The Laborers in the Vineyard
Read the parable
- Matthew 20:1-16 Primary account
Context
Day laborers gathered in the village marketplace each morning hoping to be hired; a denarius ("penny" in the KJV) was the standard fair wage for a twelve-hour day, and by the law of Moses wages were paid at sunset (Leviticus 19:13). At grape harvest, landowners raced the autumn rains and might hire repeatedly through the day. The parable follows Peter's question, "we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?" and is framed by the saying "the last shall be first, and the first last."
Meaning
The landowner wrongs no one — the full-day workers receive exactly what was agreed — but he is scandalously generous to the latecomers. The parable dismantles the idea that God's reward is a wage proportioned to hours logged: the kingdom operates on grace, not merit-accounting. It rebukes the grumbling of the "first" (a warning to disciples and, in Matthew's context, to those who resented latecomers and sinners being welcomed) and asks, "Is thine eye evil, because I am good?" God's generosity to others takes nothing from us.
Go deeper
Two free lessons walk through the parables as a whole: The Parables of Jesus and Interpreting the Parables.