Mt 20:1-16
[Jesus said to his disciples,] 1“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’ 5So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise. 6Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
7They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’ 8When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ 9When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage. 10So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. 11And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’ 13He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? 15[Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’ 16Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
God Is Infinitely Generous: Hired laborers were usually peasants who had lost their ancestral lands through debt. They drifted into cities and villages hoping to be hired. The sense of honor in their culture prevented them from looking for work; they had to be approached and asked to work.
In the parable, the landowner does not treat the workers in the same way. To those hired first, he acts as an employer: he promises the usual daily wage, and he does exactly that. However, to those hired last, the owner chooses to act as a patron: a person of means who treats other people “as if” they were members of his family. Such treatment is free and gratuitous; it is not “earned” by the workers.
That those hired last are paid first is an important narrative point: it prepares for the expectation on the part of those hired first, and their disappointment when they are treated as “hired hands” rather than “family members.”
The parable shows us something about God from the perspective of Mediterranean people. God acts as our “patron”: he deals with us not according to what we truly deserve but according to his gracious mercy.