Parables of Life, Pt. 3: "Last But Not Least"

LAST BUT NOT LEAST (MATTHEW 20:1-16)
The economic crisis at the turn of the 21st century that hit the airline industry reflects the cost of doing business. United Airlines and Continental Airlines filed for bankruptcy and American Airlines avoided bankruptcy after the union gave back $1.62 billion in wages and benefits to the company. Before 9/11, airline pilots earn as much as $150,000 a year flying domestic airplanes and $300,000 for the big international routes. Work security, however, is a thing of the past. Jobs are cut, pay is reduced and the union is weakening. Terrorists, competition, insurance, tax and technology are threatening to eliminate their job. (St. Petersburg Times 9/6/02 “Dream Job Becoming Demoralizing”)

Engineers tell a joke that the high-tech cockpits of the future will be equipped with a computer, a pilot and a dog - the computer will fly the plane and the dog will bite the pilot if he tries to touch the controls!

Jesus compares the kingdom of God to a benevolent and wise employer who promises potential employees on His team full employment, full pay and full benefits. Layoffs, recession and hiring freeze are absent in His company and under His ownership. The theory behind this parable, like most parables, includes God’s open invitation, glad acceptance and full inclusion of gospel listeners who are receptive, responsive and repentant – even if they are Gentiles, sinners or undeserving.

What do we know about God’s hiring practices, operational style, fiscal management and conflict management style? Why is our Heavenly Father more generous, giving and genuine than earthly bosses? Why does Jesus value souls more than savings?

God Says What He Means - Stand in Line
20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men to work in his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. (Matt 20:1-2)

The crisis and challenge for unemployed workers is the loss of income, his identity and initiative. However, being unemployed does not mean doing nothing. A Psychology Today article provides some suggestions to the unemployed on the lookout for a job: “Make job hunting a full-time commitment. Stories abound of well-qualified people who have been unemployed for a year or more. Is the problem a poor economy or something else? Frequently, it is something else - minimal job-hunting efforts, perhaps. Surveys have shown that most people who have been unemployed for lengthy periods spend fewer than five hours a week actively searching for work. They manage to land only one or two interviews each month. If you are unemployed, you should spend a minimum of 40 hours a week actively searching for work. As a full-time job seeker, your goal should be at least one interview a day with someone who has the power to hire you. For lower-level jobs, even more interviews a day are possible. You've heard the saying, “Looking for a job is a full-time job.” Consider putting in some overtime as well.” (“How to Land a Job,” Psychology Today 9-10/94)

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2006 workers below 55 spent an average of 16 weeks looking for work and workers 55 or older need 22 weeks to do so. (“Out of Retirement and Into Uncertainty” New York Times 5/27/07)

God is the most charitable, compassionate and coveted employer in the job market and in the free world. He says what he means and means what he says. He does not tell a lie, change His mind or keep us guessing. In the parable of the vineyard, He offered to pay the workers as long as they reported for duty, entered the fields and kept the hours. No questions were asked, no supervision was necessary and no one was fired. He did not question them about the work they did, the area they covered and the hours they kept. Also note that the charitable owner did not even ask if the workers had wasted any time, whether they had talked with others, taken a break or stopped for lunch. The landlord kept his promise; he paid at the end of the day, not the next day or the next week or over several days. It was paid in terms of cash, not in the form of goods or livestock.

The landowner’s hiring terms and conditions were unusual but unmistakable. He hired the first group for a denarius and sent them into the vineyard. In Greek, the word “work” in verse 1 is missing; so it should read, “A landowner who went out early in the morning to hire men into his vineyard.” Not only in verse 1, but the word “work” in verses 4, 7 and 13 are also absent in the Greek text. Verses 4 and 7 are identical; it should say, “Go also you into the vineyard” and verse 13 should read, “Did you not agree with me for a denarius?” Work is assumed but never specified or enforced. The job description was flexible and doable, not harsh or rigid. Presence was demanded, attendance was compulsory, pay was guaranteed, but effort and quality were overlooked. One can say He hired the workers not because he needed help but they needed work. They just had to clock or check in and clock or check out, account for the number of working hours and stay within the confines of the vineyard.

In today’s terms, God is the employer that does not check whether his employees check e-mails, play video games and go online at work, on the job or on company time, even if he minds them doing such. He does not even ask them to finish their work before doing such things or to limit their activities and their time on such things. Absence and procrastination, and not activity or performance, are issues to him. Employment is for the worker’s sake and good, not the owner’s.

God Spends What He Has - Stay the Course
3 “About the third hour he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' 5 So they went. “He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did the same thing. 6 About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, 'Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?' 7 “'Because no one has hired us,' they answered. “He said to them, 'You also go and work in my vineyard.' (Matt 20:3-7)

One of the most generous employers in the world and in history is Bob Thompson, the owner of an asphalt paving company for 40 years. Thompson struck it rich when he sold his company for $400 million, but he gave $128 million away to the hundreds of workers who had helped to make it all possible. 77 employees became millionaires overnight and hundreds of other employees received bonuses worth tens of thousands of dollars.

Bob and his wife, Ellen, started the company, Thompson-McCully, with only a small savings of $3,500. The Thompsons were not interested in giving all the proceeds of the sale to their three children. Bob feels that it’s not beneficial to give a great deal of money to a young person and he wants to encourage his kids to maintain a strong work ethic.

After much debate about how to divide the money, the Thompsons settled on a plan. The 550 people who had retirement packages would get $2,000 for every season of their employment history with the company. The 77 people who did not have retirement packages were instant millionaires - they would each get $1 million to $2 million. However, the Thompsons stipulated that only those who had reached retirement age would get the money outright. Younger staff members were given an annuity preventing them from receiving the money before they retire. On top of that, their taxes were paid! (ABCNEWS.com 12/10/99 “Owner Sells Company and Shares Profits With Employees”)

The landowner had money but he did not give it all away – he spent it on hiring new workers, giving people hope, improving their wages, benefits and lives. The workers he hired had potential and were dependable. They did not have a full-time job, but they actively foraged, tested and explored the local marketplace, the home improvement stores, the busiest street corners and the unemployment office as soon as morning arrived, looking for a job. The owner, on the other hand, in verse 1 hired early in the morning and hired additional workers in verse 3 at 9 a.m. (third hour); in verse 5 at 12 noon (sixth hour), 3 p.m. (ninth hour); and in verse 6 at 5 p.m (eleventh hour). How early? The same “early” word (v 1) describes Jesus’ prayer time (Mark 1:35), the rooster’s wakeup call (Mark 13:35) and Jesus’ resurrection event (Mark 16:9).

The difference between the earliest workers and the later workers was that the latter was described as “doing nothing” or “idle” in most translations. Idle is not the same as lazy. The word occurs three times, once in verse 3 and twice in verse 6. The first idle of verse 6 is the word “around” from the phrase “standing around.” The last group explained they were doing nothing not because they were lazy or useless but that they were ignored and jobless.

The kind owner would rather spend money than see people loitering around, doing nothing and killing time. However, he wisely did not promise the 9 a.m., noon, and 3 p.m. workers a full day’s pay. So he offered them an interesting proposition: “Go also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you” (v 4). No amount was specified to them - just what was “right.”

The terms of the last group’s contract differed also from the previous groups. The owner did not even say the words “whatever is right” to the 5 p.m. workers. They were given a question to test their sincerity before they were hired (v 6). To their credit, when they were instructed to work, they wasted no time, didn’t ask about money and worked the full hour left.

The owner did not make the workers feel worthless, guilty or blameworthy. He did not take advantage of them, drive a hard bargain or tell them to relax. The workers were not dumb either. They took the best and only offer available. They were just thankful for half pay, quarter pay or minimum pay. For that matter, any work or pay at all. They were in no condition to bargain and what they heard was good and fair enough.

God Saves Whom He Can - Support One Another
8 “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.' 9 “The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 'These men 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.' 13 “But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' 16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” (Matt 20:1-16)

Once there were three robbers who terrified the district around Monte Casale in Italy. One day the three robbers came to a friary there and asked Brother Angelo for food. Brother Angelo, indignant for justice’s sake, said: “What? You men who have no shame in stealing from others the fruit of their labor? Now you have no shame to ask us, poor simple friars, for what God has given to us through the generosity of others? Best you get out of here quickly, and don't you dare come back again.” And so the robbers swiftly left the friary door.

In a short while Francis of Assisi came to the friary. He had begged for some bread and wine in a nearby village. Brother Angelo proudly explained how he had reprimanded the thieves. Francis replied: “Sinners are led to God by kindness, not by scolding. Did not our Lord say that a doctor is not needed by those who are well, but by those who are sick? And did not our Lord himself eat with sinners and outcasts?”

Brother Angelo asked, “What should I now do?” And Francis told him: “Take this bread and wine which I was given, and go find the robbers in their den in the woods. Give them the wine and the bread, and fall down on your knees to ask their forgiveness. For you put your self as a friar first, and them as thieves last. And then tell them to repent of their stealing, for there will always be food and drink for them in our house whenever they ask.” (Jerry Alan Smith)

At the end of the story, the robbers repented and became friars themselves.
http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Hills/3577/960922.html

Jesus did not come merely for saints and the deserving, but also for sinners and the undeserving. He did not only save the first in line but also the last to work. A subtle but significant change is emphasized in the story by Jesus. The “landowner” of verse 1 has changed his identity in verse 8 to “owner” - “lord” (kurios) in Greek. He is not your usual landowner, but the Lord of the human harvest or souls. The terms of salvation are not the same as the language of the marketplace. The vineyard in verse 1 was unequivocally “his vineyard” and the money, in His words, “my own” (v 15). He desires all men to be employed, to be paid and to be saved. This kind of talk usually upsets those who think they have labored the hardest, done their utmost or accomplished the most. When the lord summoned the foreman to pay the workers their wages, unexpectedly from the last ones to the first, note that only the earliest group was complaining and only the last group was targeted.

The earliest workers did not complain against the 9 a.m., 12 noon, or 3 p.m. workers but only one group: the last to arrive, the first to leave or the one hour earner. In their mind, the first group thought they should receive a generous compensation, a sizable bonus and an attractive package. The pride of working hard for the money, giving value for the buck and skipping the unemployment lines were lost to the workers. After all, did they not bear the burden and brave the heat to work hard for their money? They pride themselves in being hardened perfectionists, professionals and performers (v 12).

However, the misunderstanding was not on the master’s part; he did not owe, mistreat or deceive the first group. A contract was a contract. The first groups (v 12) talked in relative terms (“These men who were hired last worked only one hour and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day”), but the lord (v 13) talked in legal terms (“Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man 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?”). The owners’ reply in Greek is slightly different from NIV’s “unfair” (v 13) and “right” (v 15): “Friend, I did no INJUSTICE (not “unfair”). . . Is it not LAWFUL (not “right”) for me what I will to do with mine?” He did not unjustly pay them less, work them longer or pay in goods. They did not complain about not having enough, but not having more. The disgruntled group confused their personal worth with comparative or relative worth to others. Note: unfortunately, fairness ends up with comparison.

The true unfairness in the text is why the last group of workers was unfairly singled out by the first group. The last group did not know who were hired previously, when they were hired and what was promised them. They had taken a big risk by not securing a written note up-front. In fact, they were the only group standing “all day long,” but nobody hired them (vv 6-7) though they were not resisting work. Even the landowner recognized that when he asked then the last group why they had been standing there all day long. The eleventh hour workers could have stayed at home and not showed up, but they did not. Work was better late than never. Day by day they showed their face, swallowed their pride and hid their disappointment – but they never gave up, turn around or stop coming. They didn’t want to hang their heads, travel for nothing and return home empty. The day was ending and most had left, but still they stood, waited and lingered. They were hoping to get back at least travel expenses or dinner money. Further, they needed work to occupy themselves, feel useful and make contacts. They had families to feed, rent to pay and essentials to buy.

Benefiting the last group is not the same as praising, favoring or rewarding the last, which the owner did not do. The owner did not praise the eleventh hour worker any more than he praised the first worker. The later groups, to their credit, did not ask for equal pay; the lord in his abundance freely gave.

All people are equal before God: Red, yellow, black, brown and white, they are precious, lost and helpless in His sight. God is not a cost-cutting, money-making, and slave-driving employer. He urges, invites and welcomes people into His circle but he never forces, drives or enslaves them. The hardest thing in salvation is thinking that we earn or deserve what we were offered. As a friend explains the text, “The privilege is being invited or hired. The pay is just bonus.”

Conclusion: God did not choose you because you are strong, smart or successful. Fred Smith says, “God does not love me because I am good. He loves me because I am precious, and I am precious because Christ died for me.” (Haddon Robinson, Christian Salt & Light Company 48) Have you chosen the best boss in the world, who is ideal and perfect, for your Savior and Lord as well? Do you know He is offering you something more lasting than a job or money? Have you accepted His salvation, which is eternal and priceless?

Discussion Questions (Contributed by Daniel Hung)
1. What does it mean by “to hire laborers for his vineyard” (v 1)? Why did the landowner make so many rounds of hiring (vv 1, 3, 4, 6)?
2. Why did some workers complain about their wages and what do the landowner's replies teach us about (1) God's fairness (v 13) and (2) God’s sovereignty and grace (v 15)?
3. What does it mean by “So, the last will be first, and the first will be last” (v 16)?

Reflection Question
1. Have you ever grumbled that God has been “unfair” to you? Why? How fair have you been to other people?