One of my favorite parables is that of the vineyard workers (Matthew 20:1-16), as it provides a great lesson on faithfulness. In it, Jesus tells how a landowner goes to the marketplace early in the morning and hires several workers, agreeing to pay them a denarius for the day’s work. The landowner goes back to the marketplace three times throughout the day, and a last time at 5:00pm to hire additional workers.
His only promise of wages to any of those was he would pay them “whatever is right.” At 6:00 he instructs his agent to call the workers in and pay them, beginning with the last hired and moving backwards to the first. Those hired last received a denarius, so when those hired first came to collect their wages, they were thinking they would get more. However, they also received a denarius.
