Matthew 20: The parable of the laborers in the vineyard
Early one morning, a landowner went to the marketplace and hired laborers to work in his vineyard for one denarius per day. Several more times throughout the long, hot day, he saw men standing idly in the marketplace and he hired them to work in his vineyard, all for the same pay. He even hired some laborers in the final hour of the day to work in his vineyard. When evening came, the landowner said to his foreman, "Call the workers together and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first." When the men who had worked the whole day saw that they were paid no more than those who were hired later, they protested: “After all,” they said, “we have worked the whole day in the scorching heat!" The landowner replied, "Friend, I have done you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me to work for a denarius? Take what is yours, and be on your way. It is my choice to give to the last workers just as much as I give to the first. May I not do as I wish with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?”