Jesus Teaching on Salaries
Jesus told the following teaching for the beginning of the 21st century as so numbered:
Mat 20:01 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.This is a very difficult teaching. If you work from the morning or just for the last hour of the day, you receive the same amount of wages. Why? Isn't it unfair? But Jesus said it was the will of God.
Mat 20:02 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.
Mat 20:03 And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
Mat 20:04 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
Mat 20:05 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
Mat 20:06 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
Mat 20:07 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
Mat 20:08 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first.
Mat 20:09 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.
Mat 20:10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
Mat 20:11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house,
Mat 20:12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day.
Mat 20:13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
Mat 20:14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
Mat 20:15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
Mat 20:16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.
But this teaching shows how different the justice God loves is from that human beings can understand. Or in order to teach His followers the big difference between justice of God and that of man, did Jesus just bring about this story?
If you are hired in the morning under a contract that you receive a certain amount of money, you feel very secured all day long. You do not have to worry at all about money during your work. But if you could not be hired from the morning till the last hour of the day, you would have to be full of anxieties till you get the one-hour job. Yet nobody compensates your pain of standing almost all the day in the market, looking for a job coming to you. And, if the goodman of the workshop intends to pay not for a result of labor but for making laborers fine and sound, he would surely pay wages enough to compensate the anxieties of those laborers who are hired late. So, the key to interpreting this teaching might be the purpose of paying wages.
Yet, there are other ways of realizing a deep lesson of this story. Those workers who came in evening to the workplace to receive the same amount of wages as that for full-day workers would surely be thankful to the goodman. They would work as hard and honest as possible next day, from the morning to evening for the same amount of wages. On the other hand, the workers who received the same amount of wages as that for the one-hour workers might not come to work from the morning next day but would come late in evening, if they could not understand the deep meaning of this payroll method. But if they could understand the teaching, they would come and work from the morning next day, too. So, the goodman can get some faithful workers for him and also find workers who lack ability to understand the lesson but only work for wages. Accordingly, the goodman can eliminate selfish workers from the pool of laborers.
Nonetheless, the Vatican and other religious guys might interpret it in a different way, since intensity of efforts the late-hour-hired laborers threw into their work could be stronger and greater inversely proportional to their work hours. The less their labor hours are, the more intensely they should work. Indeed how long you live is not so important as how faithfully you follow the teaching of God if your life is as short as Christ's was.
You may think about it, trying to look from the viewpoint of the goodman.
God is fair, since He can measure spiritual fairness in His deeds. And if you were a Pope, you would surely receive the same amount of salary whether you work from the morning or from just an hour before the end of the day.
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Rev 3:2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.
Rev 3:3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.
Rev 3:4 Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy.
Rev 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
Rev 3:6 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.