Remember the parable Jesus told about the landowner who went out at different hours of the day to invite men to work in his vineyard, and then gave them all the same pay?  (Matthew 20:1-16)  Imagine talking with the workers after each one receives his denarius. Let's say you ask them, one by one as they're leaving the vineyard, about their experiences.  How would they respond? Imagine each man telling the story of that day in the vineyard..."This is the best day of my life!" the first one out exclaims. "The man who owns that vineyard paid me first, and he paid me a denarius, even though I only worked one hour!  I've never met anyone like him and nothing like this has ever happened to me before...I can't wait to tell my friends!" "Well," the next man out replies, "I worked a half day in the vineyard and the owner paid me a denarius, as promised. The guy before me came late and only worked an hour, and I was surprised when he was paid first and the same amount as me...but hey, I'm glad for him, and who am I to complain?  I've never been given so much for a half-day's work before." Imagine more workers filing out and looking increasingly disgruntled. Then the last one emerges and (seething) says, "I'm so angry!  I've been toiling away since the crack of dawn in this man's vineyard, and all he gave me was a denarius - the same as these other guys who came later and hardly did anything!  And he paid them first and made me wait until last!  Can you believe that?  It's an injustice, I tell you.  Who does that man think he is, anyway?" Of all the stories, which one grabs your attention and makes you want to hear more, and why? Jesus used this vineyard parable to teach his followers about the Kingdom of Heaven, and I imagine it got their attention because his ideas of first and last were very different from what the religious leaders and the world taught and practiced. Jesus was about to do something which would bring the parable to life for everyone, making this new Kingdom concept a reality in their lives. Days before his death on the Cross for the sins of the world, Jesus told another parable about a vineyard (Matthew 21:33-43) to some chief priests and elders who had questioned his authority to speak about God's Kingdom. There weren't any late arrivals featured in this parable. The laborers were tenants who had worked under their own rule in the vineyard for such a long time that they now believed its fruit belonged to them. In the parable, the landowner sent servants at harvest to collect his fruit, but the tenants abused and killed them. The owner sent more servants to reason with the tenant workers, but they treated them the same way. Finally, the vineyard owner sent someone who clearly had authority to claim the fruit - his own son. "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is the heir.  Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.'"  Then they "threw him out of the vineyard and killed him." The religious leaders of Jesus' day questioned his authority because, like the tenant workers in this second parable, they thought that the Kingdom of God belonged to them.  They failed to recognize Jesus as God's Son, and didn't follow his leadership.  Like their ancestors before them, who rejected the prophets God sent to tell them about the coming Savior, the religious leaders of Jesus' day would not recognize God's rule over them.  Jesus' new teachings threatened their own rules and traditions, and their authority over God's chosen people. In the minds of these established religious leaders, Jesus was a late-day worker. Because of their unrepentant hearts and stubborn wills, Jesus declared that the Kingdom would be taken away from them and "given to a people who will produce its fruit. "We are those fruit-bearing people - God's Church! Born into sin, we are forgiven and saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, who lived in perfect obedience under God's rule, died for our sins and rose again to life. Baptized into him, we've also been given new life through God's Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of Jesus we are now heirs of the Kingdom and dearly loved children of God! And we are late-day workers - each and every one of us. Jesus labored for us, and long before us, doing what we could not do ourselves. He gave up his life to save us, putting us first and himself last and giving us the reward that he alone deserves. We are all 11th hour workers, beneficiaries of the work accomplished by the apostles and the early Church, and by all of the saints who came before us.  We are the fruit they labored to produce. Someone spoke the Word that gives new life to us. Others welcomed us in, listened to our stories and taught us how to live and work in the ways of our Lord.  They continue to forgive us when we fall short, and they are there to encourage and support us as we go out to share our late-day redemption stories with others. We have the most compelling stories, of how every day is the best day because of Jesus who made it possible for us to dwell with him in God's Kingdom forever! Keep your denarius Lord, only rule over me and let me work for you all my days.  Help me to bear Kingdom fruit.  Let me be last so that others can be first, and may they have all that I have, and even more abundantly!