The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Extras on the Set)

“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 them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 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?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

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.’ The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘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.’ But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” - Matthew 20:1-16

What’s the first thing you think about when you hear this parable?

For me, it’s salvation. In the churches I was brought up in, this parable was linked to its common salvific interpretation—that the landowner is a representation of God, and the wages given to the workers represented heaven. For the workers, it didn’t matter when they began working (or began following Jesus), as long as it happened at some point in their lives. Each one was still given equal salvation. As I grew older, I also began hearing this parable connected more with the theme mentioned in the last sentence of the parable: “the last will be first, and the first will be last.” To me this spoke to caring for the poor and needy, and not gravitating towards the powerful and influential. Yet, when we read the parable like this, we automatically make a few assumptions, and ignore a few things mentioned in the parable that aren’t exactly the normal way things operate.

The biggest assumption we often make when reading this parable, is that the landowner is a representation of God. This of course is a good possibility, but it is never mentioned in scripture one way or the other. The landowner could very well be God, but the landowner could also simply be a landowner. Additionally, why did the landowner go out multiple times that day? Most landowners (or business owners in general) are acutely aware of how many people they need working to complete the tasks for the day. Was the landowner just bad at their job, or did they have an ulterior motive? Along those same lines, why were there still workers there throughout the day? Scripture makes no indication that they were anything other than normal, fit workers, and there weren’t many job shortages for that type of work in that time period, so one would assume that the workers should already be working. Finally, why did the landowner pay the last first? They must have known it would only lead to conflict with the earlier workers. They could have paid the workers separately, without letting them know what the others received. Sure the workers would probably find out eventually, but at that point their only course of action would be to go complain after the fact about an agreed upon fair wage.

Taking all of this into account, it becomes obvious (like with all of Jesus’ parables) that there are many different ways to read this parable—many different ways for Jesus to speak to us through it. One such way is to read this parable through the lens of how we should treat others. One could look at the landowner and say we should treat all others equally, regardless of what they can do for us. We could also read this parable through an economic lens, either promoting that we should strive to pay each worker in our care a living wage, or on the flip side, offering commentary on an unjust economic structure in which the laborers have no power or voice. Another way of reading this is through the lens of grace, in which all of us are equal recipients of God’s grace, regardless of how much we tried to earn it for ourselves.

When trying to retell this parable for modern listeners, we thought of the concept of extras working on a movie set. Often, extras are paid a simple day rate for their work, regardless of if they work all day or are only there for an hour. It in a very real way mirrors the flow of the parable, even if most directors don’t have any theological, social, or economic lessons to teach. We believe it helps us to both understand the equality of the day's wages, as well as the unfairness the workers felt at the same time. We believe it can also help us better put ourselves into the story, whether we see ourselves as the director or the extras.

How is Jesus speaking to you through this parable? Is it a message of grace? Salvation? Hospitality? Economic commentary? Is it something completely different from any of those things? It is our hope that you can take a fresh look at this parable through our retelling, and truly listen for what questions Jesus is inviting you to ask.