![]() ![]() A denarius for a day’s work was standard pay for a laborer at that time. “After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard” ( Matthew 20:2). Since people didn’t have watches, the workday for the day laborer began at sunrise and ended when the first star could be seen in the evening sky. He chose some workers and negotiated the price that they would be paid for their day’s work. The owner of the vineyard went out early in the morning to hire laborers to get a full day’s labor from them. The day laborers were on the low end of the economic scale, so much so that Scripture required that day laborers be paid at the end of each day, as they needed the funds for their survival ( Deuteronomy 24:14–15). This was humiliating, but getting hired and being paid was vital to their families’ survival. To find employment, they would stand in the town square, where everyone would see them and know that they were unemployed. Each evening they would face their families either with the joy of coming home with enough to put food on the table or with nothing. They had no job security or income if they didn’t find work. ![]() The life of day laborers at that time was a difficult one. Needing extra men to work short term, the owner went to the marketplace where the day laborers congregated in the hopes that someone would come and offer them a job, even if it was just for the day. In this story, the master of the house had a vineyard which was large enough that he needed extra workers to help during the times when it was important to get the work done quickly, such as when the harvest needed to be picked. Many householders in first-century Palestine would farm nearby land. The master of the house is translated in other Bible versions as a householder or landholder. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard” ( Matthew 20:1). ![]() This parable, like others Jesus told, starts with the words “For the kingdom of heaven is like …” This phrase tells the listener that Jesus is going to give information about God and what He’s like, and about how those who live within His kingdom and submit to His reign in their lives should see things. The parable of the compassionate employer, or as it’s often called, the workers in the vineyard, is a story Jesus told in Matthew 20 to express several aspects of God’s nature and character: His love, mercy, and compassion powerfully shown through salvation, along with His unfailing care and rewards for those who love and serve Him. ![]()
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