In Matthew 20 Jesus tells another parable.  It is the story of the landowner and the workers that he hires at different times during the day.  In the parable the landowner goes and hires men first thing in the morning and tells them he will pay them the daily wage.  They agree and get to work.  Then at 9 AM, 3 PM and 5 PM he goes out and finds others promising them a just wage for their work if they start right away.  They all go.  At the end of the day he pays them all. He starts with those hired at 5 and pays them a full day’s wage.  Then he does the same with those he hired at 3 and at 9.  Finally when it comes to those he hired first, they think that he will pay them more.  But he doesn’t.  They complain about the “injustice” because they got paid the same as those who started only a short while ago.  The landowner says that it is not unfair.  He paid them what they agreed to.  He says who are they to challenge what he does with his own money and asks if they are envious of his generosity.

Now people can read this a lot of ways.  It’s actually a really tough parable.  I think first when we read scripture it’s important to think about what it meant to that group of people at that time.  Jesus was in the middle of many confrontations with the Pharisees and teachers of the law.  The heat is getting turned up as we are approaching the time when they would look to kill Jesus.  One of the things that they are most mad about is that all sorts of “sinners” seem to be allowed into this kingdom that Jesus keeps talking about and they seem to be on the outside and they don’t like it.  After all, they’ve followed all the rules.  They’ve been in this since the beginning.  They should be first, not last.

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