And the same day, when the even was come, He saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. Of one of the disciples, whose state may have been specially present to our Lords mind, this was, we know, only too fatally true. He now takes His place of rejection; for Him it is manifest even now by their inmost thoughts of Him when revealed. Many are called, c.] This clause is wanting in BL, one other, and in the Coptic and Sahidic versions. Their expectation was so focused on Jesus establishing an immediate political kingdom, and these words from Jesus were so contrary to that anticipation, these words just went over their heads. A man came there first thing in the morning, carrying his tools, and waited until someone hired him. There is no incident which so demonstrates their invincible faith in Jesus. It is hard for those that do or suffer more than ordinary for God, not to be elevated too much with the thought of it, and to expect to merit by it. Who but God could heal? a. It was just because of this that the orthodox religious people of his time could not understand him. As to any one else, even the most liberal gift that ever was given of God to fallen man on earth, to the golden head of the Gentiles, exempted the deep and its untamed inhabitants. For what term are they hired? The world counts them great. A new tribe presented other four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. It is grief to ourselves, anger to God, and ill-will to our neighbour; and it is a sin that has neither pleasure, profit, nor honour, in it; it is an evil, an only evil. It is all of grace and not of debt; nor does that exclude obedience. Thereon the Lord also has His word to say, first reminding Peter of his new name suitably to what follows. Verse Matthew 20:16. "And forthwith when they were come out of the synagogue they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John; but Simon's wife's mother was sick of a fever, and anon they tell Him of her. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. Matthew 20:16 in all English translations, NIV, Story of Jesus: Experience the Life of Jesus as One Seamless Story, NIV, The Story: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People, NIV, Beautiful Word Bible Journal, Revelation, Paperback, Comfort Print, NIV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, Red Letter Edition: Bringing to Life the Ancient World of Scripture, NIV, The Woman's Study Bible, Full-Color, Red Letter: Receiving God's Truth for Balance, Hope, and Transformation, NIV, The Story, Hardcover, Comfort Print: The Bible as One Continuing Story of God and His People. a. and what had the Son of David to do with a Canaanite? GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point And they no doubt led these two blind men to Jesus. If they had let him pass, their chance would have gone by for ever; but when the chance came they seized it. (iv) Here, also, is the infinite compassion of God. Those who had come first thought that they would receive more; but they too received 4 pence each. Who could touch the leper save Emmanuel? They said to His disciples, "Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" Each devotional consists of a scripture passage and a reflection and a prayer which open up the day's scripture and show how it challenges you to live for Jesus. These men did not all do the same work; but they did receive the same pay. Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first: These are day laborers, so they are paid at the end of each day. It was with this declaration that the parable began and ended. He is talking about, no doubt, the scourging that He was going to receive, because it could not be that any of His bones should be broken. In Matthew 17:1-27 another scene appears, promised in part to some standing there in Matthew 16:28, and connected, though as yet hiddenly, with the cross. But the Lord could not send her away without a blessing, and without a blessing reaching to His own glory. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. Whatever might be the Church or the kingdom, it is precisely when the Lord unfolds His new glory in both the kingdom and the Church that He maintains the proprieties of nature in their rights and integrity. We shall find something of these mysteries later on in this gospel; but here it is simply a Jewish testimony of Jehovah-Messiah in His unwearied love, through His twelve heralds, and in spite of rising unbelief, maintaining to the end what His grace had in view for Israel. but it was far too much for the young man. Though there be degrees of glory in heaven, yet it will be to all a complete happiness. I do not believe that God would just allow His Son to take all of that suffering, if there were not some value to be received from that suffering. Here is the story of two men who found their way to a miracle. In Matthew it is their mother. Surely not by inaccuracy; surely not by indifference to order, but contrariwise by divine wisdom that arranged the facts with a view to a purpose worthy of itself: God's arrangement of all things more particularly in this part of Matthew to give us an adequate manifestation of the Messiah; and, as we have seen, first, what He was to the appeal of the Jew; next, what He was and would be to Gentile faith, in still richer form and fulness. In the next scene, then, we have the disciples as a whole tried by a sudden danger to which their sleeping Master paid no heed. And he said unto them, You shall indeed drink of my cup ( Matthew 20:23 ). Matthew 20. The disciples most inadequately perceive His glory; but the Lord acts according to His own mind. The old people and work then closed in principle, and a new work of God in the kingdom of heaven was disclosed. Before he reads his Bible let him help the beggar.". The call to serve God is the gift of His grace. Jesus summed up his whole life in one poignant sentence: "The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many." The Lord pleads the cause of the disciples. The Father and the Son have their appropriate part, even as we know from elsewhere the Spirit sent down from heaven in due time was to have His. But Israel had no sense of their leprosy; and they valued not, but despised, their Messiah, albeit divine I might almost say because divine. Thus it is shown that, though we have rich grace to the Gentile, there is the remembrance of natural relationship still. The New King James Version (NKJV) organises this chapter as follows: . This parable of the labourers in the vineyard is intended. There were many who died right there as the result of the scourging itself. They don't understand all of the provision that the Lord has made for them. The parable teaches one truth, and but one; and where Jesus has explained it, we have no right to add to it, and say that it teaches anything else. Jesus was moved with compassion to the depths of his being, and touched their eyes; and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. That meant that they did believe him to be the Messiah, but it also meant that they were thinking of Messiahship in terms of kingly and of earthly power. Origen has no doubt that the ransom was paid to the devil. It is simply designed to teach that in the church, among the multitudes who will be saved, Christ makes a difference. vii. Sinners are said to labour in the very fire (Habakkuk 2:13), whereas God's servants, at the worst, do but labour in the sun; not in the heat of the iron furnace, but only in the heat of the day. Judas had been called, but would not be among the chosen either for the higher work or for its ultimate reward-Interpreting the parable as we have been led to interpret it, we cannot for a moment imagine that its drift was to teach the disciples that they would forfeit their place in the kingdom. After the creation of consuls, they every year named twenty-four military tribunes, part of whom must have served five years at least, and the rest eleven. "The parable is emphasizing a right attitude in service." The point in the beginning of the next chapter (Matthew 20:1-34) is not reward, but the right and title of God Himself to act according to His goodness. So it was here; and our Lord turns to eternal account, in His own goodness, the shortcoming of John the Baptist, the greatest of women-born. He was ignorant of himself, because ignorant of God, and imagined that it was only a question of man's doing good for God. The Spirit of God has been pleased to cull and class facts otherwise unconnected; for here follow conversations that took place a long time after any of the events we have been occupied with. Yes, it was His to rule and command the sea, even as the land and all that in them is. Thus explained, this parable has no reference to the call of the Gentiles, nor to the call of aged sinners, nor to the call of sinners out of the church at all. But if He here does not go beyond a hint of that which the Gentiles were about to receive on the ruinous unbelief and judgment of the Jew, He does not keep back their own awful course and doom in the figure that follows. i. And now as they depart from Jericho. It may indeed have had a comparatively limited application when it was spoken for the first time; but it contains truth which goes to the very heart of the Christian religion. The apostles were sent forth at the first and third hour of the gospel day; they had a first and a second mission, while Christ was on earth, and their business was to call in the Jews; after Christ's ascension, about the sixth and ninth hour, they went out again on the same errand, preaching the gospel to the Jews only, to them in Judea first, and afterward to them of the dispersion; but, at length, as it were about the eleventh hour, they called the Gentiles to the same work and privilege with the Jews, and told them that in Christ Jesus there should be no difference made between Jew and Greek. After this (what makes it still more unquestionable) comes the case of the demoniac. (ii) There is an equally definite warning to the Jews. As a consequence they looked down on the Gentiles. In him there was a spiritual force far beyond that found in the leper, to whom the hand that touched, as well as cleansed, him proclaimed Israel's need and state as truly as Emmanuel's grace. Those that have had gospel offers made them at the third, or sixth hour, and have resisted and refused them, will not have that to say for themselves at the eleventh hour, that these had; No man has hired us; nor can they be sure that any man will hire them at the ninth or eleventh hour; and therefore not to discourage any, but to awaken all, be it remembered, that now is the accepted time; if we will hear his voice, it must be to-day. Notice that these people didn't go in on their own accord, the Lord sent them into the vineyard. When they get to Jerusalem, those culminating events of the life of Jesus are going to take place. It is a summons from the King to His people Israel. Whatever is right I will give you whatever is right you will receive: The landowner promised the earliest workers a days wage (a denarius a day). Let me passingly notice a very few particulars. I say not how fax he had realized this profound truth; I say not that he could have defined his thoughts; but he knew and declared His command of all as truly God. In his defilement he came to Jesus and sought to be cleansed, before the delivery of the sermon on the mount. (Compare Mark 3:13-19, andMark 6:7-11; Mark 6:7-11; Luke 6:1-49; Luke 9:1-62) The mission of the apostles did not take place till afterwards. Minor Prophets Because it is free grace, that is given to those that have it, boasting is for ever excluded; and because it is free grace, that is withheld from those that have it not, murmuring is for ever excluded. God does not permit Scripture to be thus used without losing its force, its beauty, and the grand object for which it was written. Read full chapter. Nothing can be simpler. All men, no matter when they come, are equally precious to God.". No doubt they had heard of the wondrous power of Jesus; and no doubt they wondered if that power might ever be exercised for them. It was after our Lord had called the twelve, and ordained them not after He had sent them forth, but after He had appointed them apostles that the Lord comes down to a plateau upon the mountain, instead of remaining upon the more elevated parts where He had been before. I do not pretend to say this was the only purpose served; far be it from me to think of restraining the Spirit of God within the narrow bounds of our vision. These are the words of an older gentleman who trusted Christ a few days before he died from cancer. The world may assess a man's greatness by the number of people whom he controls and who are at his beck and call; or by his intellectual standing and his academic eminence; or by the number of committees of which he is a member; or by the size of his bank balance and the material possessions which he has amassed; but in the assessment of Jesus Christ these things are irrelevant. He is not here sought as by the leper, the centurion, the friends of the palsied man; He Himself calls Matthew, a publican just the one to write the gospel of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. The age of serving in the army was from seventeen to forty-five, and the manner in which they were chosen was the following: -. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. "Lord, save us; we perish," cried they, as they awoke Him; and He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. It shows us his trust in men. 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Poetical Books The men who stood in the market-place were waiting for work, and the fact that some of them stood on until even five o'clock in the evening is the proof of how desperately they wanted it. Again he went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, [noon and three in the afternoon], he did likewise. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink: Their answer (We are able) seems to come a little too quick. He said to her, "What do you wish?" And He prophesied so accurately the things.First of all, He is going to be betrayed. Then follows another incident, which equally proves that the Spirit of God is not here reciting the facts in their natural succession; for it is assuredly not at this moment historically that the Lord goes into the house of Peter, sees there his wife's mother laid sick of a fever, touches her hand, and raises her up, so that she ministers unto them at once. You must not claim a special honour and a special place because you were Christians before they were. Both Mark and Luke add their own touches to the story, to show that on this occasion there was in the atmosphere of the apostolic band a certain tenseness and a certain foreboding of tragedy to come. To convince the murmurer that he did no wrong, he refers him to the bargain: "Didst not thou agree with me for a penny? We have the natural tie here brought into prominence; and this was a claim that Christ slighted not. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. God does not look on the amount of our service. But still, it was His carrying on the great process of shewing out more and more the total rejection of His rejectors. He's been with them now for almost three years, and He feels it necessary to draw them now into that more intimate fellowship with His suffering, as He has set His face to go to Jerusalem, knowing exactly what awaits Him there. He was going to build His Church "upon this rock" Himself, the Son of God. Then comes the boast of Peter, though for others as well as himself. O Lord God, your grace to me is marvelous. is written by Phil Ware and is available in book form. he said. It is quite wrong to think that for the Christian the cup must always mean the short, sharp, bitter, agonizing struggle of martyrdom; the cup may well be the long routine of the Christian life, with all its daily sacrifice, its daily struggle, and its heart-breaks and its disappointments and its tears. God, by his gospel, is hiring labourers into his vineyard, to dress it, and keep it, paradise-work. woe unto thee, Bethsaida! b. In this we have another striking illustration of the same principle, because this miracle, in point of fact, was wrought long before the healing of the centurion's servant, or even of the leper. NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. Our job as disciples is to keep searching and including the lost, the last, and the least in the Kingdom and not just those who can bring us some benefit. So, when those who had been engaged about five o'clock in the afternoon, came, they received 4 pence each. So when the evening was come, and the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. Secondly, The particular pleading with those that were offended with this distribution in gavel-kind. There will be differences at the close. John the Baptist was sanctified from the womb, and therefore great (Luke 1:15); Timothy from a child (2 Timothy 3:15); Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth. Peter asks a word from his Master, and leaves the ship to join Him on the water. He goes to raise the dead, and the woman with the issue of blood touches Him by the way. And they said unto him, Lord, we want our eyes opened. But Jesus answered and said, You don't know what you are asking. The pay was perfectly normal; a denarius or a drachma was the normal day's wage for a working man; and, even allowing for the difference in modern standards and in purchasing power, 4 pence a day was not a wage which left any margin. So the last shall be first, and the first last. c. But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give: Jesus here showed remarkable submission to His Father. The New Testament He answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. "Can a woman forget her sucking child? It is easy to condemn the disciples, but the faith and the loyalty which lay behind the ambition must never be forgotten. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. In calling the labourers, they must begin from the last, and so to the first. Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Younger and of, Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and. The Old Testament Of course, both do preserve chronological order when it is compatible with the objects the Holy Spirit had in inspiring them; but in both the order of time is subordinated to still greater purposes which God had in view. I didn't come to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give my life as a ransom for many ( Matthew 20:28 ). Hence, here it is a question not merely of cleansing, but of forgiveness, and forgiveness, too, as that which precedes power, manifested before men. The Old Testament Judgment will have early cut them off. The key to it is this, that Matthew was led by the Holy Ghost to keep in view adequate testimony to the Jewish people; it was the tender goodness of God that would meet them in a manner that was suitable under the law. Thirdly, Others are hired into the vineyard in old age, at the eleventh hour, when the day of life is far spent, and there is but one hour of the twelve remaining. If, among this number who are called into the kingdom, I choose to raise some to stations of distinguished usefulness, and to confer on them special talents and higher rewards, I injure no other one. ii. He went out again about nine o'clock in the morning, and saw others standing idle in the market-place. He came not to be served, but to serve. "Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! (d) T. Hieros. The landowner did exactly as promised, but their supposition of more pay than promised was disappointed. Jesus, nevertheless, owned all that could be owned in him. Therefore when He said, "this is my body broken for you", He could not refer to some bones being broken, but His body was broken open by this scourging that He received. He was really God in man; and all these wonderful features are here presented and compressed in this most simple, but at the same time significant, action of the Saviour the fitting frontispiece to Matthew's manifestation of the Messiah to Israel. . Secondly, In all the dispensations of his grace, God gives or withholds the means of grace, and the Spirit of grace, as he pleases. Instead of giving her at once a reply, He leads her on step by step; for so He can stoop. Passwords should have at least 6 characters. The sovereign God takes pity on a needy world, and generously gives his salvation to all who accept his offer. When they received it, they grumblingly complained against the master. They confess their faith, and He touches their eyes. Now notice, the mother is the one doing the speaking, but the boys are right there behind her. It is a very significant story, for it paints a picture of the spirit and of the attitude of mind and heart to which the most precious gifts of God are open. Now Paul the apostle as he is talking to the Corinthian Church about their abuse of the Love feast, where they were remembering the broken body of Jesus and His blood that was shed for our sins, Paul said, "that which I received from the Lord, I delivered also unto you. Though Cushi gets the start of Ahimaaz, yet Ahimaaz, choosing the way of the plain, outruns Cushi. If we accept it as the true reading, it adds something to the warning of the previous clause. . Matthew 20:16 in all English translations. You've never known them. Every man has to learn that true greatness lies, not in dominance, but in service; and that in every sphere the price of greatness must be paid. But this, though perhaps legitimate enough as an application of the parable, is clearly secondary and subordinate, and must not be allowed to obscure its primary intention. It is important to see that the landowner did not treat anyone unfairly, though he was more generous to some than to others. Jesus purpose in telling this story was to illustrate what he had just said concerning Gods unexpected gift to those who at present appear to be disadvantaged (see Matthew 19:30). They may not be as long in the vineyard as others; their race may be sooner run; but I have chosen to honor them in this manner, and I have a right to do it. They complained against the landowner: After being paid, the men hired first took up their complaint with the landowner. The mother of Zebedees sons came to Him: This mother of James and John (Matthew 4:21) came with a request that would make a mother proud and the sons very happy. This gives an opportunity to teach what truly defiles not things that go into the man, but those things which, proceeding out of the mouth, come forth from the heart. What Jesus calls upon his followers to do he himself did. Even when they were bluntly told that there lay ahead a bitter cup, it never struck them to turn back; they were determined to drink it. Those whom Christ fed miraculously, though of different sizes, men, women, and children, did all eat, and were filled. Succa, fol. Dress up - slacks/tie, skirt/shirt. On the other side of the picture, behold the Lord leading on a soul to draw on divine grace in the most glorious manner. Well, then, to whom was the ransom paid?" Whatever the time may have been, whatever the incidents added by others, the account is given here for the purpose of showing, that as Israel's case was desperate, even unto death, so He, the Messiah, was the giver of life, when all, humanly speaking, was over. A complete new set of values has been brought into life. Matthew 20:16 The New King James Version (NKJV) 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. Whether you love to hike, bike, paddle or simply chase waterfalls, we have an Adventure Challenge for you! "And He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city." What we have, is not our own, and therefore it is not lawful for us to do what we will with it; but what God has, is his own; and this will justify him, First, In all the disposals of his providence; when God takes from us that which was dear to us, and which we could ill spare, we must silence our discontents with this; May he not do what he will with his own? Many be called, but few chosen - The meaning of this, in this connection, I take to be simply this: Many are called into my kingdom; they come and labor as I command them; many of them are comparatively unknown and obscure; yet they are real Christians, and shall all receive the proper reward. It ought to have been John's place to have proclaimed the glory of Jesus; but all things in this world are the reverse of what they ought to be, and of what will be when Jesus takes the throne, coming in power and glory. An evil eye was a phrase in use, among the ancient Jews, to denote an envious, covetous man or disposition; a man who repined at his neighbours prosperity, loved his own money, and would do nothing in the way of charity for Gods sake. (Clarke). This he said in the hearing of the disciple who would act the traitor: did no compunction visit his base heart? (Spurgeon), ii. He was not setting out rules for wages and employment, but giving an illustration of Gods grace. The details, found elsewhere, of her being at the point of death then, before reaching the house, the news that she was dead, are not here. Mark gives them in the end of his second and the beginning of his third chapters. He had been preparing them for the new things, and the impossibility of making them coalesce with the old. The laws of that kingdom are not wrapt up in parables, but plainly set down, as in the sermon upon the mount; but the mysteries of that kingdom are delivered in parables, in sacraments, as here and Matthew 13:1-58; Matthew 13:1-58 The duties of Christianity are more necessary to be known than the notions of it; and yet the notions of it are more necessary to be illustrated than the duties of it; which is that which parables are designed for. That they might mock me, scourge me, and crucify me, but I will rise again on the third day.Now again whenever Jesus talked to His disciples about His death, this thought was so repulsive to them, their minds just turned off, and they never heard, "I am going to rise again on the third day." Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Reviewing, then, these closing incidents of the chapter (ver. 8, could not deny what was done in the case of the leper, who showed himself duly, and brought his offering, according to the law, to the altar. The crown set before us is a crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give. The true disciple does not begin his work in the masters vineyard by first calculating his own value. And that's exactly what the word, "minister" means, servant. Get the BEST VALUE in digital Bible study as you prepare for Easter. And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. Historical Books Finally, we have all wound up, after the going forth of a testimony which was truly universal in its scope, by the judicial severance at the close, when it is not only the good put into vessels, but the bad dealt with by the due instruments of the power of God. And He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? To eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. "Thank the Lord, my rock, who trained my hands to fight and my fingers to do battle, my merciful one, my fortress, my stronghold, and my savior, my". Clarke's Commentary. It was the creature doing his best, yet proving that he loved the creature more than the Creator. b. And Jesus tells him, "Look no one has left anything, but what in this life he get a hundredfold, and in the life to come, eternal life"( Matthew 19:29 ). He stood in the driving rain to preach, coughing all the time. First of these comes the treasure hidden in the field, for which the man sells all he had, securing the field for the sake of the treasure. Except where noted, scripture quotations are taken from the Easy-to-Read Version 2001 by Bible League International. Jerusalem's proud, traditional hypocrisy is exposed, and grace fully blesses the tried Gentile. What do you want Me to do for you? Saul saw that David prospered, and he eyed him,1 Samuel 18:9; 1 Samuel 18:15. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. The third and fourth legions had the same advantage in their turns. In the pagan world humility was regarded, not so much as a virtue, but as a vice. The Jewish day began at sunrise, 6 a.m., and the hours were counted from then until 6 p.m., when officially the next day began. This parable does not teach that God will reward all His disciples equally. The point of this closing aphorism is not to suggest that God's ways are simply or only about an inversion of the status quo.
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