“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received a denarius. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matthew 20:1-16, NRSVue)
I was just at a theological learning event for the synod I serve, and we had a closing worship where we read this passage and then discussed it as rostered leaders of the synod. One of the leaders said the phrase, You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ stuck out to them.
What is right?
What is just?
Are right and just the same?
Why were so many people standing around so late in the day? Did they not show up in the early morning? Were they not skilled at what was needed?
So many ponderings came, and then the question of who God is in the story.
Is God the:
Landowner?
Those hired first?
Those hired last?
Manager?
How does this story change when we see God as a different person, and how are we supposed to hear this parable?
For me, it is the understanding that we are all gifted to do something and even those who show up later have the same station as those who have been around for a long time. We are all equal in the eyes of God and what is right or just for me, may not be right and just for all.
It is about God being with and in all of us and all of us doing a part to bring the kingdom to light in a world that lives in darkness.
Be the light and help everyone be a part.
aSacredRebel 