Notes: | Orthodox icon, likely in mural form.
This mural depicting the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is bursting with vivid hues, distinguishing each group called to labor by the color of their tunics. At the left side of the piece, the workers are toiling away. The scene shifts to the center where the laborers are being paid by the manager, each the same sum as promised by the landowner. Finally, at the left side, the landowner sits at his dwelling with his right arm raised as he oversees his manager and the work of those hired. The parable itself may cause the reader to balk at the unfairness of the landowner’s economic practices. But as he says, “Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?” God’s radical economy of grace should encourage the reader/viewer to live in a similarly liberal manner. |
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