The Workers in the Vineyard

Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a household who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the first workers a denarius for the day and sent them into the vineyard.

He went out again about the third hour, then the sixth and the ninth. Each time he found more people standing in the marketplace, and he sent them into the vineyard too, saying he would give them what was right.

About the eleventh hour he found others still standing there. When he asked why they had been there all day, they answered that no one had hired them. So he sent them into the vineyard as well.

When evening came, the lord of the vineyard told his manager to pay the workers, beginning with the last and ending with the first. The workers who came at the eleventh hour each received a denarius. Then the first workers came, expecting more, but they also received a denarius.

The first workers grumbled against the master. They said they had carried the burden of the day and the scorching heat, while the others had worked only one hour. But he answered that he had done them no wrong. They had received exactly what they had agreed to.

The master said he had the right to do what he wished with what belonged to him, and to give to the last worker as he gave to the first. Then Jesus ended the parable: the last will be first, and the first last. This story warns against jealousy when God is good.