Laborers in the Vineyard

The parable of the Laborers in the Vineyard — in which the landowner pays all workers the same wage regardless of how many hours each has worked, and responds to the early workers' protests with "Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own?" — is one of Jesus' most provocative stories about the economy of grace. Watanabe's katazome rendering of this parable depicts the workers, the vineyard, and the moment of payment in the direct, non-judgmental visual language of the mingei tradition: the parable's challenge carried by the situation itself.