Workers in a Vineyard
As Jesus was telling what the kingdom of heaven would be like, he said:
Early one morning a man went out to hire some workers for his vineyard. After he had agreed to pay them the usual amount for a day’s work, he sent them off to his vineyard. About nine that morning, the man saw some other people standing in the market with nothing to do. He said he would pay them what was fair, if they would work in his vineyard. So they went. At noon and again about three in the afternoon he returned to the market. And each time he made the same agreement with others who were loafing around with nothing to do. Finally, about five in the afternoon the man went back and found some others standing there. He asked them, “Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?” “Because no one has hired us,” they answered. Then he told them to go work in his vineyard.
That evening the owner of the vineyard told the man in charge of the workers to call them in and give them their money. He also told the man to begin with the ones who were hired last. When the workers arrived, the ones who had been hired at five in the afternoon were given a full day’s pay. The workers who had been hired first thought they would be given more than the others. But when they were given the same, they began complaining to the owner of the vineyard. They said, “The ones who were hired last worked for only one hour. But you paid them the same that you did us. And we worked in the hot sun all day long!” The owner answered one of them, “Friend, I didn’t cheat you. I paid you exactly what we agreed on. Take your money now and go! What business is it of yours if I want to pay them the same that I paid you? Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Why should you be jealous, if I want to be generous?”
Jesus then said, “So it is. Everyone who is now first will be last, and everyone who is last will be first.”
Matthew 20:1-16 Contemporary English Version
The obvious application of this story would be the consideration of the place of the Jewish people in God’s timeline. Here we have a people who for hundreds of years have had the privilege of engaging in a transforming learning experience with the creator of the universe. As Jesus speaks, other people groups are now being invited in. Is there any sense of favouritism in the way God operates now? Should the early church have a hierarchy of privilege and honour? Not by the look of this story. Everyone is a recipient of God’s grace.
It’s a bit like birth order. The first child in the family gets used to being the ‘only one’. And then along comes number two who receives all the attention while First Child must just get along with growing up. And then the next child in the family arrives – the ‘baby’ who is last but not never the least! This is the child who benefits from the riches of experience developed by the family.
It is tempting to pull rank with other followers of Jesus. But it doesn’t work with Jesus himself. He confronts our sense of dues and rights with a reminder of the foundation of the family: grace and sovereignty. God can choose anyone to take on family responsibilities. It’s not a matter of who’s been around the longest. There is no queue for grace.