A vineyard owner

A vineyard owner came to call for workers to attend his vines.

He sent them out into the field according to his own designs.

But then again, 'tween nine and ten, he called more workers to the field;

Again at three he called for more. What could so many workers yield?

 

But even at the close of day some laborers had not yet been hired.

He sent them to the field to work although the day was near expired.

When pay time came, he gave the same to late and early laborers all!

Those early workers did complain at such unfairness and such gall.

 

"How were you cheated? Did you not receive the wage we did agree?

Are your eyes evil just because I pay with generosity?

Take what is yours, that which assures that you can feed your family.

But what is mine is mine to give for those whose need I hear and see."

 

When Jesus says "the last shall be the first, and then the first are last," 

He says that heaven's kingdom is not like how we have lived the past.

Those workers all, who hear God's call, will grace and welcome truly find,

And all God's called will come to know the peace that our Lord has designed.

 

 

TEXT: Charles Spence Freeman, September 2023, after Matthew 20:1-16.

MUSIC: Suggested tune YE BANKS AND BRAES, Scottish melody.

 

 

Some of Jesus's parables don't necessarily sound like stories that make for good hymns. They do, however, generally make for good stories, and making stories into songs has been the work of those who sing folk melodies and ballad tunes for generations. At least that idea has me thinking of how such tunes might adapt into carriers of hymns, as many already have through the work of John L. Bell and others. Suddenly I'm starting to imagine Jesus as a ballad singer...(Note: in stanza three, "are your eyes evil" comes from a more literal translation of the idiom used in the Greek, more typically translated as "are you envious". One doesn't normally want to translate idioms literally, but in this case it's rather illuminating, don't you think?)