Prodigals and older brothers

Matthew doesn’t tell the parable of the Prodigal Son, but he might has well have. He records the parable of the laborers in the vineyard, which has the same structure and point.

Some laborers work through the heat of the day, some come at the 11th hour and work only one hour. But each receives the same daily wage. Like the older brother, the ones who were hired first “grumbled at the landowner” (Matthew 20:11). “Is your eye envious because I am generous?” (20:15) might have been a questioned posed by the father to the prodigal’s older brother.

Both are about the events of the first century. Late-comers to the vineyard (publicans and sinners) receive their wage as well as those who have always labored (Pharisees and scribes), and instead of grumbling at the perceived inequity, the Jewish leaders should have rejoiced that sinners were crowding into the kingdom.