Laborers In The Vineyard

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

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Payday! There’s a certain warm ring to that word. Some people are paid monthly, some twice a month and some even weekly. But in the times of Jesus people were paid on a daily basis. If you worked today you were paid today.

This principle goes back to the Law of Moses in Deuteronomy 24:15, where Moses said, “each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.”

A common wage for a day’s work was a denarius, a small Roman coin worth a few cents in our value today. Jesus uses this wage to demonstrate a point in a parable of a vineyard owner. We find this reading in Matthew 20:1-16.

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us,’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.’

“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? 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 chosen."

Everyone seemed to be happy to be employed for the day. From early in the morning and all throughout the day these workers had been invited to go and work in the vineyard. The stated pay for the first crew was a denarius. For the others, they were simply told that they would be given what was right. Happy to be employed they went to the vineyard trusting that the owner would do what was right.

As the day concludes it is now time to settle up…payday! Can’t you imagine the joy of those who worked only a short time and still received a full day’s wage? How wonderful for the owner to be so generous.

But then those who labored all day were jealous and disappointed. They were jealous that someone might receive as much by doing only a fraction of the work. They were disappointed that they didn’t receive even greater pay than was agreed since the late workers received the full day’s pay. What a shame that they could not enjoy the pay that they had agreed to accept!

The message of this parable is meant to teach us that what God provides for us is not something that we earn. Rather it is a gift from God to us—eternal salvation. We should be happy with those who receive it no matter at what stage of the day, or life, it may come.

Paul discusses this in Ephesians 2:8-9, where he says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast.”

The jealousy of the workers tends to show that the wage had become more important to them than the work in the vineyard. In the end, we should simply do what needs to be done and trust in God to give us what is right.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we never forget that we did not deserve nor could we earn salvation. May we always remember that it is by the grace of God that any of us can lay hold of that wonderful wage.

Our thought for the day: “Unless the job means more than the pay it will never pay more.” H. Bertrum Lewis.

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.