Parables 101

Phatboy writes:

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The parable only differentiates the time worked. It would be as if two people made $20.00 an hour and one worked ten hours and one worked an hour and both received $200.00 paychecks.

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But then they both don't make $20/hr. One makes that rate while the other makes $200/hr.You seem to be equivocating among pay rates. There's what people are "worth," what people are "offered," and what people "expect." You seem to be jumping back and forth among all three as the need suits you.Too, there seems to be a disconnect as to what was contracted. Was it the job or was it the effort put into the job?For example, if I want to have a document typed up, I might offer $100 to the person who does it. If you're a poor typist, it might take you all day, but the contract is to complete the job, not the amount of effort you put into it.Nobody would be upset if I then gave a similar document to somebody else who can type like lightning and gets it done in an hour and pay $100 for that, too. This is what's known as "piece work." You get paid by the physical output you create, not by the amount of time you put into it.So the question is: Does the parable contract for the job or for the effort?

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And as for crashfrogs complaint that some people work less and get paid higher per hour wages, is this not life?

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Are you saying we shouldn't work to make life more fair? It is futile to try and improve the lot of the world because it is something that can never be accomplished?

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The parable pays everyone 1X amount but some work 1/3 T while others work 1T.

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Which, if the contract is for effort, is unfair.

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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

Phatboy responds to me:

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1) Notice that the first men hired may have negotiated a wage. They were looking for pay, and the landowner agreed on a wage.
2) The second group were standing around doing nothing. He offered them a job. No negotiations apart from agreement.(what is right)

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That doesn't answer the question. Was the contract for the job or for the effort? Working in the field isn't really something that falls under "piece work."

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Why did the owner want the last to be first? Hmmmmm....If he had paid the first hired first, chances are there would have been no awareness of unfairness and thus no controversy.

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So not only is he treating his workers unfairly, he wants them to know that he is.Sounds like this guy is a jerk. We'll be surprised if he gets anybody to work for him tomorrow.Perhaps the real lesson we are supposed to be learning is treat your fellow people with respect lest you defeat your own purposes.

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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

purpledawn writes:

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Jesus was teaching his disciples a specific religious lesson concerning their conversation at that time and place.

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That assumes that Jesus existed and that the parable offered was really taught by him at that time.If it really is an allegory, then it is quite problematic for those who find it to be connected to Jesus for it could not have been uttered by him since, as you note, there were no such things as Christians at the time of Jesus.And, of course, there is the problem that other parts of Matthew have Jesus insisting that you must remain an observant Jew ("I come not to change the law but to fulfill it.") Thus, Jesus' idea of what a "Christian" (which didn't quite exist yet) would be isn't what is currently meant by "Christian." According to Jesus, you must keep kosher.But then again, Jesus also thought the world was about to end, so he wasn't really thinking about "Christians." He was trying to get as many people into heaven as he could.

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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!

purpledawn writes:

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I tell you, use worldly wealth to gain friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, you will be welcomed into eternal dwellings. Luke 16:9

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Why the master praised the manager's shrewdness is problematic even for Bible scholars. There just isn't enough information given to discern the meaning even within its own timeframe.

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It makes a bit of sense to me if you are of the opinion that the world is about to end: You can't take it with you, so use it or lose it. Settle your accounts now, even if you don't get everything you're supposed to have for things are about to go boom.Jesus was a doomsday cult.

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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!