Twenty years ago I literally worked in the vineyard. As I was a volunteer harvester for a monastery my working conditions were probably more comfortable than the ones of those who did it for their living. However, each morning we left our house when it was still dark and we started our journey back when it had become dark again. At home again I did not have any difficulties to get asleep. Since this experience I always sympathize with the workers of the first hour who complain: “These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.”
Many attempts have been made to explain the logic of the landowner’s behaviour. There is just one element which has convinced me. The Greek text of the parable does not speak of the “usual daily wage” (V 2 and passim) as our translation does, but of “one denarius”. From other texts we know that this amount of money was needed to feed a family of six persons just one day. The landowner’s decision to pay the latecomers as much as the others allows the latecomers to have their living for another day thus preventing that some of them fall into misery.
However, Jesus did not want to present a parable which teaches social generosity. If he had intended to do so, the landowner could have given the latecomers their wages after the payment of the others. Such a behaviour would not only have avoided the dispute with the workers of the first hour, it would have also followed Jesus advice, “But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,” (Mt 6:3)
The arrangements of the payment procedure are a provocation, and I think the parable cannot be understood if the provocation is not seen or understood. Jesus wants to provoke but this time he does not aim at the Pharisees, the priests or other Jewish representatives, but at the labourers in the vineyard, i.e. the disciples and all Christ’s followers – us included.
By this parable Jesus continues his answer to Peter’s question, “We have given up everything and followed you. What will there be for us?” (Mt 19:27) Jesus direct answer seems to promise a special reward: “Amen, I say to you that you who have followed me, in the new age, when the Son of Man is seated on his throne of glory, will yourselves sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Mt 19:28) However, after mentioning strives and persecution and their reward Jesus finishes by saying: “But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first,” (Mt 19:30) which is also the ending of the parable which Jesus tells directly afterwards.
Despite Jesus’ word of the twelve thrones one can doubt whether Jesus really thinks that the Kingdom of Heaven is a community with a social hierarchy and a privileged class. If there are any VIPs in the Kingdom of Heaven everybody is a VIP there. This abolition of social ranking is not just something which will be done in the future, but Jesus demands it from his disciples now: “As for you, do not be called 'Rabbi.' You have but one teacher, and you are all brothers. Call no one on earth your father; you have but one Father in heaven. Do not be called 'Master'; you have but one master, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be your servant.” (Mt 23:8ss)
Consequently, the question must be: “If there is no special reward, why should there be a special commitment?” If those who rarely go to mass enjoy the same status in the Kingdom of Heaven, why should I go to mass every Sunday? Why should I give alms generously if the stingy gift of the egoist weighs equal? And lots of other fields can be found where the same question applies.
At this point we definitively have to leave the world of the parable because it is the world of business and its logic is give and take. Jesus message is: “Don’t think of God’s Kingdom in these terms. Otherwise, you misunderstand it.” We live out of God’s love and everything we get from God is founded in God’s love. However, as long as we live our relation with God in the same way as we live a business relation we are unable to understand His love. The more we enter the logic of love, the more we live our relation with God as a love relation the more we understand His love and His way of thinking. In this logic we work for the Kingdom of God not because we will get an outside reward but because doing so brings us closer to God. It follows the same logic as speaking to a beloved person. We do so to be in closer contact with the loved one but not to get some reward.
Christians are both: children of the Kingdom of Heaven and children of this world. Therefore, we are always tempted to think of God in the logic of this world, in the logic of business. The provocation of today’s parable may help to realize the times when we are following this logic. May we find in these moments the courage to ask the Lord to understand His logic better.
- Father Ralf Klein