“Are you envious because I am generous? So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
(Matthew 20.15-16
NRSV)
After a couple of hours the landowner realized that he needed more workers. Time was running out. He returned to the marketplace and found some other men, "standing idle." He offered them employment and they gladly accepted. "I will pay you whatever is right," he told them. So they went to work. Later he realized he needed still more workers so at noon and at three o'clock he hired still more. He still wasn't going to make it. Even with all these additional workers all the grapes would not be harvested. At five o'clock with only one hour left to work the landowner went once again to the marketplace and found some more workers.
The trouble began at quitting time. The workers who were hired at five o'clock and worked for only one hour in the cool of the evening were paid one silver coin. The workers who had worked all day in the hot sun looked on in amazement. They began to think that if these workers, who had worked only one hour got that much then certainly they would receive more--after all they worked all day. They were in for a disappointment. In fact, they were outraged for they received the same amount as those who worked only one hour--one silver coin. How dare the landowner pay them the same amount as those who had worked fewer hours. It wasn't fair. They felt cheated.
Of course, this parable isn't about harvesting grapes at all. It's about grace, it it says to us that grace cannot be earned. It is a gift.
Dear God, help me to share your gift of grace and love. Amen.
