Vineyards were on Jesus's mind again this week and not without controversy. He was speaking to a crowd in Judea when he compared heaven to a vineyard owner who went out in the morning to hire labourers.
The owner agreed a price for the day and the men began to work. A few hours later he hired more men. He did this again three hours, six hours, and eight hours later. As it was harvest time the working days were long.
When it came to pay time the owner said to his foreman, "call the men in and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and continuing backwards to those who have been here all day". And it transpired the men in last were paid the same as those who had worked all day.
The latter were angry at this. "These fellas who were hired last worked only an hour," they said, "and you paid them the same as us after all the work we have done all day?" He said to them: "Didn't you agree this morning to work for what I have just given you? If I want to pay these other men the same that is a matter for me. It's my money. Are you envious because I am being generous?" Jesus did not say how the complaining workers responded. He finished the story by commenting, "the last will be first and first will be last". Which left his hearers puzzled - and not for the first time.
A spokesman for the Palestine Unskilled Persons Society (PUPS) commented afterwards that Jesus's story was "disgraceful" and encouraged the abuse of workers by unscrupulous employers. "How can he possibly promote a policy which discriminates in favour of the rich?" he asked of Jesus, "especially when his own father is a working man and most of his followers too."
He suggested it was no wonder Jesus complained about the harvest being great and the labourers few. "Who'd want to work for someone like that," he remarked.
"Is he saying a man or woman shouldn't get a fair day's wages for a fair day's work. He is discriminating against the working man and woman in favour of the layabout. And that's another thing. Where's the women in his story. Not one. Is he sexist as well as everything else?" he asked.
He also attacked Jesus for "actively promoting the wealthy and those in pursuit of wealth". The spokesman was referring to another of Jesus's stories. It concerned an owner ("see", said the spokesman, "the rich guy is always the good guy") who entrusted his property to his staff as he was going on a journey.
As an incentive he gave one man five talents, another two talents and another one talent, to use "each according to his ability". The PUPS spokesman particularly liked that last line.
The owner went away. The man with the five talents put his money to work and made five more. The man with two talents made two more. But the man with one talent hid it in the ground.
Time passed and the owner returned. "Well done, good and faithful servant," he said to the man who had made five talents, "I will put you in charge of many things." He said the same to the man who had made two talents.
But the man who had buried his talent said to the owner "I know you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I went out and hid your talent. Here it is!" And the owner was very angry. "you useless lazy good-for-nothing. Why didn't you even deposit it in a bank so I would have made interest?"
And he shouted to other staff that they were to take the talent and give it to the man who made the five talents. "For everyone who will have will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even that will be taken from him. And throw that useless good-for-nothing out of here. Into the dark with him where there is only misery, with weeping and gnashing of teeth," he said.
The PUPS spokesman was furious. "If that is not a charter for greed and exploitation and active discrimination against the poor, I don't know what is? And, of course, no women again. The sooner something is done about this Jesus fella the better."
