Parable of Workers in the Vineyard

After Jesus spoke with His disciples about the rich young man, He told them this parable. “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 each worker a denarius for the day and sent them all into his vineyard.

“About the third hour (9 o’clock), the landowner went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. ‘You, also, go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So, they went.

“The landowner went out again about the sixth hour (noon), and the ninth hour (3 o’clock), and did the same thing.

“About the eleventh hour (5 o’clock), the landowner went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.

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

“So, he told them, ‘You also go into my vineyard.’

“When evening came (about 6 o’clock), the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and continuing on to the first.’

“The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour (5 o’clock) came and each received a denarius. So, when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.

“On receiving their pay, the original workers began to grumble against the landowner. They said, ‘These people who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’

“But the landowner answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give this last worker the same as I gave you. Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

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

See Matthew 20:1-16

Notes: “a denarius”: A Greek silver coin, equal to a day’s wage for a laborer.

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