The parable of the workers in the vineyard

It is the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time and today’s gospel talks about the generosity of the master of the vineyard that you can find in your Bible in Matt.20-1-16.

“20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard. 3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ 7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’ 9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

* * *

This last statement of Jesus has developed into a different understanding by so many people. This is where I got stories about very spiritual people who have been very loyal Catholics their entire lives. And when they die and reach their reward in heaven they were so surprised that some of their friends who refused to join their crusade were already in heaven ahead of them.

Mind you, a lot of people remember Dimas, who was crucified with Jesus. When his fellow robber demanded to be saved, he chastised him, saying that they deserved their conviction for their crimes, but Jesus was innocent of any crime. Then he asked the Lord to remember me when you come into your kingdom. Jesus responded, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” Indeed this is the classic example that the last will be the first.

So let us now tackle whether or not the master of the vineyard was unjust in his treatment of his hired workers? As we’ve been told, the master’s generosity could never be questioned. Now in many of my travels, I have visited many vineyards and seen different workers, many work to cut the grapes and put it in baskets. Others work to bring the baskets into the farmhouse, while others are hired to step on the grapes in vats in order to squeeze the wine from the fruit, while others put the grape juice in wooden oaks for its fermentation.

However the most important thing we must never forget is that the master hired the workers for a specific wage regardless of the time they were hired. This is a contract for every worker that the master hired. So even at a very late time, the workers were hired and offered the same wage. So clearly, these workers can say that they were blessed that they were hired on that day that no one cared to hire them to work. Unfortunately, there are people who would insist that the master was unfair to the workers, not realizing that the master hired all of them to work in his vineyard for an agreed wage.