Scripture · Matthew 21:35
Matthew 20:11-12
The Labourers in the Vineyard
On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden and the scorching heat of the day.’
A laborer holds out a coin on his open palm toward a cloaked landowner, while other workers gather behind him.
About the artwork
The single coin becomes the focus of the argument. The worker’s bare torso and feet bring the day’s labor into the exchange, while the owner’s raised hand answers his gesture. Millais gives a dispute about payment a compact, readable form through the space between two hands.
The wood engraving closes the twelve Parables designs published in Good Words before the larger book appeared. The Dalziel Brothers’ lines distinguish the workers’ exposed bodies from the owner’s enclosing cloak. The contrast makes their different positions visible without requiring an invented facial expression to explain the disagreement.
Featured in: John Everett Millais’s Bible Paintings: The Holy Family That Made Dickens Furious
What does Matthew 20:11-12 mean?
Matthew 20:11–12 records the complaint of workers hired early after those hired late receive the same payment. Their objection is not that the agreed wage has been withheld, but that others have been made equal to them despite a shorter day.
The owner answers by referring both to the agreement and to his freedom to be generous. The story concludes with the reversal of first and last. The coin in the palm therefore measures more than earnings: it makes visible the difficulty of receiving generosity when it also reaches someone else.
Matthew 20:11–12 gives words to the offered palm; the owner’s answer explains why the single coin provokes the dispute.
Sources
John Everett Millais’s Bible Paintings: The Holy Family That Made Dickens Furious. Artwork reading adapted from this guide.
Matthew 20 — Berean Standard Bible. Context for Matthew 20:11-12.
Also from Matthew:Marriage of the VirginThe Dream of Saint Joseph
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