Matthew begins chapter twenty with a parable. “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.” It’s always a good idea when reflecting on a parable to check the previous passage. It often gives an insight into what Jesus is teaching. Chapter nineteen ends with a scene in which a rich young man asks Jesus what he must do to attain eternal life. He said that he kept the commandments scrupulously but wanted to know what more he could do. Jesus shocked him by presenting him with a challenge. “If you wish to be perfect, go sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come follow me.” We’re told that the young man went away sad because he had many possessions.
Then Jesus turned to his apostles and delivered what was to be, perhaps, his most remembered comment, “Amen, I say to you, it will be hard for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to pass through the
eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Peter, shaken by Jesus’ comment, immediately asked a serious question. “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” Jesus gave this answer to Peter. “Everyone who has given up houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive a hundred times more, and will inherit eternal life.” He ends with an odd saying. “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.”
To reinforce his teaching Jesus then delivered the parable that began. This chapter twenty of Matthew’s Gospel. “The kingdom of God is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.”
The parable presents a landowner going to the marketplace at 6 am to hire day laborers to work in his vineyard. At the time there were many men who were unemployed. People were continually losing their businesses or farms because they were not able to pay the extravagant taxes the Romans levied on the population. The local marketplaces were continually filled with men looking for work. They weren’t lazy. They were desperate. They needed to work to support their families. The normal day’s wage was a denarius, which would be just about enough to buy food for one meal for a family of four.
Grape picking time was towards the end of September. The harvest was always a rushed experience. The grapes had to mature, but they also had to be picked before the annual rains came in October. The landowner started hiring at 6 am but returned again at 9 am because more men were needed. This group and the other groups he hired at noon, 3 pm and 5 pm were to be paid “whatever was right.”
6 pm came and the workday was over. The landowner called the men together to pay them. He began with the last ones who were hired. They only worked an hour but were paid a denarius! The men who worked twelve hours expected to be paid more since they worked the entire twelve-hour day, but he gave them what they had negotiated when he hired them, a denarius.
The first group of laborers protested to the landowner saying that it wasn’t fair for everyone to be paid the same. Here comes the challenge of the parable. “My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same usual wage? Or am I not free to do as I want with my money? Or are you envious because I am generous?”
If we link this parable to the story of the rich young man, we can understand better what mes-
2 sage Jesus was imparting to his apostles. Jesus’ invitation to follow him was demanding. One’s heart had to be free. The reminder that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God was a call for detachment. If worldly possessions were unimportant for the disciples, then the whole world would be theirs. This detachment included, however, the desire for power. Jesus knew that the apostles would have the temptation to see themselves as superior because they were the first to be invited to the kingdom of God. Call to mind the times the apostles argued among themselves about who would be first in this kingdom. When he heard them arguing Jesus was harsh with them. He reminded them that they were to be servants and not masters.
After his conversation with the rich young man, Jesus gave a pointed directive to his apostles. “Many who are first will be last and the last will be first.” Everyone is equal in the kingdom. Everyone is a servant. Jesus ended the parable of the workers in the vineyard in the same way. “Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.” No one is better than anyone else. Everyone is equal in God’s eyes. No one has a right to exercise power over another.
Saint Paul spelled out this teaching in a powerful statement. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourself with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)” God is the master of the vineyard, and his generosity extends equally to everyone. This parable reminds us that we’ve been called to labor in the vineyard of the Lord, to be joyful servants without any prejudice.
It’s a challenge to follow Jesus because we can no longer think as the world thinks. We have to be free to clothe ourselves with Christ.
