What does the parable of the "eleventh hour" mean?

Dr. Bill. I apologize for making this a separate post, but the preceding post was getting pretty lengthy. And this post pursues an entirely different line of research connected to today's AWAD "eleventh hour" [which, as Anu's AWAD explains, comes from a parable].

The "eleventh hour" parable is new to me. But your inquiry into the derivation of "parable" got me thinking: "What does the parable of the "eleventh hour" mean?"

I think its meaning is pretty interesting when you dig into it, especially when you consider when this parable arrived, from 'above', so to speak, in the context of what is going on 'below', here in AWADtalk.

Maybe it's just coincidence that Anu sent us this parable today ... or maybe it isn't. Only Anu really knows.

XXV. Parable of the Laborers Who Received the Same Wages
This parable, which some Church writers call the parable "of the husbandmen called to work at various times of the day", we find in the Gospel according to Matthew.

The "penny" ["denarius" in Greek] is the recompense of eternal beatitude in heaven. Those who came early in the morning and those who came late received the same remuneration. This very much grieved those who came early and they began to murmur against the owner. Here human, formal fairness wants to set itself up against divine compassion and love.

The husbandmen would not have begun to murmur against the owner if he had given to the "last" less than one denarius, that is, a sum insufficient for a day's sustenance. They had no business with those who had come "last"; in their souls there appeared envy, unfriendliness and condemnation of the owner's supposedly unfair compassion, which hurt their pride. How could he make those who were called "first" equal to those who came "last".

The elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son also spoke in a like manner: Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf (Luke 15:29­30).

This whole gamut of morally insignificant feelings, which gripped the "first" (and the elder son of the parable), already, in essence, undermined the quality of their labor in the Lord's field. After all, one can work even a whole day in a bad mood and still not do anything good; but in "one hour", one can do more and better if the work is performed with full diligence, love for the work and trust in the owner.

The husbandmen's appraisal proved to be formal, while the owner's was spiritual and moral. And according to this appraisal, the "last" became "first", and the "first" "last", and, perhaps, were even completely deprived of participation in the Kingdom of Heaven. For, Christ added, many be called, but few chosen (Matthew 20:1­16).

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