We have each of us our own vineyard to keep, our own soul; and it is God's and to be kept and dressed for him. (v) Here also is the generosity of God. i. God hires labourers, not because he needs them or their services (for, if we be righteous, what do we unto him? Here is the account with the labourers. He evinces, that at the very time when Peter forgot the vision and the Father's voice, virtually reducing Him to mere man, He was God manifest in the flesh. Next day he was back for Kagawa's coat and trousers, and got them too. The idea is that His people were in bondage as slaves, and He paid their price. Power and love were come for any one to draw on. Major Prophets They looked for the raging Lion of Judah; they received the gentle Lamb of God. God does not look on the amount of our service. . A hook is cast into the sea, and the fish that takes it produces the required money for Peter as for his gracious Master and Lord. Nevertheless, His ear was open to the call on behalf of Israel perishing, dying, dead. The disciples had been summoned to work in the vineyard. Suffering from great humiliation and degradation. Passwords should have at least 6 characters. "Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish; but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved." The Gospels Those whom Christ fed miraculously, though of different sizes, men, women, and children, did all eat, and were filled. The delivered demoniacs are, to my mind, clearly the foreshadow of the Lord's grace in the latter days, separating a remnant to Himself, and banishing the power of Satan from this small but sufficient witness of His salvation. Matthew 20:16 New International Version 16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Read full chapter Matthew 20:16 in all English translations Matthew 19 Matthew 21 New International Version (NIV) Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. So the last will be first, and the first last, Betrayed they will condemn Him to death deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! Some think this parable speaks of the way that people come to God at different stages of their life. But still, it was His carrying on the great process of shewing out more and more the total rejection of His rejectors. "If you really want to be great in the kingdom of God, learn to be the servant of all. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. Matthew 20:16-20 New International Version 16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last." Jesus Predicts His Death a Third Time 17 Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. It is but a day's work that is here done. Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. He promised to pay all the later workers fairly. 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. But first appears the new and great fact, that Christ was going to build a new building, His assembly, on the truth and confession of Himself, the Son of God. Going back just a little bit further, Peter had said to Jesus, "Lord, we have left all to follow thee"( Matthew 19:27 ). for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. That the complainant had no reason at all to say he had any wrong done to him, Matthew 20:13; Matthew 20:14. Do not let us dwell too much upon it, for we all share the honor given to each. A new tribe presented other four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. So long as it is all we have to give, all service ranks the same with God. "That ye may know," He says, "that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins," etc. We have here. . It was really after the transfiguration recorded in chapter 17 of our gospel. The dispensational aim here leads to a more manifest disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any other specimen of these gospels. (Matthew 19:30.) He was quite clear that there was a bitter cup to be drunk and did not hesitate to say so. Succa, fol. As the elder brother, in the parable of the prodigal, repined at the reception of his younger brother, and complained of his father's generosity to him; so these labourers quarrelled with their master, and found fault, not because they had not enough, so much as because others were made equal with them. without holiness no man shall see the Lord. THE LORDSHIP OF THE CROSS ( Matthew 20:20-28 continued). We are in his hand, as clay in the hands of a potter; and it is not for us to prescribe to him, or strive with him. So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. The ones who labored only an hour did not deserve their pay either. Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness. Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children [now James and John were the sons of Zebedee and she came to Him] with her sons ( Matthew 20:20 ). They complained against the landowner: After being paid, the men hired first took up their complaint with the landowner. Many a man in this world, who has earned great rewards, will have a very low place in the Kingdom because rewards were his sole thought. Here is royalty and kingship restated and remade. And she came worshiping him, and desiring a favor from him. 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Others think it refers to how the gospel first dawned with John the Baptist, then the preaching of Jesus, then the preaching at Pentecost, then to the Jews, and finally to the Gentiles. As their conduct showed, all they were concerned with was to get as much as possible out of their work. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.. (iii) These are the original lessons of this parable, but it has very much more to say to us. "If you wish to be great," he says, "be a servant; if you wish to be first of all be a slave." He therefore, 1. The prisoner would be tied to a post in such a way, as your back would be stretched. Is it not most sweet to see, that He who proves His divine glory at once associates us with Himself? To my mind, the depth of such grace only enhances the beauty of Jesus, and is the very last possible ground that justifies man in thinking lightly of the Saviour. And to these men who were blind, they saw this as their one opportunity for a whole new life. Here he asserts his own justice; Friend, I do thee no wrong. It probably was no more than a grave though passing difficulty, which he desired to have cleared up with all fulness for their sakes, as well as his own. It would require the credulity of a sceptic to believe that this is not the self-same fact that we have before us inMatthew 8:1-34; Matthew 8:1-34. Yet He confidently said it would happen. BEST VALUE in digital Bible study. Some consider that John the Baptist enquired solely for the sake of his disciples. No sooner had Peter pronounced to Jesus the truth of His person, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," than Jesus holds the secret no longer. This is a good example of the word baptism having the sense of immersion or being swallowed up in.. i. e. And to give His life a ransom for many: The death of Jesus the giving of His life purchased the freedom of His people. 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. Major Prophets 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Matthew 19. b. It is easy to condemn the disciples, but the faith and the loyalty which lay behind the ambition must never be forgotten. Matthew 20:16 English Standard Version 16 So the last will be first, and the first last." Read full chapter Matthew 20:16 in all English translations Matthew 19 Matthew 21 English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. He didn't come that people might cater to Him and minister to Him, He came to minister to the people's needs. THE FALSE AND THE TRUE AMBITION ( Matthew 20:20-28 ), 20:20-28 At that time the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling before him, and asking something from him. It adds to the reason for this interpretation, that Christ was conversing about the rewards that should be given to his followers, and not about the numbers that should be called, or about the doctrine of election. The Old Testament There may be desires, there may be the working of the Spirit of God, but there can be no power to walk before men and to glorify God thus till there is forgiveness possessed and enjoyed in the heart. And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.. What care we for those who curse and blaspheme? What could be said of her intelligence then? But among my followers service alone is the badge of greatness. Of course, there is often the order of time, but through the central part, and not infrequently elsewhere, his setting forth in order turns on another principle, quite independent of mere succession of events. "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof" He had only to say in a word, and his servant should be healed. But here pardon dispensed on earth arouses the pride of the religious leaders to the quick, and implacably. 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. Laborers in the Vineyard. Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. And thus as Isaiah predicts the scourging, the stripes, he declares, "by His stripes ye are healed"( Isaiah 53:5 ). that take and give unto them for me and thee." ii. When they get to Jerusalem, those culminating events of the life of Jesus are going to take place. (ii) There is an equally definite warning to the Jews. He was to be betrayed into the hands of the chief priests and Scribes; there we see the suffering of the heart broken by the disloyalty of friends. This attitude threatened to be carried forward into the Christian Church. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. 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. he said. These were sent into the vineyard, it is true, at the eleventh hour; but nobody had hired them, or offered to hire them, before. Before dinner starts, hide your nerf guns, then start the soundtrack to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Can you drink the cup which I have to drink?" The first is, as it has been said, "All service ranks the same with God." But if Matthew here laid aside all question of time, it was in view of other and weightier considerations for his object. In the evening multitudes are brought, taking advantage of the power that had so shown itself, publicly in the synagogue, and privately in the house of Peter; and the Lord accomplished the words ofIsaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:4: "Himself," it is said, "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," an oracle we might do well to consider in the limit of its application here. Thus the old link with the flesh, with Israel, is now disowned; and the new relationships of faith, founded on doing the will of His Father (it is not a question of the law in any sort), are alone acknowledged. It is not a question of bringing in law to govern the kingdom or guide the Church. Follow Christ's journey to the Cross. It may well be that we who have been Christian for so long have much to learn from those younger Churches who are late-comers to the fellowship of the faith. The true disciple is motivated by love not lust. And so with the other conversation: "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father;" it was after the glory of Christ had been witnessed on the holy mount, when man's selfishness of heart showed itself in contrast to the grace of God. That's one of the two. As he had asserted in ( Matthew 19:30 ) and which is clearly illustrated by this parable, as it may be applied to Jews or Gentiles, or to nominal and real Christians: for many be called; externally, under the ministration of the Gospel, as . Herein is where the prophecy of Isaiah really stands out: "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth"( Isaiah 53:7 ). Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. Fasting, indeed, would follow when the Bridegroom was taken from them. But Christ does not explode at their obtuseness, or blaze at their blindness, or despair at their unteachableness. Here is demonstrated the new glory and the new greatness of suffering love and sacrificial service. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister [or servant]; And whosoever will be the chief among you, let him be the bondslave ( Matthew 20:23-27 ): Jesus here is teaching the servanthood of the ministry and the path to greatness. But in the case of those who were engaged later, there is no word of contract; all they wanted was the chance to work and they willingly left the reward to the master. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you . "Verily, I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." 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. The picture is that the landowner had an inexhaustible supply of work for those who wanted to work. vi. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." They must still continue to endure the scourge of crime they could never expiate. The leper approaches the Lord with homage, but with a most inadequate belief in His love and readiness to meet his need. 3 He went out about nine o'clock . This world looks at the outward appearance, but God knows our hearts. 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. They have treated the Bible either with levity, or as too awful a book to be apprehended really; not with the reverence of faith, which waits on Him, and fails not in due time to understand His word. Matthew 20. 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. Be sure to join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theweekendadventurer 23,599 people like this 25,112 people follow this http://www.myadventurechallenge.com/ info@myadventurechallenge.com i. But what a mercy that those who appear now to be rejected may be called in another muster, enrolled, serve in the field, or work in the vineyard? i. Next, we find Him confessed by the centurion, no longer as the Messiah, when actually with them, confessed according to a faith which saw the deeper glory of His person as supreme, competent to heal, no matter where, or whom, or what, by a word; and this the Lord Himself hails as the foreshadowing of a rich incoming of many multitudes to the praise of His name, when the Jews should be cast out. Abstulit, sed et dedit--He hath taken away; but he originally gave. Next is the one pearl of great price, the unity and beauty of that which was so dear to the merchantman. ii. Though God is a debtor to none, yet he is graciously pleased to make himself a debtor by his own promise, for the benefit of which, through Christ, believers agree with him, and he will stand to his part of the agreement. It was clearly a question of connection with the apostle of the circumcision ( i.e., Peter's wife's mother). They did not see why the two brothers should steal a march on them, even if they were the cousins of Jesus. [Note: France, The Gospel . It is easy to sympathize with these who had worked all day. The Lord was in Capernaum, where Peter lived; and on a certain Sabbath-day, after the call of Peter, wrought in the synagogue mighty deeds, which are here recorded, and by Luke also. 22 But Jesus answered by saying to . b. The eye is often both the inlet and the outlet of this sin. Lastly, we have the Lord rebuking the ambition not only of the sons of Zebedee, but in truth also of the ten; for why was there such warmth of indignation against the two brethren? How are we to account for a selection so marked, an elimination of time so complete? The sovereign God takes pity on a needy world, and generously gives his salvation to all who accept his offer. Thou didst; and wilt thou go and agree with the world? The last trumpet, at the great day, shall call the labourers,1 Thessalonians 4:16. It is a saying of R. Simeon ben Jochai d, "I have seen the children of the world to come (elsewhere e it is, of the chamber), , "and they are few".''. The point of this one is that God will reward all His disciples justly, graciously, and generously. The people whose hearts are yielded to him will be recognized as his children no matter their rank or riches by worldly standards. i. But when he came to the first, they supposed that they should have received more; but they likewise received every man a penny. The landowner rebuked them for their jealousy and resentment of the landowners generosity towards others. Now we see Jesus leaving Jericho, a great multitude of people thronging around Him, and these two blind men hearing the multitude passing by, and observing all of the bustle and activities saying, "what's going on, what's happening?" "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." The New Testament Had all the sinners that ever lived in the world been consigned to hell, they could not have discharged the claims of justice. There are gates on the East which is the direction of the dawn, and whereby a man may enter in the glad morning of his days; there are gates on the West which is the direction of the setting sun, and whereby a man may enter in his age. . (2.) And they would lay this leather whip across the back, and it was so designed, that when they pulled it back up to rip up pieces of flesh.The purpose of the scourging was the third-degree Roman style. They never did make front page or even back page. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a Most clearly it is not so much a question of sin in the aspect of uncleanness (typifying deeper things, but still connected with the ceremonial requirements of Israel, as we find from what our Lord said in the chapter to the cleansed leper). If this be a sound judgment, the comparison of the first chapter of Mark affords decisive evidence that the Holy Ghost in Matthew has taken the leper out of the mere time and circumstances of actual occurrence, and has reserved his case for a wholly different service. Wisdom Literature Oh, for grace so to bow and bless God, even when our little travail seems in vain! The system of grace is foreign to us: God deals with us according to who He is, not according to who we are. What an anticipation of the walk by faith, not by sight, in which the Gentiles, when called, ought to have glorified God, when the rejection of the Messiah by His own ancient people gave occasion to the Gentile call as a distinct thing! The meek and trustful spirit is to be desired; so also is the worker; but neither class of people, nor yet another class combining the virtues of both, can in any degree merit salvation. They were still thinking in terms of personal reward and personal distinction; and they were thinking of personal success without personal sacrifice. 'God is love. They couldn't see Him. yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. [1.] Out in the world, said Jesus, it is quite true that the great man is the man who controls others; the man to whose word of command others must leap; the man who with a wave of his hand can have his slightest need supplied. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. "That ye may know it (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." ), but as some charitable generous householders keep poor men to work, in kindness to them, to save them from idleness and poverty, and pay them for working for themselves. Sufferers for Christ in the latter days, shall have the same reward with the martyrs and confessors of the primitive times, though they are more celebrated; and faithful ministers now, the same with the first fathers. Hence, the Lord Jesus is here disclosing throughout, that the doom of Israel was pronounced and impending. It is not the amount of service given, but the love in which it is given which matters. In a sense, everybody is called to recognize God through the natural world, but the word "chosen" shows that God must personally rescue us from our self-centered blindness.
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