590th Post Jesus Said Concerning Parables Con't. - Parables About The Last Being First Con't. - Parable of the Laborer's Wages Con't. - Matthew 20: 1 - 16 Con't. - 5th Post.

Parable of the Laborer's Wages Matthew 20: 1 - 16 Continued, 5th Post.
In the last post we talked about the meaning of the eleventh hour, now we will look at the payment process.  The landowner instructs his foreman to pay the workers who came to the vineyard late to be paid first.  According to this parable, some of the workers got to the vineyard just ahead of the landowner.  They were the first paid, and received a denarius for their trouble.  Put yourself in these worker's shoes for a minuet.  These workers have been idle all day and just walk to the vineyard and are paid a days wages for their trouble.  What a deal!  And so it went with all these laborer's as they were paid, and all receiving a denarius.  These workers are also very happy, because they received a full days wage for less than a full days work.  This brings us to the laborer's who were the very first to enter the vineyard, when they received their denarius, they were less than pleased.  They felt they had been cheated.  If you go back in the story to when they were hired, they agreed to work for that wage.  So why were they upset?  When they saw the other workers being paid the same amount that they were promised, they felt they should receive more, because they had worked the longest, through the heat of the day, and have done the most work.  The truth is they received exactly what they had contracted out for.  Unfortunately, the way they reacted is according to our human nature.  We are sinful, and are greedy as part of this nature.  We feel we have been wronged, even when have received exactly what we had agreed on.  If you look at the world today, Jesus could have told this parable today, instead of over 2,000 years ago. I have run out of space again, will continue next post.