Whatever Is Right I Will Give You

Today's passage is a long one.  My thoughts are at the bottom and they are brief.

Matthew 20:1-15(NKJV)

1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 

2Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 

3And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 

4and said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went. 

5Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 

6And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing £idle, and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ 

7They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, £and whatever is right you will receive.’

8“So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, ‘Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first.’ 

9And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. 

10But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. 

11And when they had received it, they complained against the landowner, 

12saying, ‘These last men have worked only one hour, and you made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day.’ 

13But he answered one of them and said, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? 

14Take what is yours and go your way. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. 

15Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Or is your eye evil because I am good?’ 

In today's world we hear a lot about fairness, social justice, and income equality.   By today's standard many would consider what the owner did to be unjust, but is it? 

Notice that throughout the story he says something like  "and I will give you what is right.".  Who determines what is right or "fair"?  The owner does.  It's his money and it is his property.  Notice that it begins with negotiations between the owner and the first workers.  They agreed to work for a certain amount of money.  They made that choice of their own free will. 

So if the owner decides to pay other people more, does that affect the fairness of the first deal?  I believe the message of this Scripture is that it does not.  It seems like a logical conclusion to me but it is nice to have some Scriptural backup.