Matthew 20

1 Jesus said to his followers, “This picture story is about the people that will be in God’s family. There was a man that owned a garden, and he wanted to get some workers, to get a job finished in one day. So he went out early in the morning to the place in the town where men used to wait around, looking for a job.⋮

2 He talked to the men there, and they agreed to work for him. He agreed to give them the right pay, the pay that men always got for a day’s work. Then he sent them to work in his garden.⋮

3 At 9 o’clock in the morning he went again to that place in the town, and he saw some men standing around doing nothing.⋮

4 So he gave them each a job too. He told them, ‘Come and work in my garden today, and I will pay you the right money at the end of the day.’⋮

5 So they went to work in his garden. That boss went to that place in the town again in the middle of the day, and he found some more men there, and he did the same for them. He gave them jobs. At 3 o’clock he did the same thing. He found some more men and gave them jobs too.⋮

6 At 5 o’clock in the afternoon he went into town again, and he saw some more men standing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you been working today?’⋮

7 They said, ‘Because nobody gave us a job.’ The boss told them, ‘All right. I’ll give you each a job. Go and work in my garden.’⋮

8 At the end of the day he told his manager, ‘Tell all the workers to come here and we will pay them their money. Tell the last workers to come first.’⋮

9 So he paid the men that started their job at 5 o’clock, and he gave each of them a full day’s pay. He kept paying the other men and gave each one a full day’s pay.⋮

10 Last of all he paid the men that started their job early in the morning. They thought they were going to get more money, but they didn’t. Each of them got a full day’s pay, just like the others.⋮

11 When they got their money, they grumbled about it. They said to the boss,⋮

12 ‘Those men only worked for one hour, and you paid them just as much money as you paid us. That’s not fair. We worked all day in the hot sun.’⋮

13 The boss said to one of them, ‘My friend, I’m not cheating you. You agreed to work all day for one day’s pay, didn’t you?⋮

14 All right. Take your money and go home. You see, I wanted to pay these last workers the same as you.⋮

15 It’s all right for me to do what I want to with my own money, isn’t it? If I’m good to somebody, don’t you get upset with me.’”⋮

16 Then Jesus told them the story’s meaning. He said, “Later, one day, those that are last now will be first, and those who are first now will be last.”⋮