Reading 19
The workers hired last
The reading
Matthew 20:1-16
“For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’
“When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’ When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’ But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? 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 are chosen.”
The companions
Psalm 145:8-9
The LORD is gracious, merciful, slow to anger, and of great loving kindness. The LORD is good to all. His tender mercies are over all his works.
Jonah 3:10-4:11 (selected)
God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it. But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. He prayed to the LORD, and said, “Please, LORD, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my own country? For I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, and you relent of doing harm.” The LORD said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” […] The LORD said, “You have been concerned for the vine, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow, which came up in a night, and perished in a night. Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred twenty thousand persons who can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand, and also much livestock?”
The note
The complaint is reasonable. Twelve hours in the heat, one hour in the cool of the evening, the same pay. Anyone who has seen a new starter’s offer letter knows the temperature of that feeling.
Read the owner’s answer closely. He does not argue that the day was fair. He points out that nothing was taken: you agreed to a denarius, you have a denarius, take it and go. The contract held exactly.
That is the mechanism the parable exposes. The first workers were content with the deal until they watched it given to someone who had done less. The loss happened entirely in the comparison. Nothing left their hands.
Then the last question, which is not a defence but a question: is your eye evil because I am good. The offence is not injustice. The offence is generosity landing somewhere you did not authorize.
This week
Find the comparison you keep going back to. A salary, a promotion, somebody’s obvious luck. Work out precisely what you lost when they gained — the actual amount, not the feeling. Usually it is nothing.
Do that sum once, in writing, and see whether the number and the resentment match. If you still cannot stop checking, stop looking. Mute the feed, close the tab, for one week.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” in the companions.
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