"For the kingdom of the heavens is like the master of the house...". This the first line and frames this parable about paying day-labor. The housemaster hires day-laborers throughout the day from the first hour to the last. But at the end of the day he pays them all the same amount, a day wage rather than an hourly wage. Those who worked longest think this unfair and complain. The defense is in three parts: 1) each laborer made his own contract, 2) (cannot) the master can do as he pleases with what is his? and 3) reads, "or is the eye of you evil that I am good?" Usually translated envious - generous. Finally, "Thus will be the last ones (men) first and the first ones (men) last."

Ordinarily in seeking meaning, one cares to separate reading meaning from or out of, presumably the correct approach, from the homiletic reading meaning into, the latter risking making a text say what it never said or meant to say. But with parables that line is at the least made indistinct. What I notice in differing interpretations are those features and meanings that remain invariant across all of them. I find three here. 1) Each agreement is singular, 2) the rules are set by the house, and 2.a) exploitation of labor by capital is the given condition and rule.

But on the labor side, there appears an inference that a kind of arbitrage of time and work can be beneficial, in waiting to the last before signing-on in expectation of receiving full pay. And perhaps this reflected in Augustine's prayer for purity, but not yet!


.

And perhaps this reflected in Augustine's prayer for purity, but not yet! — tim wood

Thanks for your response. But I don't understand your last sentence here. The parable for me basically says that life doesn't have to be fair. That "fairness" is a human concept that has no correlation with reality

Entropy. Life isn't fair. I wonder though if the concept of entropy is a concept transferrable on to the human condition.

I dont know how this parable applies to economic study, but it's an interesting question

The wisdom of the parable lies in fairness vs justice. Everyone should suffer equal consequences for equal crimes. Thomas Aquinas thought God could show mercy on those in hell. Because of justice, God would have to do this evenly. But that is the negative side. On the positive side, there is no rule that God, or the universe, or what-have-you cannt give greater joy to some over others even though we recognize it as arbitrary. Fairness might be a concept that is childish

The parable for me basically says that life doesn't have to be fair. — Gregory

Is that what it says to you, or rather what you say to it? "Life doesn't have to be fair"? Does this mean that there is something called fairness that is apart from life, and that life, therefore, does not have to be what it is not? Don't be lazy - actually that's a judgment not in the parable because the parable seems to be able to carry the opposite message: be lazy! - but read the thing word by word keeping before you the question, "What is this saying?" I find the presence of the laborers idle because no one has hired them difficult to account for. What do you say the message is, exactly, of the parable?

Those hired in the morning agreed to work in return for a specified payment. Those hired later were told merely that they would be paid whatever the landlord thought appropriate. Jesus knew, of course, that legally those hired in the morning would have no claim for more than the specified amount. He knew also that those hired later in the day would have difficulty making a claim in law for any payment, because the agreement they entered into with the landlord was so vague as to be potentially unenforceable.

But of course he knew as well that they might have an equitable claim--one for unjust enrichment. Rather than face possible litigation, and as earning the reputation for generosity would make people think highly of him and promote the popularity and sales of his wine. So, the landlord opted to pay those hired later in the day the same amount as those hired in the morning, making it virtually certain that no claim for wages could successfully be made against him by any worker.

The kingdom of heaven, therefore, is like a shrewd employer and good businessman.

Jesus is a communist. From each according to their ability to each according to their needs. Everyone needs to eat, whether they work all day or half a day.

What do you say the message is, exactly, of the parable? — tim wood

That life gives some people more happiness than others and the universe is not unjust in doing this

Some interpret this parable to mean "don't be jealous of baptized infants who go to heaven without struggle even though you had to struggle". I've never heard of someone being jealous of an infant that died, so this can't be the explanation. Again, I think it means "equal punishments, unequal rewards"

It's the opposite of communism

Fairness might be a concept that is childish — Gregory

I don't think so. Unfairness is the hallmark of being a child. It has to be taught to them, this implying, at some level, that fairness is an adult concept. Assuming adults are better thinkers, it follows that fairness is a notion that makes sense i.e. is a rational belief to hold. :chin:

Such decisions are made by God, as master, and human attempts to understand these decisions using conceptions like fairness and equity are fruitless, because God does not apply human mathematics in judging good.

Jesus is a communist. — unenlightened

To quibble, Jesus was a socialist. A communist would not have said "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's".

The kingdom of heaven, therefore, is like a shrewd employer and good businessman. — Ciceronianus the White

Actually more complex than that. Under the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA), if you treat an exempt salaried employee as an hourly employee by pro rating his wages by hour, you risk having him reclassified as non-exempt and requiring that he receive time and a half for all overtime.

Jesus was just complying with federal law to avoid an HR nightmare by paying him hourly and not by the week. My guess is that he was crucified in the past for this and didn't want to repeat it.

To quibble, Jesus was a socialist. A communist would not have said "render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's". — Hippyhead

To counter-quibble, he went on, "and unto God that which is God's." And in the light of the parable under discussion, what belongs to Caesar is his image in gold - everything else is God's. Give Caesar back all his gold, and it becomes a big pile of soft metal. God's currency is life itself, and Caesar's power is just a social construct, that will 'wither away'.

Assuming adults are better thinkers, it follows that fairness is a notion that makes sense i.e. is a rational belief to hold. — TheMadFool

Perhaps, unless there is a next step (enlightenment?) were you realize fairness was a false concept all along. It's difficult to decide one way or another

Perhaps, unless there is a next step (enlightenment?) were you realize fairness was a false concept all along. It's difficult to decide one way or another — Gregory

Possible, sir! Possible!

Jesus was just complying with federal law to avoid an HR nightmare by paying him hourly and not by the week. — Hanover

He was well advised by the attorney for the three persons of the trinity, the Archangel Causidicus Magnus.

The interesting thing about Christ's parables is that they are put together to attract a certain thinking process. If you just take the parable at face value then you may as well read it and move on without gaining any insight into the intentioned meaning. Rightly or wrongly I read this parable as meaning that even if you reach out to God in the last few moments of your life, just like the person who turned up for work at the last minute, you will get the same reward as someone who has believed and trusted in God all their life. That may seem unfair to those who have "sacrificed" their life to God but it also raises the question of whether it is faith or works that justify you in the eyes of God.

...but it also raises the question of whether it is faith or works that justify you in the eyes of God. — david plumb

As I see it, works serve the function of being a reality check. One could say they have faith, and sincerely mean it. Works help one understand how true that feeling is.

Very true Hippyhead.

I was wondering what people thought of Matthew 20:1-16 and what it means to them

(Use the translation most comfortable to you) — Gregory

The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning 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 noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 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?’

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

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

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 five in the afternoon 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 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, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one 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.”

When person works in the world, value is determined by results. However in pursuit of the Kingdom, One man worked the whole day while another works for an hour and received the same reward we will call "grace". The idea here is that in pursuit of the kingdom, value is determined by conscious effort. If a person produces the necessary effort for an hour or day it doesn't matter. these efforts are worth the same.

Say a person has a revelation to understand the meaning he was searching for. Another works for a year to receive the same revelation. Their reward is the same and made possible by grace rather than secular society