The parable isn't about work practices, labour relations, or any of that kind of thing. It's all about the topsy-turvy Rule of God. I see three qualities of that Rule here: i) God is maddeningly generous. ii) His justice is mind-boggling. Even late starters can be winners because God's Rule isn't competitive. Everyone who genuinely wants to comes first! iii) Under God's Rule, it's always Now. No long term deals or promises. They don't need to be long term, 'cos God is always the God of Now. It's always Now under God's Rule, & it's always Now that God goes looking for me to 'sign me up'. Matthew Fox quotes Meister Eckhart as saying, "God is always the newest thing there is". That's Brilliant with a Capital B! And that's what I discover as I live under his Rule. As God & I relate (play?) together Now. Never yesterday. Not even tomorrow!

Do we & those we preach to ever look each other over & 'place' one another in categories of today's story? What do we see each other as? Those proud (& maybe claiming privilege?) of having been Christians for the long haul? Someone who's been in the vineyard, borne the heat all day, & showing it? Those on the next shift, a bit tired, but still game? Others more recently putting a toe in the water? And, maybe, today, some militantly proud of their 'newness in Christ'? When we look at each other, whose eyes do we look through? Ours, or God's? Jesus doesn't use the word 'compassion' in this story, yet it underlies the whole tale. Is the compassionate God not always about looking for people he needs to work for him every bit as as much as the compassionate shepherd is always about looking for sheep that have strayed! If Now is the only time the God of the parable lives in, why are any of us trying to live in other time zones? Trying to put the clock back (Tradition!) or on into the future (looking for apocalypses of various kinds)?

Pay-day is also always Now. God's provision for us is invariably generous, & more than any of us deserve. No matter when we start(ed) to see things God's way.

It's possible the 'last being first, & first last' bits is one of those divine plays on words it's easy to miss in Jesus' teaching if we're not aware we're living in Now time? Maybe he's drawing us back to our understanding of God as alpha & omega? In Jesus, through his Spirit, we know God as our beginning & our end. Whatever time of whatever day it is.