The landowner must have been very keen to complete the job in his vineyard that day. He goes out one last time, late in the afternoon, and finds some stragglers still standing around, hoping for an employment opportunity.
Notice his question to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ Why haven’t you been working? Why are you holding back? Why have you not bothered to present yourselves earlier? You know that I need many – that I’ve called everyone. Perhaps the landowner had expected them to seek out opportunities and offer themselves.
Their answer: “Because no one has hired us”, is revealing. Nobody, in other words, wanted them. They were, perhaps, the sort of people everybody tried not to hire. They seem to have expected a specific invitation, a formal contract. Some may have felt unworthy of employment, while others may have felt that their skills were unimportant. Perhaps their long period of unemployment had left them feeling useless and depressed. Who knows? Whatever the case, I
imagine each one was perhaps there because they still had a little hope in their hearts.
How might we judge them, still unemployed at such a late hour? As lazy? As happy that they will not be expecting to have to work so late in the day?
Imagine how bowled over and surprised they were when, in his generosity, the landowner does not argue further with them but immediately puts them to work. Having fulfilled their meagre hope and trusting in his generosity, would they also have entered the vineyard with joy?
Do I sometimes hold back because I am lazy, devalue the skills God
has created in me, or because I am unhappy and depressed?
When employed, do I go out thankfully, recognising that my job is a gift from God?
How do I react when asked to do something for God’s Kingdom?
Reflections by Reginald Venter
