What is justice? The greek philosopher Aristotle defined justice as “the virtue of giving and receiving what one is due or what one has a right to.” So, in theory, if you work 9 hours, you should be payed more than the one who worked 2 hours.
However, the justice discussed in the kin-dom (I use the term kin-dom as opposed to kingdom to describe a place that is not male or king oriented, but rather oriented to God and family) parables describe a justice that is deeper than the one described above, or you could say that it brings a deeper issue of the value of humanity, what they need in order to survive and the need for justice in this area of life.
To place it in context, let us look at Matthew 20:1-16. It reads:
1 “The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 After he agreed with the workers to pay them a denarion,[a] he sent them into his vineyard.
3 “Then he went out around nine in the morning and saw others standing around the marketplace doing nothing. 4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I’ll pay you whatever is right.’ 5 And they went.
“Again around noon and then at three in the afternoon, he did the same thing. 6 Around five in the afternoon he went and found others standing around, and he said to them, ‘Why are you just standing around here doing nothing all day long?’
7 “‘Because nobody has hired us,’ they replied.
“He responded, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and moving on finally to the first.’ 9 When those who were hired at five in the afternoon came, each one received a denarion. 10 Now when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarion. 11 When they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 ‘These who were hired last worked one hour, and they received the same pay as we did even though we had to work the whole day in the hot sun.’
13 “But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I did you no wrong. Didn’t I agree to pay you a denarion? 14 Take what belongs to you and go. I want to give to this one who was hired last the same as I give to you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you resentful because I’m generous?’ 16 So those who are last will be first. And those who are first will be last.”
The first thing we see in the verse 2 is that the workers were to be paid a denarius. Now a denarius is the equivalent for one days food for a family. We can declare this to be a basic necessity of life.
The second thing we can see, and I believe this is the fascinating part, is that the vineyard owner goes out five times in the day looking for workers. We can parallel the workers in the story to the current “day-laborers,” those men and women who are out every day for hours on end just to find work for the day (click here for an article on day-laborers). The owner finds these workers standing idle, and puts them to work. In the later part of the day, he still finds workers idle, waiting for work. He asks them why they are standing there still. They respond that they are unable to find work because no one will hire them. So the owner brings them in. He allows them to work, even for an hour. And most importantly, at the end of the work day, they each receive a denarius, a days wage, even to provide the basic necessities for the family.
Can you see the amazing reality about these verses? Does it make sense to hire someone, even for an hour, and pay them a full day’s work? That is the reality of the kin-dom. Although it may be just to pay someone for the time that they have worked, their is a deeper, more pressing issue: the need to provide the basic necessities of life, to show that human life is valuable. In the kin-dom of God their is provision for the necessities of life, enough to feed a family for the day. Some of the workers may have been agitated that they were given the same wage, yet they failed to realize that the pay is enough to provide for life. Why would someone want to take away the possibility for life? Justice in the kin-dom of God seeks what is necessary for life. The kin-dom of God is concerned for the well-being of others, making sure that they are taken care of. That, in turn, is justice.
Another question arises. Why did no one hire the workers? If the workers are not hired, they have no provision for their family for a day. The question that the owner poses is not for the workers, however, it is a question for the reader, for the other. It reflects the society we are currently in. The un-evenness of the world we live in exploits the weak and less educated. For those who are providers, we need to ask ourselves what is justice, not according to the world’s terms, but to the terms of the kin-dom.
The kin-dom of God is a different kin-dom.