Yarr! – The Weblog of Bob Heffernan

Laborers in the Vineyard

The kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and to them he said, “You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.” So they went. Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing. And he said to them, “Why do you stand here idle all day?” They said to him, “Because no one has hired us.” He said to them, “You go into the vineyard too.” And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, “Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.” And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, they were given only pennies, practically nothing, because they had only worked for an hour. What were they doing standing idle all day anyway? Communists, probably! In contrast, those who had been hired early in the morning were given the denarius they deserved and went home proud of having been justly rewarded for a good day’s work and proud of themselves for having pleased their master.

The Lost Coin

A woman, while in her house cleaning (where she belongs!) realised that she had lost one of her ten silver coins. So, caring as much about that one silver coin as the other nine she lit a lamp and swept the house with her broom and sought diligently until the found the coin. Having found the coin she called to her friends saying “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Later that evening her husband returned and chastised her for losing the coin in the first place, saying she should be a more diligent steward of her money.

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” That man is a pillar of the community. What a great guy!