“It’s not fair!” How many times do we hear that lament? Children make that complaint against their teachers and their parents. Adults say that about their boss. Whenever someone thinks that they are being picked on, that someone else is getting something good that they didn’t get, or that they are getting something bad that the others aren’t, they cry that it isn’t fair. There’s no complaint if we see we’re being treated special, but at the very least we want what we perceive as equal treatment. In our Gospel passage today, Jesus tells a parable of a group that complained of unfair treatment. Let’s look at the lesson the Lord seeks to give.
The parable begins early in the morning. A man who owned a presumably very large vineyard went out to hire some day laborers. It was probably time to harvest the grapes, and he needed workers (vs. 1-2). A typical day laborer in New Testament times would work from 6 am till 6 pm. They would usually gather in the marketplace early in the morning in hopes of being hired for a day’s work. A denarius was a typical and fair day’s wage at that time, so these workers were not being cheated by any means.
By the ancient Roman time system, the first hour of the day was 6 am., or generally sunrise. The first group of workers that the landowner hired started work at 6 am. By the third hour, or 9 am, he must have realized that he needed to hire some more workers, so he went back to the marketplace to hire more. He told them that he would pay them what was right (vs. 3-4). The landowner goes out again at the sixth hour (noon), again at the ninth hour (3 pm), and the eleventh hour (5 pm) to hire more workers. Each time he tells these new workers that he will pay them “whatever is right” (vs. 5-7).
These last several groups of hired laborers probably did not expect to get a full day’s wage, as they knew they had only worked part of the day. They would have been glad, though, that they were hired at all, and to receive any wage. There were no unemployment benefits back then, nor any welfare system. So imagine their surprise when the owner of the vineyard tells his steward to hand out the wages, starting with the 5 pm hires, and give them each a denarius! (vs. 8-9).
The hires who were hired at 6 am saw what was being handed out, and they felt that since they had worked all day, they thought that they would get more. That would only be “fair” in their minds (vs. 10). They were quite upset when they, too, only got a denarius, and complained to the landowner (vs. 11-12). “That’s unfair!” He told them, though, that a denarius was what they agreed on, that was the standard wage, and they were not being cheated in any way. He was just being generous to the unfortunate ones who had not been able to find a full day’s work (vs. 13-15).
So what does this parable have to teach us Christians today? This is obviously more than just a tale about a kind boss who wanted to treat the unfortunate ones in a generous manner, more than a tale of what’s fair or not fair. Jesus is again speaking about the Kingdom of God. There are people who get saved when they are young, as children or as teenagers. They go to a Christian university and become a pastor or a missionary, or do some other work for God’s Kingdom, spending their whole life serving the Lord. Some become Christians in early adulthood or middle adulthood, and then spend some years serving Him. Then there are those who may have had no interest or time for God, maybe lived a riotous life, and then as an elderly person, perhaps even at their deathbed, turn to Jesus and accept Him as their Savior. So, when they are all in heaven, should the ones who spent 70 - 80 years serving Jesus get a “better place” in heaven? Should the ones who spent 30 - 40 years get an average one, and then the ones who have a deathbed conversion just get a dingy corner?
God does not operate by our merit system. Those who turn to Jesus in their twilight years, perhaps literally moments before they die, will have just as good a welcome into heaven as the one who spent 80+ years serving Him. The thief on the cross who was saved in the last minutes of his life will enjoy the full blessings of heaven alongside those who were saved for decades. Such is the grace of God.
We should not begrudge those who turn to God in the last moments of life, because in reality, no one deserves eternal life. This is a lesson in grace - we do not obtain salvation from God by merit. Instead of grumbling that “it’s not fair!”, we should be rejoicing that someone in their later years or at their deathbed, turns to Jesus. Rejoice that their sinful soul was snatched from the brink of damnation, and is now redeemed and going to heaven! Rejoice with the angels that a new name is written down in glory!
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