Be Still And Know

Matthew 20.1-2 NLT “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.” All of Jesus’ parables make us sit up. In their very different ways they are deeply challenging and surprising and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice. A landowner hired workers for his vineyard at various times of the day. Some were hired early morning and then others at 9 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 5 o’clock. So far so good. The problem is that the landowner decided to pay them all exactly the same amount. They all received the full day’s wage. The people who had sweated through the whole day felt that this was profoundly unfair and I think any trades union official would heartily agree. However, the landowner pointed out that he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own money. It’s not hard to understand what Jesus was saying. He was saying that ever