The owner was quick to point out to one of them that he had no reason to complain of unfair treatment since he had received what he had freely agreed to. And he then went on to vindicate himself. “Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” (NRSV, Matthew 20: 14-15, our emphasis).

In telling this parable Our Blessed Lord made clear one of the principles on which God awards eternal life. We have to remember that though our life and character here may, as it were, qualify us for eternal life, they can never entitle us to it as a matter of right. According to our ideas, if people do a day’s work they deserve a day’s pay – the two things balance one another.

But that principle does not apply to God’s rewards in a future life. The only thing there which we can earn is what Holy Scripture calls the outer darkness or eternal death, that is, an existence in which God is unseen, unknown and unwanted. For just as sins separate us from God, so, if they go unrepented, they end by separating us from him for ever. As St Paul puts it, “…the wages of sin is death…” (NRSV, Romans 6: 23, our emphasis).