Many people find this parable rather disturbing. That fact calls our attention to the general problem of interpreting the parables. The principle established by scholars is that, in general, a parable has only one point, one focal idea, and the details simply build up the story and are not to be interpreted as signifying the teaching of the parable. Thus this parable is meant to teach us that we are not to be jealous because God is generous and that in the kingdom of heaven the last shall be first, and the first shall be last. The Kingdom of God is not a meritocracy, but a pure gift. In earlier chapters, Matthew has presented us with the "Sermon on the Mount," in which Jesus preaches rather radical doctrine about the Kingdom of God belonging to the poor, the earth belonging to the meek. This doctrine totally contradicts our human way of looking at things which we have earned and which we thus deserve.

To explain this parable in terms of something earned or deserved would be quite erroneous: the parable is not about the workers as such or about the hours they work, but about the kingdom of God.