Matthew 20:1-16

Matthew 20:1-16 The parable of the vineyard owner and the laborers; the last shall be first

This parable can be interpreted on many different levels, which we will explore; but first, we need to understand what actually happens in the story.

Jesus tells a story about a landowner and laborers, but according to the first few words of verse 1, what is this parable really about?

The kingdom of heaven.

What does the landowner do early in the morning and what does he do at various times later in the day?

How much does he agree to pay the first group of workers?

A denarius was the standard daily wage.  It was enough for a man to feed his family the next day.  If he didn’t get a daily wage, his children very possibly might go hungry.

Do the laborers agree to receive that wage?

The landowner’s actions and the laborers’ actions were perfectly normal for that time.  Workers who did not have a steady job would go to the marketplace and hope to be hired for a day’s work.  When the harvest was ready, landowners needed a large number of people to bring in the crop quickly.  Rain or other weather problems could ruin the crop, and it could go bad if it is left in the field too long.  So the landowner needed everyone he could get.

At the same time, the economic lives of common laborers were very precarious: they never knew from day to day whether they would be able to eat the next day – it all depended on whether they found work that day.

We see this day-labor economy in many places.  Where I live in the nation’s capital, I have often seen groups of day laborers in the Home Depot parking lot hoping they can get some work for the day.

When the landowner goes back to the marketplace later in the day, he finds more workers.  What wage do they agree to? 

They agree to his offer to be paid whatever is right, or righteous, or just.  The Greek word here is díkaios, which is often used to distinguish a “righteous” person from a sinner.  He’s saying to them, I’ll do the right thing; I’ll treat you right.

Why do you think the laborers accept that vague statement?

By the time he is hiring more workers at the end of the day, he doesn’t even talk about money.  He just tells them to go work and they do.  Why do you think they go work without any agreement about money?

They are just grateful to no longer be standing around.  A little pay would be better than no pay at all.

When it is time to pay the workers, the landowner starts with the workers he hired last.  Jesus tells the story this way to make a point.  He is not saying this is how a boss would act or should act.  It is a device he is using to make his point.

How did the workers hired first react when everyone had been paid?

Did the landowner cheat the workers who were hired first?

Now let’s dig deeper.

Level #1

Remember that this is a story about what (verse 1): the kingdom of heaven.  So who in the parable stands for what in the kingdom of heaven?  The landowner represents who?  The workers hired first represent who?  The workers hired last represent who?

The landowner is God.  The first group of workers is probably the devout Jews who keep challenging Jesus, people who have been devoting their lives to God from their childhood.  The workers who come later are perhaps the “tax collectors and sinners” that Jesus has been welcoming into his kingdom, or perhaps Gentiles.

What is the point Jesus is making about the kingdom of heaven?

As we connect the story to the kingdom of heaven, what is the “pay” the workers receive?  We are saved by grace, not be our works, so what is the “pay”?

If the answer is “salvation,” what does that mean?

Now, Matthew might have included this story to make a point about devout Jews and “sinners,” or about Jews and Gentiles.  What would the point be?

Different people say this in different ways, for example: All people receive the same salvation; all people receive eternal life; all people receive access to God.

In verse 13, when the first group complains, what does the landowner call the one he responds to?

Jesus calls him “Friend.”

What does Jesus’s use of the word “friend” in verse 13 tell us about his attitude toward those who challenge him because they don’t like his egalitarianism?

The workers who started in the morning could be interpreted as those who developed a commitment to Jesus from their childhood, in contrast to those who came to faith in adulthood or even at the very end of their lives.  For that interpretation, what would the point be?

Do people receive a greater reward from God if they come to faith earlier in life?  They get to live more of their life in communion with God while they are still alive, but do they receive a greater salvation?

Can the point of the parable be applied to other comparisons people might make?  For example, is the reward of salvation greater for the speaker at a church event, compared to the person who provides the refreshments, the person who puts away the chairs afterwards, or the person who just comes in, listens, and goes home?  In what ways do those things matter and in what ways do they not?

Conclusion #1: All who work for God will receive the same salvation: forgiveness of their sins and life forever with God – regardless of whether they came to God early in life or later.  God saves all who work in his kingdom and loves all of them.

Level #2

The reaction of the laborers who started first, when they see what the other workers are paid, is why Jesus told the story in the order he did.  If he had said that the landowner paid the early workers first, those workers would never have found out that the workers who came last were paid the same amount, and we would not have been able to see their attitude toward the other workers.  What is their attitude toward the workers who came later?

The landowner implies that they do not have the right attitude.  Why is it that attitude a problem?

A BIG NOTE OF CAUTION:

Some people are bothered by this story because they think that paying the workers who come late the same wage as the workers who start early will encourage laziness.  They are bringing their own biases to the story.  The story does not say that the workers who were hired later were lazy people who slept late and only came to the marketplace at the end of the day.  The story says they were “idle,” but it does not use that word pejoratively.  It doesn’t say it was their fault that they hadn’t found a job.  It doesn’t even say they showed up late.  They could have been waiting all day for someone to hire them.  The story doesn’t say the landowner hired all of the people who were looking for work early in the morning.  Perhaps the landowner originally thought 20 workers would be enough to bring in the harvest, but as the day progressed, it became clear that he needed more, so he went back to the marketplace.  They might have been there from the beginning.  Or perhaps some workers were taking care of a sick member of the family in the morning, or were themselves sick, or were testifying in court that morning, or were burying a loved one.  If we choose to see them as lazy, we are injecting our own biases into the story.  Jesus does not say they were lazy or at fault in any way.

This leads us to consider the attitudes of the various groups of workers.

At the beginning of the day for the first group of laborers, when they first encounter the landowner and their relationship begins, what do you think is the attitude of the first group of workers toward the landowner and the work they are getting from him?

It's a contract – you pay me the normal wage, and I will work for you.

Notice that when they challenge the landowner, they inject a sour note into their relationship with the landowner.

When the second group of workers first encounter the landowner and their relationship begins, what is their attitude toward the landowner and the pay he is offering?

They choose to trust him that he will be fair.

When the later groups first encounter the landowner and their relationship begins, what do you think their attitude is toward the landowner and the pay they are likely to get?

They also trust him.  They don’t know what they will get, but they trust that the landowner will pay them something reasonable.

Which attitude better reflects what God hopes to see in his followers?  Why?

What does this tell us about how we should feel about having the privilege of working in God’s vineyard, of being a member of God’s kingdom?

It calls us to humility.  If you’ve decided to work for God, trust him and don’t second-guess what he is doing with other workers in his kingdom.

Conclusion #2: Our attitude towards other people and their access to salvation can sour our relationship with God and with each other, and can even taint our thinking about the privilege of being in a relationship with God.

There are two more levels of application to look at:

• This landowner recognizes that all people should have what they need for their daily bread.

• The last shall be first.  God actually seems to care more about those who the world cares less about, because the world cares less about them.

Level #3

The Catholic Church has a long history of concern for economic relationships in society and has developed an extensive body of teaching, often called “Catholic social teaching,” regarding how to apply Christian principles to social issues, especially issues related to God’s desire for justice.  (And many other denominations have similar teachings.)  One of the core principles in Catholic social teaching involves the dignity of work and the rights of workers.  Two of the ways that Catholic social teaching develops that principle are relevant to this passage: (1) That everyone has a right to work, and (2) that everyone has a right to a living wage for their work.  How do you see those principles affirmed in this passage?

How might these principles be put into practice in our society?

Ever since Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Rerum Novarum in 1891, the Catholic Church has called for a minimum wage that is high enough to allow a worker to cover the basic needs of the worker and his or her family.  Some people call that a “living wage” to distinguish it from a bare minimum wage that is not high enough to support a family.  Ensuring a right to work – that everyone who desires to work can find a job – is a more difficult policy challenge, but some governments do more than others to try to ensure that everyone seeking work can find a job.

Do you see ways that we are falling short of these goals for work, and what can we do about it?

Conclusion #3: We pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” but God also asks us to try construct our societies so that people can work for their daily bread and other basic needs.  Workers have a right to work and a right to be paid enough to cover the basic needs of themselves and their families.

Level #4

Now let’s look at a final point here that is often given little attention.  Jesus says almost the same thing right before and right after he tells this story.  In Matthew 19:30, he says, “But many of the first will be last, and the last, first,” and Matthew 20:16 is similar, without the “many”.  This is a different point than the point about salvation being given also to those who come late.  What is added by making this declaration about the last and the first?

What does “first” mean?  First in what?

The only way to make sense of this is to interpret the “first” to mean those who are first in the eyes of the world – highest in status, wealth, sex appeal, fame, applause, followers on social media, etc.

What does “last” mean?  Last in what? 

In what ways are we – you and I – last?  In what ways are we first?

Notice that in Matthew 19:30, Jesus says, “Many of the first will be last, and the last, first.”  Why do think he qualifies it with “many,” as though it will not be true of everyone?  What kind of person who is “first” in the eyes of the world might not be “last” in the kingdom of heaven?  And what kind of person who is “last” in the eyes of the world might not be “first” in the kingdom of heaven?

If everyone receives the same salvation by grace as a gift from God, does it make sense to talk about first and last?  What is Jesus trying to tell us when he says, “The last shall be first”?  What does it tell us about how God thinks?

Notice that Jesus doesn’t say, “The first will end up even with those who were last, and the last will finally catch up.”  What does this tell us about God’s perspective?

God sees things differently than we do, in his downside-up view (see God’s Downside-Up View of the World, with additional Scripture passages in God Takes a Downside-Up View of the World).  As God sees it, those who are seen as less important or further behind in this life are all the more of concern to him.

If you ever find yourself thinking that you have more of a right to God’s favor than someone else, he might tell you that you’re missing something and someone else has moved ahead.

Conclusion #4: If you want to know what God is thinking about, what perspective God is looking from, look from the bottom up, because God is noticing what things look like from the bottom, from the people who are “last” in the world’s eyes.  He wants all of us to see the world from his upside-down view – to understand that many of the last will be first.

Looking over the whole parable and Jesus’s closing comment, what does this passage tell us about God?

What does it tell us about God’s attitude toward us?

What does it tell us about how we should live?

Are you a Christian because of the reward you will get – the “pay” that comes when you die or at some other point in your life?  Or are you a Christian because of the relationship and the privilege and the joy of participating in God’s work?  Explain.

Take a step back and consider this:

It can be very hard for us to think as God thinks.  We get too focused on ourselves.  This parable reminds me of a poem by Shel Silverstein:

God’s Wheel

by Shel Silverstein

God says to me with kind of a smile,

“Hey how would you like to be God awhile

And steer the world?”

“Okay,” says I, “I’ll give it a try.

Where do I set?

How much do I get?

What time is lunch?

When can I quit?”

“Gimme back that wheel,” says God,

“I don’t think you’re quite ready yet.”

(Source: Shel Silverstein, A Light in the Attic, HarperCollins, 1981, p. 152.)

What are some ways that we tend to think we know better than God what he should do in our world?

It is hard to see our own blind spots.  Do you have any idea where you tend to think you know better than God?

What can you do to more fully take on God’s perspective on our world?