Reading a Parable Radically

The parable of the laborers in the vineyard in Matt 20:1-16

Matt 20:1-16 (NRSV)
‘For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the market-place; 4and he said to them, “You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.” So they went. 5When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” 7They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You also go into the vineyard.” 8When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, “Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.” 9When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12saying, “These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.” 13But he replied to one of them, “Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’

We are very familiar with this parable of the laborers in the vineyard in Matt 20:1-16. But meaning of this parable would be very different if we read it from the perspective of marginality -- a lens of deconstruction. A parable is told in a particular situation to help hearers to see something differently. That is what the parable does: “A parable is a story cast alongside of life for the sake of leading the audience to see something differently” (Marcus Borg, Jesus, 259). 

What kind of God is this?
From God’s perspective, all are equal in the divine vineyard. Therefore, all are to be fed equally regardless of their conditions. This perspective of God reverses the society’s norm that social status or conditions decide one’s pay. To cultivate the divine vineyard well, people have to seek God's way and justice (Matt 6:33).

God is just, and the unfortunate are to be fed equally as well
Those who came to work early were hired by the owner of the vineyard, and they could feed their families. But there were some people who were not hired early enough or right away. The landowner went out about five o'clock and and found others standing around; and he said to them, “Why are you standing here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us” (Matt 20:6-7). The reason is no one hired them. They were not lazy people. 

The truth is that they also need the same USUAL daily wage which can meet the needs of their families. The issue is not whether they are to be paid equal with other early birds. The real issue is whether they can feed their families for the day. That is why the owner pays the same daily wage for all because all of them need to provide the adequate means of life for their families. 

Isn’t this the justice that we can aim? Isn’t this the true spirituality that we have to emulate? Isn’t this the true form of religion that we are aspiring for? Isn’t this the true God that we can trust? Isn’t this the good society that we can work for? Isn’t this what Paul has meant “a fair balance” between abundance and scarcity in 2 Cor 9? 

Ultimately, when it comes to the spirituality, it should begin with a person's feeling and recognizing of others' need or pain. Similarly, we may say that if economic justice is not properly executed there would be no spirituality. Biblical spirituality is none other than the holistic life that brings body and spirit together.