Shepherds and vineyard workers

Shepherds should feed the sheep according to the text from Ezekiel in the Roman Catholic Lectionary for today. The Lord God will seek out the sheep from the evil shepherds and rescue them. The psalmist in Psalm 23 proclaims how the Lord acts as Shepherd and provides everything that is required for life including protection from fear of enemies. Matthew’s Gospel relates the parable of the workers in the vineyard who work all day for the usual daily wage. The landowner chooses to pay the workers who worked for an hour or a few hours the same wage as those who had worked all day. This compensation plan is not the usual one for workers today or then. The payment for time or effort seems just. The Shepherd recognizes each individual sheep