The Labourers in the Vineyard

Jesus gave us teaching that resonates through the ages. He knew the awful suffering he would face, and what a shining light he would become. In his earthly ministry he dropped pearls of wisdom that continue to give insight in today’s world, two millennia later.

He used parables in many different ways, importantly, they are often used to get his audience to think, and debate about the world as it is and about the world as it ought to be. That is as relevant today as it was then.

Jesus was an itinerant teacher and preacher. Crowds would gather around him and his stories would be a starting point for debate and discussion (Crossan 1992, 2012). So, they would ask, what will the reign of God be like? Well, he would reply, let me tell you this story.

We have one of those stories today, often called the parable of the labourers in the vineyard but it goes by many other names, partly depending on the interpretation that is being pursued (Caponi 2018). Vineyards provide nice metaphors, with images of growth and new life, but also cutting and pruning (Thomas 2020). But this story is about harvest time.

One of the superficial and obvious readings of the parable identifies the landowner with God. We understand that at judgement day God’s grace will be so much different from what we might expect. God’s grace is infinite and it is available equally for everyone. In this interpretation we talk about ‘unconditional generosity as part of stewardship, and gratitude for what has been received’ (Barrera 2013: 174).

There is nothing wrong with that interpretation at all. That interpretation fits well if you believe the original parable ended at verse 13, and there is scholarly consensus that it probably did (Crossan 1992: 109).

So what do you make of the next two verses, in particular verse 16: so the last will be first and the first will be last?

This parable, ending there, is thus teaching us that the reign of God will be vastly different from anything we can contemplate. The world will be completely turned on its head, the last will be first and the first will be last.

The poor will come into their own, the mighty will be cast down from their seats, and the rich will be sent empty away as Mary’s mighty song has it (Luke 1: 52-3). This eschatological overturning is another appropriate reading.

Continuing this line of argument, you might read into the parable that what we are seeing here is a recognition that God’s notion of justice is so different from our own. God exercises both justice and mercy and we see God giving those excluded from work the same as God gives those who were selected to work.

But the coin the landowner pays in is a denarius, a day’s wage. Money is finite. Grace is not. Grace is infinite and can be shared equally with everyone, excluding no one. Economists would liken God’s grace to a public good like the air we breathe – everyone can have it, no one can be excluded, and the grace I receive doesn’t come at the expense of the grace you can receive.

But the denarius is money, not a public good at all. Money comes with bickering, envy, and lack of gratitude, and we see all of that in this story. The landowner’s generosity causes dissension. We are exposed to the ‘morality of money’ (Selby 2014: 101), or more appropriately, the immorality of money.

I referred just now to the landowner’s generosity. I could equally have said his capriciousness, and referred to his exercising power. Another reading of the parable highlights the systematic injustice involved. People are standing ready to work, but some are chosen and some were not. Who should suffer for that? If the system creates unemployment, is it fair that the unemployed should be neglected or should they not be compensated somehow? So at another level, the parable raises questions of systematic justice and systematic injustice (Crossan 2012: 95-8).

As I said earlier, the parables were designed to cause discussion, and for that they need to be somewhat obscure, and this potentially is why they remain just as relevant now as they were then. I am not going to attempt to tell you the correct interpretation - maybe it’s a bit of ‘all of the above’. But I would invite you to reflect on the story and engage with it as Jesus intended back then, and we should continue to do today.

It was probably not a coincidence that in the first reading today we have that lovely passage from Isaiah to go with the parable:

for my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways,

for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We cannot fathom the extent of God’s mercy and justice. God is so generous. God is so good that we can have no words to express God’s love properly. But, and because it is stewardship Sunday, you should have expected a but, we can help God’s grace and God’s mission here by supporting the work of this parish.

We are separated because of the pandemic but we are still together as parish. The parish is still doing God’s work through the Lazarus centre and the Social Enterprise. We are still caring for each other. We still have expenses in keeping us going, keeping our music alive, and keeping us in touch with each other. The maintenance costs of the parish continue unabated as we clean the hall more thoroughly now than ever before.

St Peter’s Eastern Hill is like a vineyard. There are labourers who are still coming to work in the vineyard, some toil long in the sun, some only work a few hours a week. However, all are working together. I’d ask you to continue to be an instrument of God’s grace. Please continue your generosity to keep the labourers in this particular vineyard going. Your contributions help the parish budget so that we can continue our ministries - our music, our liturgy, our bookshop, our work with RMIT, our work with the homeless and up skilling people into work, the telephone tree, and our teaching ministries.

All these things cost money. All rely on a regular commitment and generous giving. As we say in the pew sheet, there are many ways of supporting the work of the parish, please continue to do so and, in this time of additional costs, please increase your commitment if you can. The day goes on. The labourers are out. Please join them in the vineyard work of St Peter’s.

References: 

Barrera, Albino (2013), Biblical economic ethics: sacred Scripture's teachings on economic life (Lanham, MD: Lexington).

Caponi, Francis J. (2018), 'Thomas Aquinas on the Parable of the Late-Come Workers (Matthew 20:1-16)', Journal of Theological Interpretation, 12 (1), 90-109.

Crossan, John Dominic (1992), In parables: the challenge of the historical Jesus (Sonoma, Calif.: Polebridge Press).

--- (2012), The power of parable: how fiction by Jesus became fiction about Jesus (New York: HarperOne).

Selby, Peter (2014), An Idol Unmasked: A Faith Perspective on Money (London: Darton, Longman & Todd).

Thomas, Deloris S. (2020), 'Vineyard as an Organizational Metaphor', in Robert B. Huizinga and Debra J. Dean (eds.), Organizational Metaphors: Faith as key to functional organizations (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan), 107-21.