Now to the parable itself. The story is well known. A vineyard owner hires workers at various points in the day. At the end of the day those hired last were paid first, and they all received the same amount, even those who had been hired at the beginning of the day. Those who had been working all day were upset, thinking they deserved more than the latecomers.
A denarius was the normal rate for a day's work. So those hired at the outset were not being underpaid, rather those hired later were being treated generously. "are you envious" (v15) is literally "is your eye evil".
So what is the parable all about? Well it is a correction to the disciples thinking when they asked "we have left everything. What will there be for us?" (19:27). If we enter the kingdom and live in the kingdom thinking that there is a simple merit and reward system we will be disappointed.
The kingdom works on the principle of grace , and this grace often offends us! For we see undeserving people receiving good gifts from God (forgetting of course how undeserving we ourselves are).
There is a reward for what we do, for there are many parables which make this point, especially the parable of the talents. Indeed at the end of the last chapter Jesus assures them that their sacrifice will not be in vain. We need a whole new mindset in the kingdom, for God's kingdom works on such different principles from the world. We need to recognise when we find all world values cropping up in our minds, as they surely will.
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