The Ease of one at the Expense of the Other

Matthew 20:1-16

New International Version (NIV)
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard

20 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius[a] for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ 5 So they went.

“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. 6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

7 “‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

“He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

9 “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. 10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. 11 When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? 14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”


 

So I was asked once what I thought the meaning of this parable was.

I replied that what I got from it was that God will do what he decides with his resources.

The response was that this was part of the lesson, but the other part of the lesson was that when someone employs another they are to pay that person a liveable wage. My inquirer noted that a denarius was a day's wage. 

A liveable wage.
The wage that each worker was paid at the end of the day.

Judging by the responses of those who had been there longest, this wasn't always the practice of employers. And that still seems to be the case today as well.

As I consider this, and contrast it to the experience of my own life, I also have to wonder how it is that employers feel justified, offering employment doing a job that requires a full time commitment, but doesn't feel any obligation in paying the person who would commit to doing that job a liveable wage?

How do they sleep at night? I suppose it is the benefit they receive from the burden of another, that they can afford comfort at the cost of another. 

The ease of one at the expense of the other.

I believe that Jesus saying that the poor would always be with us was never meant to imply that we should cease to be concerned for their suffering. Nor was it meant to offer assurance of an endless supply of cheap labor for those who would seek wealth at the expense of their welfare.

In considering all of this, I have to conclude that any employer that would not offer a liveable wage to its employees does not at all care about their people nearly as much as their profits. 

The failure to do so is simply the exploitation of labor for ill gotten luxuries.

Just as so many of my jobs have shown me, it is a very short span of time before the extra mile becomes the expected mile. Employees and employers, both feel at some level they deserve more and the other less, and each has discontent with the other when they expresses their version of fair.

More often though I have found the sentiment of business summed up in the message a friend of mine received when he asked the advice of his superior about an employee he had that was asking for and very deserving of a raise, but that there was no money in the budget to give him one.

The advise of my friend's superior?

"That's easy. You simply explain to him in no uncertain terms that most people are worth more than they are paid, but nearly as much as they think they are."

It's such a quandary and my heart should probably break for the rich... businesses want to make money and they need people to do it, but people cost money that must then be taken from the business. So what do they do?

That's easy too...

People are labor, and labor is a resource. To increase profits find or create cheaper resources. 

That's just good business. 
Right?

Perhaps this, among many other reasons is why I will never be rich.

d(-_-)b