Day 7: Matthew 20-22. Parables, Predictions, and a Parade
There are more parables and miracles now, though still some of each. The parable of the workers in the vineyard is, depending on your point of view, either troubling or comforting. Do you imagine yourself as one who has been working all day? Or are you one of the last hired? Is Jesus unfair or is he merciful? I have heard both capitalists and socialists use this parable to their own ends. (The landowners is a capitalist because he is free to hire whoever he wants and pay whatever he wants; he's a socialist because he is concerned not that anyone get rich, but that everyone gets enough.) But I think this parable challenges all of our views of economics. What do you think? Just now I am thinking about Matthew's use of the term, "the kingdom of heaven." Matthew uses the word "heaven" not because he is primarily concerned with the hereafter, but because, as a good Jewish man, he doesn't want to over-use the name of God. So the ki...