Hired

Is it fair to treat people equally?

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.' When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last." - Matthew 20:1-16

I have been doing a lot of hiring lately and I have to admit that it feels good to offer someone a job.

Today's parable, though, is not just about offering people work for pay.  It is about comparing and judging.

There is plenty of work, enough to give jobs to all who wish to work, and that is a great thing.

But the landowner isn't praised for providing jobs to all.  He is instead criticized for paying everyone equally.

Everyone hired that day get a full day's pay, regardless of how many hours they worked.  How generous is that?

I am sure the landlord saw it as something good, a positive.  He was giving everyone equal pay, which is a way of valuing the time they spent waiting to be hired as well as the time they spent working.

Waiting for work is just as important and valuable as working.

But the workers who were hired early didn't see this as fair at all.

They pictured themselves as missing out on a good deal, for if they had held out longer they could have gotten paid for not working.

It makes me wonder if that is how many of us are thinking these days.

If I could get paid for not working, would I work?

I have been unemployed and I personally prefer to be hired than out of work.  At some point, the payments will run out and I will need to find work, so why not land a job when I can?

When I was out of work, I was amazed that people would turn down jobs that didn't pay enough.  They would rather not work than work for less than they felt they were worth.

I could never understand how no pay was better than too little pay, but then, that's the way I think, and not everyone thinks the same way.

When you value your job, you work hard.  You show that you want the job.

If you don't value what you do, don't do it.  It's as simple as that.

So, what advice would I have for the workers who felt cheated?

I would tell them that life is a gamble.  If they want to hold out and hope they will be hired at the end of the day and get paid the same as if they worked all day, give it a shot.

But for me, a sure thing is better than a gamble.

More to come...