When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, 'Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last ones hired and going on to the first.' "The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. 'These men who were hired last worked only one hour,' they said, 'and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.' "But he answered one of them, 'Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Didn't you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?' "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." (Matthew 20: 8-16)

Heaven does not abide by the principle of equal pay for equal work. The kingdom of heaven does not perceive value as an expression of investment or output.

Instead the reward is the same for each and all who participate in the work.

A denarius was the typical payment for a day's labor. It was enough for a family's daily bread, shelter, and clothing. Any less and someone would go hungry.

The grumbling is interesting. As the parable makes especially clear, this was the agreed upon wage. It was what the workers were expecting and would have found sufficient... until they saw what others were paid.

The Greek word Jesus is given for laborers is derived from ergon. Aristotle wrote that to discover and live consistently with our ergon (function, task, work) is the key to our happiness.

"Being eudaimon (foundational happiness and well being) is the highest end, and all subordinate goals—health, wealth, and other such resources—are sought because they promote well-being, not because they are what well-being consists in. But unless we can determine which good or goods happiness consists in, it is of little use to acknowledge that it is the highest end. To resolve this issue, Aristotle asks what the ergon of a human being is, and argues that it consists in activity of the rational part of the soul in accordance with virtue." (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)