13:55
idleness and equality. Parable of the Vineyard Labourers (Mt only)—1. Not the householder but the whole situation in which he figures is comparable to the Kingdom, 13:24, note. He goes to the bazaar …More
idleness and equality.
Parable of the Vineyard Labourers (Mt only)—1. Not the householder but the whole situation in which he figures is comparable to the Kingdom, 13:24, note. He goes to the bazaar at daybreak (ἅμα πρωΐ) to find men standing waiting for hired work. Since we are in parable and not in allegory (see note to ch 13) it is unnecessary to seek an individual significance for the ‘vineyard’, though in the allegory of Is 5:1–7 it represents Israel. 2. After the usual bargaining, no doubt, the day’s wage is formally agreed upon (a circumstance to be remembered in view of what transpires)—a denarius, 17:24, note. 3–5. At nine, noon and three p.m. (the hours are reckoned from 6 a.m.) the man returns to the bazaar. His first visit was presumably at 6 a.m. The times, however, are merely schematic and should not be scrutinized for hidden meanings. No sum is now mentioned other than a ‘fair wage’. In human affairs one would expect three-quarters, one half, one quarter of a denarius respectively. 6–7. One hour before sunset (the time-scheme is violently broken into to emphasize the lesson) the man hires the last of the unemployed—more, it would appear, from pity than from need. § h 8. The foreman is evidently given two unusual instructions. The first, though this is mentioned later to suspend the interest, is to give the same wage to all—and herein lies the point of the parable. The second is to begin with the ‘last’, with the late-comers. The purpose of this odd procedure is to hold back the first-comers as witnesses, hostile and critical, who will make objection and thus pave the way to the master’s reply. This reply, 13–15, holds the lesson of the parable. 9–12. The disgruntled bystanders complain only of the most extreme case of ‘injustice’, though they might have complained of the other later groups. These ‘last’ have worked for one hour, and that in the cool of the evening! 13–15. The master addresses the chief grumbler. His gentle tone (‘friend’) recalls that of the Prodigal’s father addressing the elder son, Lk 15:25, nor is there irritation in ‘go thy way’ (against KNT: ‘away with thee!’; ὕπαγε; cf. e.g. 8:4). He calmly reminds him of the agreement, duly observed by both parties. ‘It is my wish’, he says, ‘to give the last what I have given to the first’. When justice has been done, should anyone complain if kindness plays its part? The eye (of the mind) should not see evil where there is only good. If it does, it must be a diseased eye. § i 16. Jesus has explained by parable his initial epigram: ‘Many there shall be: first, last, and last, first’, 19:30, and concludes: ‘It is in this way (DV ‘so’) that the last shall be first and the first last’. It may be that we have in this parable only ‘a striking picture of the divine generosity which gives without regard to the measures of strict justice’, Dodd, 122. In this case the parable insinuates a mistrust of works for their own sake (perhaps as a corrective to the reward promised in 19:27–29) to the advantage of the divine liberality. The concluding sentence, stripped of the violent contrast imposed by paradoxical form, implies simply that ‘first’ and ‘last’ (long or short service) merge into one another before God—not that he is indifferent to the distinction but that his mercy refuses to be restrained. (The ominous: Many are called but few are chosen, is perhaps not authentic here—Mark omits—but drawn from 22:14, where see note.) The ‘murmurers’ of 11 do not necessarily figure the Pharisees; they may appear only with a parabolic purpose (8 note) similar to that of the Elder Brother in Lk 15:25 ff. This general lesson may not exhaust the parable. In Lk 13:30 the dictum of Mt 20:16a is connected with the personnel of the Kingdom to which there may also be reference here. If so, the late-comers are the Gentiles (cf. Lk 13:29) who will flock to the Kingdom ahead of the mass of Israel; cf. Rom 11:25 f. And this because, although the whole Jewish race has been ‘called’ to the Kingdom, only a few—the ‘remnant’ spoken of by the prophets, e.g. Is 1:9—have deserved to be ‘chosen’ to belong to it; cf. Feuillet, RSR 34 (1947) 303–27.
Yours in JMJ,
Fr Kevin Robinson
Cf www.retreats-resources.com
Parable of the Vineyard Labourers (Mt only)—1. Not the householder but the whole situation in which he figures is comparable to the Kingdom, 13:24, note. He goes to the bazaar at daybreak (ἅμα πρωΐ) to find men standing waiting for hired work. Since we are in parable and not in allegory (see note to ch 13) it is unnecessary to seek an individual significance for the ‘vineyard’, though in the allegory of Is 5:1–7 it represents Israel. 2. After the usual bargaining, no doubt, the day’s wage is formally agreed upon (a circumstance to be remembered in view of what transpires)—a denarius, 17:24, note. 3–5. At nine, noon and three p.m. (the hours are reckoned from 6 a.m.) the man returns to the bazaar. His first visit was presumably at 6 a.m. The times, however, are merely schematic and should not be scrutinized for hidden meanings. No sum is now mentioned other than a ‘fair wage’. In human affairs one would expect three-quarters, one half, one quarter of a denarius respectively. 6–7. One hour before sunset (the time-scheme is violently broken into to emphasize the lesson) the man hires the last of the unemployed—more, it would appear, from pity than from need. § h 8. The foreman is evidently given two unusual instructions. The first, though this is mentioned later to suspend the interest, is to give the same wage to all—and herein lies the point of the parable. The second is to begin with the ‘last’, with the late-comers. The purpose of this odd procedure is to hold back the first-comers as witnesses, hostile and critical, who will make objection and thus pave the way to the master’s reply. This reply, 13–15, holds the lesson of the parable. 9–12. The disgruntled bystanders complain only of the most extreme case of ‘injustice’, though they might have complained of the other later groups. These ‘last’ have worked for one hour, and that in the cool of the evening! 13–15. The master addresses the chief grumbler. His gentle tone (‘friend’) recalls that of the Prodigal’s father addressing the elder son, Lk 15:25, nor is there irritation in ‘go thy way’ (against KNT: ‘away with thee!’; ὕπαγε; cf. e.g. 8:4). He calmly reminds him of the agreement, duly observed by both parties. ‘It is my wish’, he says, ‘to give the last what I have given to the first’. When justice has been done, should anyone complain if kindness plays its part? The eye (of the mind) should not see evil where there is only good. If it does, it must be a diseased eye. § i 16. Jesus has explained by parable his initial epigram: ‘Many there shall be: first, last, and last, first’, 19:30, and concludes: ‘It is in this way (DV ‘so’) that the last shall be first and the first last’. It may be that we have in this parable only ‘a striking picture of the divine generosity which gives without regard to the measures of strict justice’, Dodd, 122. In this case the parable insinuates a mistrust of works for their own sake (perhaps as a corrective to the reward promised in 19:27–29) to the advantage of the divine liberality. The concluding sentence, stripped of the violent contrast imposed by paradoxical form, implies simply that ‘first’ and ‘last’ (long or short service) merge into one another before God—not that he is indifferent to the distinction but that his mercy refuses to be restrained. (The ominous: Many are called but few are chosen, is perhaps not authentic here—Mark omits—but drawn from 22:14, where see note.) The ‘murmurers’ of 11 do not necessarily figure the Pharisees; they may appear only with a parabolic purpose (8 note) similar to that of the Elder Brother in Lk 15:25 ff. This general lesson may not exhaust the parable. In Lk 13:30 the dictum of Mt 20:16a is connected with the personnel of the Kingdom to which there may also be reference here. If so, the late-comers are the Gentiles (cf. Lk 13:29) who will flock to the Kingdom ahead of the mass of Israel; cf. Rom 11:25 f. And this because, although the whole Jewish race has been ‘called’ to the Kingdom, only a few—the ‘remnant’ spoken of by the prophets, e.g. Is 1:9—have deserved to be ‘chosen’ to belong to it; cf. Feuillet, RSR 34 (1947) 303–27.
Yours in JMJ,
Fr Kevin Robinson
Cf www.retreats-resources.com