Matt 20:1-16

“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius^[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’  So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

“‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 

When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner.  ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

“But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

I have an essay to write for my MA and part of it included this passage, which got me thinking about it again.  As a result, I wrote to my lecturer – Brad Jersak – and asked him if my thoughts were crazy.  He said he loved it, and that I should blog about it.  So here it is:

I have never been able to read this passage in the way that I was always taught to do so – that some people chose to come to the party late.  I have always seen something different in this story.

First, notice how, when asked why they were not working, they didn’t reply, “we weren’t interested before”.  Actually, they were asked, “why have you been standing here all day?” and they replied, “because no one has hired us”.

Why would that be?

If you were a farmer looking for labourers, who is going to be your first choice?  The young, strong, fit men.  Who are you not going to pick?  The old, ill, unfit ones.  You do not want people who are going to slow things down or not get the job done.

They did not chose to not work.  They were not wanted!

It’s like school sports teams.  There were always the ones who ended up not being picked because they were overweight, unpopular, not very good at sport etc.  For the record, that was me.

Those whose face doesn’t fit, or who are not cool enough or good looking enough, or rich enough, or funny enough, or [fill in blank], are not valued or wanted.

The day in the parable is this age.  Those who are not valued by the world are left on the sidelines.  The moment that it comes to paying people – that’s the day of judgement.  Everyone gets the same pay, but those who are least valued in this age gain the most on that day.  Those who are most valued by the world gain the least.

That is what he means when he says, “in this way, the first shall be last and the last shall be first”.  Those who are first in this world, gain least and those who are last gain most.  Note that everybody still gains.

We have a God who is for the least and the last and the lost and the broken and the poor and the oppressed and the hurting and the infirm and the lonely and the unpopular and all those for whom our world has no time or value.

When he returns, it is they who have the most to rejoice about.

We have a God who is all about justice and compassion.

So, for those of us who are on the sidelines; for those of us who are lonely; for those of us who feel unvalued; for those of us who think that we are not wanted; for those of us on the underside of this system; for those of us crying out for it to be fair: he has heard us.  And the first will be last and the last will be first.