Off to Work We Go

Excerpt from The Scandal of the Kingdom

The unexpected, upside-down nature of the kingdom of God was a constant surprise to Jesus’ disciples. God’s kingdom was so different from what people thought it would be that Jesus’ listeners would have considered his ideas scandalous. So he wisely used parables to lessen the shock and help them grasp the concepts of life in the kingdom.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, also called ​“the Parable of the Hours,” is so contrary to worldly wisdom that it appears outrageous to us even today. It sometimes makes people angry because it seems unjust. But Jesus was redefining justice and helping people see that kingdom justice was not like anything we would normally think of as justice.

Off to Work We Go

Jesus told this parable in response to Peter’s question: ​“See, we have left all and followed You. Therefore what shall we have?” (Matthew 19:27). After telling them they would sit on thrones and receive one hundred times more than all they left behind, Jesus offered an illustration of the heart of God that is behind it all — the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ​‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ​‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ​‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ​‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ​‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ​‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ​‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few chosen.” (Matthew 20:1 – 16)

According to this parable, the kingdom of the heavens is like a vineyard owner who needed to hire some day laborers. He went out into the marketplace and found people waiting for jobs. He said, ​“Come work in my vineyard and I’ll pay you a day’s wages.” When he came back after having coffee, more people were waiting. So he said, ​“Hey, come on and help me out. I’ll pay you a day’s wages.” This pattern continued all day. After his afternoon nap and a cookie, the vineyard owner came out one last time and found some people still waiting, hoping to be hired. With only one hour of daylight left, he said, ​“Come on, come on! I’ve still got some work to do.” This is such a wonderful teaching because the owner paid all the workers the same wage.

Upside-Down Justice

Suppose you were one of the workers who started sweating at 7:00 a.m. At the end of the day, you would have been exhausted and filthy. As you walked up to get paid, you might have thought, Wow, I’m going to get paid more than those guys who got here so late. But when the vineyard owner paid you both the same, you would have thought, How can this be?

This is an example of the great inversion where the teachings of Jesus seem ​“upside down.” Those who viewed work from a worldly mindset would have gotten angry, saying, ​“Listen, we put up with the scorching heat of the day! We’ve been working hard, and now you want to pay us the same amount you paid to those guys who worked fewer hours? What do you think you’re doing?”

Even though the owner was behaving justly because he paid them exactly what he promised to give them, they wanted more. The owner had disrupted their sense of justice, but in God’s kingdom, justice without love will never do justice to justice. Love and mercy permeate the kingdom, which then naturally means justice is taken care of. The workers who didn’t get hired until the last hour had hungry babies at home. They received the sort of justice found only in God’s kingdom.

If you look at this parable from the perspective of justice based on love, it is very touching. I have been a migrant field worker. I know what it’s like to stand on a street corner, hoping someone will choose me for a job. We must have sympathy for these workers in the parable, especially those who had been waiting all day. By 4:30, they still hadn’t been hired. They thought about their children at home who needed food to survive. They may have wondered if they had enough fuel at home. Maybe they didn’t even have a house. Work gives you a place in life, a supply of resources, even if it’s only for a day. The vineyard owner understood this.

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard is bookended by Jesus’ teaching that ​“many who are first will be last, and the last will be first” (Matthew 19:30 NRSVue). This phrase is found in four major passages in the Gospels¹and may seem insignificant, a throwaway line like, ​“Have a good day!” It shows up in various settings and stands as a foundational teaching that the kingdom of God reverses the order that is present in human affairs. What appears to be first in the human order could be last in the divine order, and what appears to be last may actually be at the front.