From Matthew 20:1–15:
1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the market place; 4 and to them he said, `You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.' So they went. 5 Going out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, he did the same. 6 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?' 7 They said to him, `Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, `You go into the vineyard too.' 8 And when evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, `Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last, up to the first.' 9 And when those hired about the eleventh hour came, each of them received a denarius. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received a denarius. 11 And on receiving it they grumbled at the householder, 12 saying, `These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' 13 But he replied to one of them, `Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for a denarius? 14 Take what belongs to you, and go; I choose to give to this last as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parable_of_the_Workers_in_the_VineyardActually, this is, of course, as one DUers said, supposed to represent the doctrine that a person can be redeemed at any time. But, it also suggests that a bargain is a bargain -- a basic tenet of contract law. Further, the employer suggests that one denarius for a day's work was a reasonable wage and that same pay for less than a day's work was generous on his part. There is no suggestion that the employer was paying anyone too little. The suggestion is that some employees were paid far more than their work was worth. The employer said, "Well, that's my decision. If I want to be generous, it's not your business." The Fox news commentator is way, way off on his reading of this story. It has nothing to do with greed. To the contrary, it has to do with generosity.
On edit, the suggestion is that God is fair and generous. Here are God's words according to this story: 'You go into the vineyard too, and whatever is right I will give you.'
That would suggest that the Pope is reading Jesus correctly. An employer that emulates the God of the New Testament will pay workers whatever is right -- maybe more than they deserve. Moral of the story.
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- Which in my book was still 16 chapters too many.....
