feel unjustly treated but often we are very slow to be thankful, if at all, for gracious gifts received from others. The most precious gifts we have been given are life itself and the opportunity to serve God. These gifts have given us access to things eternal in a world where many in other times and other places, even today, have not been so blessed. It might be tempting to think, as in the Jewish fable, that it is because of some skill, talent, knowledge or zeal possessed that the Lord has given us this gift, but that would be thinking exactly in the mode of the Pharisees.
O. T. guides interpretation
The full interpretation of this parable builds on a number of ideas that are familiar to us from scripture. The “householder” is God (Joel 1:7, Psa. 80:8, and Isa. 5:1), and He is the one doing the calling, for many be called but few chosen (Matt. 20:16).
First the congregation of Israel was His vineyard, but now the household of God, or the ecclesia, meets that description (I Tim. 3:15).
Householder needed every one
The “householder” (of Matthew 20) offered all workers the same wage of one penny regardless of the length of service given in the vineyard. A “penny,” which sounds like very little indeed by our thinking today, is in this case one Roman “denarius” which was the going rate for one day’s labor of a freeman at the time of Christ. The “householder” then hires “others” (v. 3) who clearly had not heard the earlier message (v. 7) that work was available. Once chosen, each group of laborers put its hands to harvesting the fruit of the vineyard performing the will of their Lord.
There is an abundance of work to do in the vineyard and this parable makes it evident that every laborer is essential to complete the task. The “householder” does all he can to secure all the labor available, but due to circumstances, vastly different tours of duty occur for different workers. Finally, those employed at the eleventh hour accept the calling of the householder faithfully, and go to work in the vineyard without specific agreement on wages, trusting to His grace for just compensation (“and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive,” v. 7).
To the Pharisees, rewards could only be coupled to hours logged, or quality of service. They could understand how someone of greater ability might be able to work less to accomplish the same or more. However, they would murmur intensely at the concept of giving someone who worked only one-twelfth the time of another the same wages.
Ideas about application
Some have applied the principle here in a broad sense to Israelite and Gentile dispensations. Namely, that the Jews came first as the vineyard of God and the Gentiles later, yet the Lord has offered salvation to both on an equal basis.
While this idea deserves merit it certainly cannot be all the parable is trying to teach us. The parable focuses on the individual calling, and the various times individuals are able to work in the vineyard of the Lord. Some indeed may be raised in a family that is “in Christ” and be privileged to spend a long lifetime in his service. But what are we to say of others who are baptized in their old age, or who, whether young or old, are baptized and die shortly thereafter? I know of a case where a person in their mid-seventies asked for baptism where upon someone in the ecclesia remarked that they “didn’t know if it counted at that age.” Or, in another circumstance, an ecclesia agonized over whether or not to teach someone the Truth, and baptize them when they were in the hospital diagnosed with a terminal disease and only given a few months to live.2
The demographics of an aging population mean there will be more and more need for us to bring to the vineyard men and woman literally in the eleventh hours of their life spans. We need not be concerned whether or not this is the right thing to do, nor should we fear when sudden tragedy cuts short a brother or sister’s time in service. The lesson of this parable is clear in this regard — whether it is one hour, or the full twelve-hour shift it will not matter. The Lord offers salvation to all who have heeded the call to work in His vineyard regardless of how long circumstances allow us to continue in the field reaping the harvest. No matter how young or old we are, no matter how long we have served, it will be by His grace that we will be saved, for: “the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
Next: more on working in the vineyard
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One