Esther, Cleopas and his wife Mary[1] had listened to Jesus recount the parable of the workers in the vineyard[2] and, afterwards, were in an animated discussion about the story. What was Jesus trying to tell them?
The parable is about workers who had agreed
to work a full day for a denarius yet others worked for half a day or less and got
the same pay. Those who worked the full
day complained that it wasn’t fair; they said that they should receive more than
workers who had not done a full days’ work.
The vineyard owner replied, “I paid you
according to our agreement. Why complain about my generosity when I paid the
others the same wage? What I did was
perfectly legal.”
Cleopas emphasized that the story was relevant
because Jesus and his brothers were day laborers. They had lost their land because of the Roman
urbanization of Galilee. An actual
incident like the parable related had caused a family feud. “That’s the point,” said Mary; “the landowner
was being generous because the people are living in poverty.”
“Generous, shmen-erous,” retorted Cleopas. “That’s just a tactic to split the
community so the Romans can maintain control.”
After some
discussion, they all agreed with Cleopas.
“After all,”
said Esther[3],
“the land belongs to God not Caesar.[4]
We should follow the law of the Torah, ‘love God and neighbor’[5];
share the wages according to need.”
Mary
responded, “As Jesus says, the kingdom of God is here insofar as we follow the
law of the kingdom. We are citizens of the kingdom of God who are militarily
forced to be subjects of Imperial Rome.”
[1] Mary, the wife of Cleopas, is the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus, (Jn. 19:25, Lk. 24:18)
[2] (Matt. 20:1016)
[3] See the Book of Esther in the Jewish Bible and the Christian Old Testament.
[4] (Lev. 25:23-24)
[5] (Duet.6:4-6)
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