“Jesus told his disciples this parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. Going out about nine o'clock, the landowner saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and he said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.' So they went off. And he went out again around noon, and around three o'clock, and did likewise. Going out about five o'clock, the landowner found others standing around, and said to them, 'Why do you stand here idle all day?' They answered, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You too go into my vineyard.' When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.' When those who had started about five o'clock came, each received the usual daily wage. So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage. And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day's burden and the heat.' He said to one of them in reply, 'My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you? Or am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?' Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last."1
At many points in the Gospels, my pragmatic mind struggles to understand Christ’s parables. In this struggle, I am much like Peter who desperately wants, but unfortunately often fails, to comprehend the lesson. Perhaps some of you also share in this struggle. In taking a deeper study of the above parable, I’ll address the parable itself and how the parable reveals our need for mercy.
I have sat in church internally grumbling like the jealous laborer about how unfair it is for the late-hour laborers to be paid equally to those who had worked all day. Does it not seem unfair? When viewed through the lense of pragmatism, yes, it does seem unfair to the laborers who toiled all day. However, the parable is not concerned with the fairness of wages, although some commenters have tried to use the parable in this sense. The parable is concerned with, as it begins, what “The kingdom of heaven is like…”. Christ is not teaching an economic lesson on the proper valuation of work and the just distribution of wages. To think that the lesson is about exercising generosity as the landowner did would be a complete misreading of the parable’s message.
The unfair distribution of wages stands out to the pragmatic mind precisely because it is meant to stand out in the story of the parable. The opportunity for the salvific reward realized in the kingdom of heaven cannot be measured in the same manner as day’s wage. To attempt to directly correlate the system of earthly payment to the distribution of Christ’s eternal and infinite love is folly. The pragmatic intuition of unfairness that our senses are alerted to illustrates how unsatisfactory the comparison of monetary compensation to eternal reward truly is. The generosity of the landowner is a revelation of Christ’s Divine Mercy that He has made a reality for us in the kingdom of heaven.
To try and contextualize salvation in the form of wages is pitiful when faced with the magnitude of God’s unfathomable Divine Mercy. You may recognize this phrase, as it is part of one of the most well-known revelations of God’s mercy, communicated to St. Faustina in the Divine Mercy Chaplet. “O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.” How are we to understand the limitless mercy that God offers to us, which St. Faustina so beautifully communicates as “unfathomable” (or “niezgłębiony” as she would have written in Polish)?
A proper understanding of mercy begins with a proper understanding of sin. We all sin, and we are all marked with Adam’s original sin. Every sin, even if does not directly affect another person, is a transgression against God, and cries out for God’s mercy. Christ takes these transgressions upon Him on the cross: “All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up in this cry2 of the Incarnate Word. Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them by raising his Son.”3 In His infinite nature, God continues to take these transgressions upon Him, offering limitless mercy to us, even though we continually sin against Him.
The parable, understood, is communicating a story of absolute mercy. In the parable, some laborers worked the whole day, some laborers worked just an hour, and all the same, the generous landowner paid equally the day’s wage. The day’s wage signifies the gift of eternal life. Yet, the method for reward in the parable seems unfair. If we were to apply the parable’s system of compensation to the gift of eternity, we would have to be measured by our sin compared to another’s sin, and so on. This method seems unfair because our worthiness (hours worked) of the eternal reward will never be equal to the infinite magnitude of the reward and the unfathomable limit of God’s mercy.
In the kingdom of heaven, we are not measured by our worthiness of the reward, God’s mercy compensates for that beyond our understanding. But participation in eternity is no guarantee. God’s mercy is only available to us should we acknowledge our transgressions and accept God’s generous forgiveness and strive to sin no more. Should it be that we ever try to understand the eternal award by our limited earthly mind, and in doing so compare ourselves to the other laborers, the parable serves as a reminder that we in fact might be the laborer who only worked an hour but is in desperate need of the landowner’s generosity – God’s unfathomable mercy.
Twixt more and less in God's own realm,"
that Gentle said, " lies no debate;
for there is each man paid alike,
whether little or much be his reward.
That gentle Chieftain is no niggard,
whether His dole be hard or soft
He poureth His gifts as water from weir,
or streams of the deep that never turn.
Large is his freedom who hath fear'd
'fore Hira that rescueth in sin;
no bliss shall be withheld from such;
the grace of God is great enough.
An excerpt from “Pearl”, XI.1.1
Mt 20:1-16a
“This cry” refers to Matthew 27:50 where Christ gives up His spirit on the Cross. In Luke’s Gospel Christ’s final cry is “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.”
CCC 2606