The Kingdom of Heaven and Universal Credit

Certainly Not Matthew 20:1-16

Here is something Jesus did NOT say:

For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard.

About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing. About five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’

‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.

He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’

When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.’

The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and the foreman gave them nothing; and the owner told them ‘I hope you enjoyed working in the vineyard; this was useful work experience for you. The Government will still pay you your benefits - this is called Workfare.’

The foreman then paid out the fraction of a denarius owed to those who had came at nine, noon and three; and the owner said, ‘Fortunately the Government will make up the difference in your salary - this is called Universal Credit.’

The foreman then paid a denarius to those who were hired first; and the owner said ‘Now I realise that this is not enough to live on, but I did not have to grow my vineyard here - this is called Capitalism.’

When they received it, they began to grumble, but not against the landowner; it was much easier to blame each other or the immigrants.

So the last will be last, the first will also be last, but the owner and his friends in the Government will always put themselves first.