"... Whatever is right I will give ..." - Matthew 20:4

Sometimes some of the parables of Jesus appear, at first glance, to make no sense. Such a parable may be read in Matthew 20:1-16. This is the story of a "householder," a land-owner, a farmer, who needed harvesters to work in his vineyard.

Early one morning this man went out and hired some laborers to work for him that day, promising to pay each man one denarius for his day's work. Later, about nine o'clock, he went out and hired others, saying, "Whatever is right I will give you." The same thing happened about noon, about three o'clock, and even as late as five o'clock that afternoon. At the close of the day, as he paid his workers, calling the last-hired first, he gave each a denarius.

Naturally, the men who had worked longer suppo…