Living in the Image of God M03S16
Based on Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, we learn that God assigns individual responsibility to every person in every situation. Find your responsibility to understand God’s purpose for you in a given situation. Focus on performing your individual responsibility, irrespective of what others do or fail to do. He judges every person individually, independent of his judgment of other people.
We discuss Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, to understand that God assigns individual responsibility to every person in every situation. Also, he judges a person based on their performance of the individual responsibility. Furthermore, his judgment of a person is independent of his judgment of others, irrespective of what others do or fail to do. He rewards each person for performing their individual responsibility and his reward for a person is independent of his reward for others.
Christ teaching in the parable (Matthew 20:1–16) uses a hypothetical event of a landowner hiring several workers for one day’s work in his vineyard. At the core of the teaching is the fact that the landowner expectation of each worker was different depending on the time of day he hired the worker. This fact conveys an aspect of human relationship with God: that God’s expectation of each person in a given event is independent and could differ from his expectation of others. Furthermore, he judges each person individually and independent of what others do or fail to do.
We discuss the parable to understand the message. Also, we discuss a passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he applies the principle to describe the individual responsibility for peace.
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
In the parable, Christ told of a landowner that made individual labor agreements with several workers based on the time of day he hired them. He uses the interactions between the landowner and the workers to explain human relationship with God regarding individual responsibility and judgment of each person in human interactions: “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard” [Matthew 20:1]. The parable includes the landowner showing that his expectation of each worker was independent of his expectation of others and was based on the time he hired them.
The landowner payment to each worker at the end of the day showed that he judged each worker’s performance based on their fulfillment of his expectations of them regarding the workday, independent of his judgment of the others.
His judgment of each person’s performance was independent of his expectations of others. This aspect of the parable conveys the message that God judges each person individually. His judgment of a person is based on performance of the individual responsibility and is independent of his judgment of others.
Landowner Expectation of Each Worker
The landowner hired workers at five different times: early (i.e., about 6 am), 9 am, 12 noon, 3 pm, and 5 pm [Matthew 20:6–7]: “About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered. He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’”
He hired every person for one day’s labor. However, the number of hours of work he expected of each person was independent of what he expected of others. The number of hours depended on the time of day he hired them. For those he hired early, he expected 12 hours of work. For those he hired at 9 am, he expected nine hours of work. He expected six hours from those he hired at 12 noon, three hours from those he hired at 3 pm, and one hour from those he hired at 5 pm.
The differences in the landowner expectation of each worker in the parable conveys an understanding regarding human relationship with God: that God’s expectation of each person in a given event is independent and could differ from his expectation of others. His expectation of a person depends on the responsibility he assigns to the person individually in a given event or situation.
Landowner Judgment of Each Worker
The landowner judged the performance of each worker based on their fulfilling his workday expectation of each of them. In his judgment, each worker fulfilled the expectation and deserved payment for one day’s labor (i.e., a denarius) [Matthew 20:9–10]: “The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.”
Through the fact that the landowner judged each person based on fulfilling an individual expectation for the workday, the parable conveys an understanding regarding God’s judgment of a person. He judges each person based on their performance of their individual responsibility, irrespective of what others do or fail to do.
Individual Responsibility for Peace
Apostle Paul describes the individual responsibility regarding peace, in his letter to Romans: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” [Romans 12:18]. To understand Paul’s message, recognize that the phrase “if it is possible” can be interpreted to mean that you should search the situation to determine what makes peace possible. Furthermore, the phrase “as far as it depends on you” means you should focus on the aspects that depend on you: that is, your individual responsibility.
Summary of What We Learned
Based on Christ teaching in the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, we learn that God assigns individual responsibility to every person in every situation.
Find your responsibility to understand God’s purpose for you in a given situation. Focus on performing your individual responsibility, irrespective of what others do or fail to do. He judges every person individually, independent of his judgment of other people.