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This text is another parable on the Kingdom of Heaven.
As is often the case, the parable focuses on the survival concerns of those who are poorest and most vulnerable under the reign of the present ruler: food, daily wages, protection, etc.
As is the case today, daily labourers were among the poorest. The denarius, the usual daily wage, was just enough to buy food for that day. No work that day meant no food that day.
As the landowner engages each group of labourers, he makes the standard agreement with each of them. But at the end of the day, the early groups are surprised - and envious - that he has made the SAME agreement with everyone, even those who only began working at the end of the day.
The repeated visits to the marketplace by the landowner to look for labourers is a warning to anticipate some other unexpected behaviour from him. (What sort of landlord makes so many trips? What doesn't he just hire everyone he needs in one trip?)
It is fairly easy to turn this parable into a simple sermon about how old timers and new comers are treated the same in God's economy.
Perhaps it might be deepened by also reflecting on how envy destroys community.
The question:
Are you envious because I am generous?
is the one for the community to reflect on.
Bruce Malina offers some helpful information on beliefs regarding the evil eye. (The underlying actual Greek for the above question is often only in a footnote: "Is your eye evil because I am good.")
First, in Jesus' day it was understood that light comes OUT of the eyes. That is, we are able to see NOT because of light coming into our eyes. Thus it is what is inside us - what is in our hearts - that enables us to see. We see by sending out what is inside us. Blindness was understood to be a heart problem.
The evil eye then is literally inner evil that is projected outwards through the eyes. It was especially believed that envy - the covetous glance - was an outward projecting of evil desiring. A great deal of alertness: charms, chants, and gestures were required to avoid being "hit" by an evil eye.
Interestingly, modern brain research has discovered that in fact our brains ARE impacted by the looks on other people's faces. For example, when someone looks angrily at us, our brains will pick that up, and set off an "anger" response in our bodies 100 to 1,000 times faster than our conscious brain is able to register what is happening.
Where 2 or 3 are gathered together - in families, friends, or church - the challenge is always: How will we deal with envy when God is generous with only one.
David Ewart,
www.davidewart.ca
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