Matthew 20, 1 – 16a
Let us first look at the details of this parable.
It was harvest time for grapes. The landowner was looking for workers to help gather his produce. The situation was quite common during the time of our Lord. A landowner would need more workers because the harvest has to be brought in quickly to keep it from rotting in the fields.
The landowner and the workers he was contracting agreed on the usual wage, the denarius, the daily wage of a worker. If this were in Davao, that would have been at least ₱438.00 per day. He looked for workers five times: the first time at dawn, the second time at the third hour, the third time at the sixth hour, the fourth time at the ninth hour, and the last time at the eleventh hour.
To put this in a better context, we need to understand that harvesting grapes was during August. It was the hottest month of the year, with temperatures of at least 30ºC and 34ºC with 40% humidity. The days would be longer than nights. The workday was not limited to eight hours but was from sunrise to sunset.
Sunrise would have been around 5:30 a.m. and sunset around 7:40 p.m. The Jews then would divide the time between 5:30 a.m. and 7:40 p.m. into twelve parts. Hence, the first invitation to work would have been earlier than 5:30 a.m., the second at around 9:30 a.m., the third a little past noon, the fourth group at around 3:30 p.m., and the last group a little past 6:00 p.m. The workday would have ended at sunset, i.e., at 7:40 p.m.
Understandably, the ones who worked the longest would complain. They had been working under the sun for at least twelve hours, while the last to be hired worked only for about an hour.
But was the landowner unfair? He was not; he paid the agreed amount to the workers. The landowner was within his right to be generous. The complaining workers came across as envious of the good fortune of the workers recruited later.
Many of the parables of our Lord offended the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees. This parable was not an exception. The Jews believed themselves to be the Chosen People. But even among the Jews, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees felt more special. They looked at their strict observance of the Law as an assurance that they would be the first to enter the Kingdom of God. They felt entitled.They considered themselves more worthy than everybody else, including their fellow Jews. They went so far as to declare that only they would be saved.
But our Lord started proclaiming the Kingdom of God to people whom the Jews deemed unworthy of the Kingdom. These were the public sinners like the prostitutes and tax collectors. Worse, He preached to the Gentiles. The scribes, Pharisees, and the Sadducees started to complain like the earliest workers in the parable. They did not appreciate the generosity of God, who extended His hand even to the sinners and Gentiles, the last workers to be invited to the vineyard.
We, too, can be like the earliest workers, the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees. We can claim that we have been trying to live good Christian lives and start being critical of those who have recently found Christ. We can be resentful and even think that those of us who have been working longer at being good are being unnoticed while those who are new get all the attention. Instead of being envious, we can rejoice that another has responded to the call of our Lord to join Him in our shared mission as believers.
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