Dry sinks & old ice boxes no longer have their original use in our society. We hold on to them for various reasons & use them in creative ways. Similarly, the early Christian communities passed along the parables of Jesus but found new creative ways to use them. In his sermon “How Fair Is That?” from Matthew 20:1-16, Rev David Diller explained Jesus’ original telling of the parable of the laborers in the vineyard as an expose to benumbed peasants. Like an investigative reporter, Jesus showed how the aristocratic elites who had taken their lands were now exploiting them by underpaying them to work what had formerly been their own property. Paying everyone the same subsistence wage was intended as an insult. It was the final putdown to the destitute peasants - even their honest labor meant nothing to the wealthy aristocrat. When Matthew wrote decades later the socio-political landscape had changed & Matthew needed a new creative use for the parable. By placing the parable in its present context & interpreting it allegorically, Matthew now takes the land owner as God & the peasants as workers disgruntled over the unfair generosity of grace. That has been the Church’s interpretation of the parable ever since.