3.05 The Labourers in the Vineyard
V. The Labourers in the Vineyard.
Matthew 20:1 - Matthew 20:16. In this parable Jesus likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a householder who went out early in the morning to the market-place to hire labourers to work in his vineyard. He found there the labourers whom he sought, and, having agreed with them for a denar each as their day’s wages, he sent them into his vineyard. A denar, or, as it is commonly rendered, a penny, the usual daily wage (Tob. 5:14, LXX.), was about equal to ninepence of our money, though its purchasing power was considerably greater. He went out again about the third hour (9 a.m.), and saw others standing idle in the market-place.
He said to them: “ Go ye also into the vine yard, and I will give you what is fair.” They, too, went into the vineyard. He went out again at the sixth hour (noon), and at the ninth hour (3 p.m.), and hired other labourers. Again about the eleventh hour (5 p.m.) he went out, and found others standing, to whom he said: “ Why stand ye here all the day idle?” THE PARABLES OF JESUS 111
They answered: “ Because no one hath hired us.” He said to them: “ Go ye also into the vineyard.” When evening was come (about 6 p.m.), he said to his steward: “ Call the labourers and pay them the wages, beginning with the last even to the first.” Those who had come at the eleventh hour, and had there foreworked but one hour, received a penny each. Last of all came those who had been first hired. Their expectations had been heightened by the sight of the master’s liberality to those who had laboured only one hour, and they felt sure that he would not be content with merely giving them the hire agreed on. When, therefore, they received every man a penny, they were disappointed, and began to complain: “ These last laboured only one hour, yet thou hast put us both on the same level, Chough we have borne the weight of the day and the scorching heat.” In answer he said to one of them: “ Friend, I do thee no wrong. Didst thou not agree with me for a penny? Take what is thine, and go thy way. It is my will to give unto this last even as to thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Or is thy 112 THE PARABLES OF JESUS eye envious because I am good?” “ So,” adds Jesus, “ shall the last be first, and the first last.” This parable is preceded by the words of Jesus: “ Many shall be last that are first; and first that are last “ (xix. 30). It ends, as we have seen, with similar words in a different order. Yet both passages have not the same signification. In the former passage there is question, as the context shows, of some who fail to receive the reward, and of others who obtain it; while in the latter first and last are placed on an equal footing, and receive the same essential remuneration. When, there fore, the parable begins with the words, “ For the kingdom of heaven is like,” etc, it is not thereby meant that it is an explanation of the preceding statement. The parable itself shows that the thought in 19:30 is carried farther in what follows, with the result we have seen namely, that, though both pas sages have an external resemblance, the thoughts that underlie them respectively are different. In the case of many of the parables the meaning is sufficiently obvious; here it is THE PARABLES OF JESUS 113 otherwise. Commentators have differed widely as to the genuine meaning of the parable; and this great divergence of views is due to the fact that ideas have been read into it which it does not really contain. For instance, some commentators of great weight have regarded the equality of reward as based on the equality of merit or service, inasmuch as those who laboured but one hour achieved as much by their superior industry as those who laboured eleven hours. There is a rabbinic parable dating from about three centuries after Christ which conveys this lesson and which bears a striking resemblance to our parable, but in the latter there is nothing whatever, not even the slightest hint, which could give any colour to such an interpretation. The concluding section of chapter xix. and the greater part of chapter xx. are devoted to the instruction of the Apostles. They had, according to St. Peter’s declaration, severed themselves from all material and humanties, home, family, friends, and possessions; but the sublime call which they had received, and the sacrifice which they had made, only 114 THE PARABLES OF JESUS rendered it the more necessary that they should be thoroughly grounded in humility.
How necessary a lesson to this effect was, the ambitious request of the wife of Zebedee, which was prompted by her sons James and John, is sufficient to show us. Accordingly, we may take the parables as primarily though not exclusively intended for the Apostles. Their Master would teach them by means of it that priority in point of time of calling ought not to be a reason why anyone should be puffed up; just as later He would tell them that priority of place in His Kingdom only involved increased service. All the labourers in the parable obeyed the call and wrought; and all without exception obtained a reward essentially the same, eternal blessedness. The parable might also at a later period serve as a lesson for the Jewish converts to the faith.
Though they were the first to be called, they were not thereby entitled to boast themselves against those who were called subsequently from among the heathen. The parable may be interpreted on broad lines as follows: The owner of the vineyard represents God; the vineyard itself, His THE PARABLES OF JESUS 115
Kingdom. The labourers signify those who are called to work in it whether in quality of His ministers or otherwise. The different hours help to bring into prominence the chief lesson of the parable namely, the varying length of the time of service spent by indivi duals or groups of individuals in the Kingdom as opposed to the essential equality ofremuneration. The penny stands for the eternal reward; and by the evening, when the labourers received their hire, is to be understood the Day of Judgment. Thus far we may go in the interpretation of the parable without justly incurring the charge of unduly allegorizing. The parable contains what in a writer of the present day would be termed inexactitudes, but these are quite in conformity with Jewish modes of expression. For example, in the introductory formula the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to the householder. It is obvious that in reality the resemblance exists between the narrative as a whole which follows, and the spiritual truth which it serves to illus trate. The householder alone is expressly stated to resemble the Kingdom, either because he is the principal personage in the parable 116 THE PARABLES OF JESUS or, more probably, because it begins with him.
Again, it seems implied that the owner of the vineyard hired at each successive visit to the market-place all the labourers whom he found there; and yet we find him upbraiding those whom he found at the eleventh hour with standing there idle all the day. Then, if we interpret the evening as the Day of Judgment, as we surely must, we are confronted with the difficulty that those who had been first hired broke out into murmurs, and were in conse quence rebuked by the householder; whereas, in fact, murmuring at the Day of Judgment on the part of the elect would be out of the question. All these apparent inexactitudes teach us the useful lesson that we must content ourselves with the genuine meaning of the parable, and not seek in every detail of the narrative a spiritual signification which it does not really contain.
TAGS: [Parables]