The Workers In The Vineyard
Too long, please open your Bible Matthew 20: 1-16
Meaning of the Parable
Evil eye?
Most modern translations (rightly) conceal something interesting in the question the vineyard owner asked.
Is it not permitted for me to do whatever I want with what is mine? Or is your eye evil because I am generous? Matthew 20:15 (LEB)
Understanding this concept helps us find the meaning of other portions of scripture, so it is important to investigate it.
Good/evil eye
The phrase is a Hebrew idiom found in the Old Testament.
A generous (good of eye) person will be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor. Proverbs 22:9
Don’t eat a stingy (evil eye) person’s bread, and don’t desire his choice food, for it’s like someone calculating inwardly. “Eat and drink,” he says to you, but his heart is not with you. Proverbs 23: 6-7
He who hurries for wealth is a man with an evil eye, but he does not know that poverty will come upon him. Provers 28:22 (LEB)
Jesus alludes to this concept in the sermon on the mount
The eye is the lamp of the body. Therefore if your eye is sincere, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is evil, your whole body will be dark. Therefore if the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! Matthew 6: 22-23
Scales of Justice
However, in the context of this parable, and evil eye must be jealous. This jealousy stems from a warped sense of justice and fairness. The evil eye:
- Uses a zero-sum scale to measure success/fairness. Success must be at the expense of another person
- Only finds satisfaction in comparison and so is never really content.
- Is blinded to its own privileges
- Does not know how to genuinely rejoice at the success of others
Sadly, the evil eye is the default state of fallen man. We see this in the story of Cain, who was angry at God for showing favour to his brother, and was unwilling to do what was necessary to be accepted.
The evil eye underpins the operations of oppressive empires all through scriptures; the first example is Egypt enslaving & killing the children of Israel for the sake of national security.
The evil eye will use people to get things.
The evil eye doubts God’s goodness, and has a scarcity mindset.
Firstborns
One of the clearest expressions of God’s resistance to human standards of justice/power is in His interaction with firstborns in scripture.
In ancient societies, kings passed down their authority to their firstborn sons (birthright). This however, also applied in families, where the father passed down authority to their first born as the rightful heir of their family’s estate, regardless of whether they deserved it or not.
God consistently selects the younger sibling in scripture
- God raises Abel over Cain
- God chose Isaac over Ishmael
- God chose Jacob over Esau
- David is God’s choice over Jonathan (Saul’s son)
Jesus the ultimate firstborn came to show us that to be first is to serve.
What we ultimately learn from the parable is that God’s value system is different from ours.