Thus Matthew, called at the very receipt of custom, follows Jesus, and makes a feast for Him. He is also the writer of many of the letters that you find in your New Testament.". 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. This parable taught him that God would give him a just reward for his sacrificial labor for Jesus. Lord cometh, his reward is with him, to give unto every man according as his work shall be, as one star differeth from another star in glory, so shall it be. "The ransom could not have been paid to God; it was therefore paid to the Evil One, who was holding us fast until the ransom should be given to him, even the life of Jesus." They in turn will give me to the Gentiles, the Romans. Used by permission. Set a timer for 20 minutes (no peeking) and start eating. 1. Now he started out at about six o'clock in the morning, and hired these men who were standing in the marketplace to go out and work in his vineyard. Perhaps, Christ here gives an intimation to Peter, not to boast too much, as he seemed to do, of his having left all to follow Christ; as if, because he and the rest of them had borne the burthen and heat of the day thus, they must have a heaven by themselves. . These men did not all do the same work; but they did receive the same pay. The tribunes of the second and third likewise made their choice one after another; and he that remained entered into the fourth legion. 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. Jesus was there to call, not righteous men, but sinners. In the distribution of future joys, as it was in the gathering of the manna, he that shall gather much, will have nothing over, and he that shall gather little, will have no lack, Exodus 16:18. The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16); Jesus a Third Time Predicts His Death and Resurrection (Matthew 20:17-19; Mark 10:32-34; Luke 18:31-34); Greatness is Serving (Matthew 20:20-28); Two Blind Men Receive Their Sight (Matthew 20:29-34). "My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live." Major Prophets It is incontestably true, that God can do no wrong. 3 "About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. [2.] Christ only meant to say that every one who has been called before others ought to run with so much the greater alacrity, and, next, to exhort all men to be modest, not to give themselves the preference above others, but willingly to share with them a common prize. 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. Hence, he waits to present their rejection of the Messiah, as morally complete as possible in his statement of it, though necessarily not complete in outward accomplishment. The other workers hired through the day were not promised a specific wage, only whatever is right. Thus, in the chapter before us, we have a very comprehensive sketch of the Lord's manifestation from that time, and in type going on to the end of the age. The idea is that His people were in bondage as slaves, and He paid their price. Very early men began to say, "Jesus gave his life a ransom for many. In the eighth chapter of Matthew as it tells of them bringing all of their sick and those who were diseased to Jesus, and He healed them, every one, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying, "He in His own body bore our sufferings." Now Paul said if you understand this, when you partake of the broken bread, you can receive from God a work of His Spirit in your body.Now many who do not understand this, are weak and sick, because they do not understand the Lord's body. Reversal! 4. iii. The idea was you were to confess the crimes that you had committed against Rome, and as you confessed your crimes, the man who was administering that scourging would go easier and easier on you. (2.) Now the parable: A landowner went out early in the morning (6 am) to hire laborers for his vineyard. Now notice, the mother is the one doing the speaking, but the boys are right there behind her. "Upon this rock," says He, "I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Mary Magdalene is named in all the lists; Mary the mother of James and Joses must be the same person as Mary the wife of Clopas; therefore the third woman is described in three different ways. Will be betrayed: Conceivably, Jesus could have been delivered to the religious authorities without this. Imagine a slave being given leadership! (Carson). For less than $5/mo. Matthew 20:16. They had their mistaken ambitions; they had their blindness; they had their wrong ideas; but he never dreamed of writing them off as bad debts. Rudolf Bultmann writes: "In the Cross of Christ Jewish standards of judgment and human notions of the splendour of the Messiah are shattered." At the close of this chapter 9, in His deep compassion He bids the disciples pray the Lord of the harvest to send forth labourers into His harvest. If they had let him pass, their chance would have gone by for ever; but when the chance came they seized it. And who knows, but what they may have put her up to it, because when Jesus asked the question, they're ready to respond. Considerable time, it is true, elapsed between the two facts; but this only makes it the more sure and plain, that they are grouped together with a divine purpose. THE MIND OF JESUS ( Matthew 20:20-28 continued). It was going on, then, to the bitter end, and surely not without such suffering and sorrow as holy, unselfish, obedient love alone can know. Or is your eye evil because I am good? At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father." 16 "So the last will be first, and the first will be last.". Matthew 19. 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. It was made after a series of announcements by Jesus that ahead of him lay an inescapable Cross; it was made at a moment when the air was heavy with the atmosphere of tragedy and the sense of foreboding. And so they began to cry out to Jesus. THE MASTER SEEKS HIS WORKERS ( Matthew 20:1-16 ), 20:1-16 "For the situation in the Kingdom of Heaven is like what happened when a householder went out first thing in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Accordingly, here we have a witness of it, and a witness so much the sweeter, because the present total rejection that was filling the heart of the leaders surely testified to the Lord's heart of that which was at hand. "Suffer me first," he says, "to go and bury my father." Isaiah prophesied the fact that He would be scourged, but in prophesying the fact, Isaiah tells us the reason. 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. This was testing matters more closely. But Luke saith, they understood none of these things; that is, surely they believed none of them, the saying was hid from them. (Poole), v. When our Lord told the twelve that he would die, they imagined that it was a parable, concealing some deep mystery. Surely, had he seen this, everything was there; but he saw it not, and so the Lord spread out His actual portion, as it literally was, without one word about the unseen and eternal. (1.) b. Reject Him as the Messiah; in that rejection the moral glory of the Son of man would be laid as the foundation of His exaltation and manifestation another day; He was Lord of the Sabbath-day. Counting from 6 a.m. therefore, the third hour is 9 a.m., the sixth hour is twelve midday, and the eleventh hour is 5 p.m. Wisdom Literature But if this be so, there is here absolute certainty that our Lord, on the very Sabbath in which He cast out the unclean spirit from the man in the synagogue of Capernaum, immediately after quitting the synagogue, entered the house of Peter, and that there and then He healed Peter's wife's mother of the fever. And Jesus stood still, and he called them, and said, What do you want me to do for you? When did this take place, if we enquire into it merely as a matter of historical fact? That is why the first will be last and the last will be first. They did not see why the two brothers should steal a march on them, even if they were the cousins of Jesus. For many are called, but few chosen.". Such people resent what seems to them the intrusion of new blood or the rise of a new generation with different plans and different ways. Dress up - slacks/tie, skirt/shirt. "That by His stripes you may be healed." When it gets to where I have to sneak in the back door at the last minute, and sneak out before things are over, then I need to find something else to do, when you can no longer take time to minister to individuals.Now these men of course do give to us a very beautiful picture of people who are blind in sin, and there is the spiritualizing of the text, crying out for Jesus. He was to be mocked by the Romans; there we see the suffering of humiliation and of deliberate insult. Jesus said, "They will scourge me. All men, no matter when they come, are equally precious to God.". The Whole Bible of a. Not only will it be fair, it will be generous beyond expectation. we have in Peter what man is, even after all this. For they needed someone to help Him bear the cross. 22 But Jesus answered by saying to . The failure of this greatest of women-born only gives Him the just occasion to show the total change at hand, when it should not be a question of man, but of God, yea, of the kingdom of heaven, the least in which new state should be greater than John. So little old Jewish mama coming to Jesus with her two sons. Wisdom Literature This attitude threatened to be carried forward into the Christian Church. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary. 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. And because they were sent of God, they each one received from the Lord that same portion.Sometimes we see people who on their deathbed receive Jesus Christ as their Savior and they enter into eternal life. Beracot, fol. They did not see why they should be allowed to stake their claims to preeminence. It is best understood as a parable about grace and reward. The plucking of the corn, and the healing of the withered hand, had taken place long before. Luke-Acts How little they had learnt the divine lesson of grace, not ordinances! Jesus blessedly answered their thoughts, had there only been a conscience to hear the word of power and grace, which brings out His glory the more. 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 Gentiles, who are newly called in, have as much of the privileges of the kingdom of the Messiah as the Jews have, who have so long been labouring in the vineyard of the Old-Testament church, under the yoke of the ceremonial law, in expectation of that kingdom. 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. 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.(A). Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a The question was not who or what came in the way; whoever appealed to Him, there He was for them. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight." They plucked his hair, they smote his cheeks, they spat in his face. "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. About the third hour, [nine o'clock in the morning], he saw others standing idle in the market place, and he said unto them; Go into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. He maintains His sovereign title to do good, to do as He will with His own. In Matthew it is their mother. Observe. It is the paradox of the Christian life that he who aims at reward loses it, and he who forgets reward finds it. They did not understand what was happening, but they could see in every line of Jesus' body the struggle of his soul. There is room also for the most thorough self-abnegation. It is the power of grace. There is such tremendous reward just in being able to minister to people, the feedback that comes from it is so rewarding. A great tempest. The picture is that the landowner had an inexhaustible supply of work for those who wanted to work. The prisoner would be tied to a post in such a way, as your back would be stretched. It was the creature doing his best, yet proving that he loved the creature more than the Creator. It is probable that James and John were closely related to Jesus. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 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. Blue Letter Bible is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. [2.] Here is royalty and kingship restated and remade. He had no reason to quarrel with the master; for what he gave was absolutely his own, Matthew 20:15; Matthew 20:15. The people might have failed, but, surely, there were some differences surely those that were honoured and valued were not so depraved! vi. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They said to Him, We are able. So He said to them, You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.. 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. iv. If the harvest was not ingathered before the rains broke, then it was ruined; and so to get the harvest in was a frantic race against time. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? And someone said, "Jesus is going by." "They that are first shall be last, and they that are last shall be first"( Matthew 19:30 ). Then the mother of Zebedees sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. No. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? Wisdom Literature The fact of two without the personal details would not powerfully tell upon mere Gentiles perhaps, though to a Jew it might be for some ends necessary. We have here. The motive was Christ Himself: therefore He says, "Ye which have followed me." He s. Matthew 20:16 - John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible So, on the other hand, the centurion sets forth with no less aptness the characteristic faith that suits the Gentile, in a simplicity which looks for nothing but the word of His mouth, is perfectly content with it, knows that, whatever the disease may be, He has only to speak the word, and it is done according to His divine will. It is clear that the unclean spirit, returning, brings idolatry back again. Thus the end is as the beginning, and even far, far worse. In heaven, every vessel will be full, brimful, though every vessel is not alike large and capacious. 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. The leper approaches the Lord with homage, but with a most inadequate belief in His love and readiness to meet his need. Clarke's Commentary. Have we, spite of superior privileges, such unwavering faith, that we can afford to treat the matter as incredible in John, and therefore only capable of solution in his staggering disciples? What care we for those who curse and blaspheme? But the future is in view also. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. What Jesus Did! [5.] 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. Plainly, the church isnt to operate the way the world does. The violent man, Herod, guilty of innocent blood, then reigned in the land, in contrast with whom goes Jesus into the wilderness, showing who and what He was the Shepherd of Israel, ready and able to care for the people. This, I believe, is a great lesson, and too often forgotten. He was not called. In it there is the comfort of God. Thus many are called by the preaching of the Gospel, but few are found who use their advantages in such a way as to become extensively useful in the Church-and many in the Church militant behave so ill as never to be admitted into the Church triumphant. The right hand and left hand suggest proximity to the Kings person and so a share in his prestige and power. (Carson), ii. They confess their faith, and He touches their eyes. Such is His grace, such His wisdom. Note, First, The soul of man stands ready to be hired into some service or other; it was (as all the creatures were) created to work, and is either a servant to iniquity, or a servant to righteousness,Romans 6:19. It does not seem exactly as a pictorial view of what the Lord was doing, or going to do, but rather the repeated pledge, that they were not to suppose that the evil He had judged in the elders of Jerusalem, or the grace freely going out to the Gentiles, in any way led Him. Peter wanted to know what they would get in return. And when the devil was come out, the dumb spake: and the multitudes marvelled, saying, It was never so seen in Israel." All that are chosen from eternity, are effectually called, in the fulness of time (Romans 8:30), so that in making our effectual calling sure we make sure our election (2 Peter 1:10); but it is not so as to the outward call; many are called, and yet refuse (Proverbs 1:24), nay, as they are called to God, so they go from him (Hosea 11:2; Hosea 11:7), by which it appears that they were not chosen, for the election will obtain,Romans 11:7. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation." The Lord Jesus, even before He pronounced the sentence, for so it was, indicated what was at hand in these two instances of the Sabbath-day, though one may not now linger on them. Note, God will be sure not to be behind-hand with any for the service they do him: never any lost by working for God. It is a saying of R. Simeon ben Jochai (d). 45. They forgot His glory in their own anxiety and selfishness. WORK AND WAGES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ( Matthew 20:1-16 continued). Had all the sinners that ever lived in the world been consigned to hell, they could not have discharged the claims of justice. 2. 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. and a sinking ship are serious difficulties to a man. "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." He was not setting out rules for wages and employment, but giving an illustration of Gods grace. It brings me to the real crisis; that is, the final presentation of our lord to Jerusalem. The Rabbis had a saying, "Some enter the Kingdom in an hour; others hardly enter it in a lifetime." New International Version (NIV). Far different this was from the errand on which He was intent; but He was there for faith. What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? Note, The unchangeableness of God's purposes in dispensing his gifts should silence our murmurings. What He was introducing could not mix with Judaism. All rights reserved worldwide. Historical Books ". We have, first, the sower sowing the word. Though he vainly thought, that if those few were but two, they were himself and his son. The line from the . 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. That's one of the two. The first came to an agreement with the master; they had a contract; they said, "We work, if you give us so much pay." International Standard Version "In the same way, the last will be first, and the first will be last, because many are called, but few are chosen." "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." Fasting, indeed, would follow when the Bridegroom was taken from them. If he were willing to follow the Lord, it was for what he could get. He would send fit messengers, nor would the work be done till the rejected Messiah, the Son of man, came. The Lord now lets them know their mad folly, and warns them that this blasphemy was about to culminate in a still deeper, deadlier form when the Holy Ghost should be spoken against as He had been. The best of the labourers, and those that begin soonest, having so many empty spaces in their time, and their works not being filled up before God, may truly be said to labour in the vineyard scarcely one hour of their twelve; but because we are under grace, and not under the law, even such defective services, done in sincerity, shall not only be accepted, but by free grace richly rewarded. The impression is that the landowner was surprised to find people idle, because he had plenty of work to give them. Rather than seeking God as to whether or not you should buy a new car, you had to seek your elder or your shepherd. 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. ii. When they get to Jerusalem, those culminating events of the life of Jesus are going to take place. It is enough to meet a difficulty which many feel by the simple plea that the reason assigned is in my judgment a valid explanation, and in itself a sufficient solution of the apparent discrepancy. Historical Books Jesus recognized that they didnt really understand, but they would. The highest creature must go away into nothing, if he must go away with that only which is his own: but if we understand it of that which is ours by gift, the free gift of God, it teaches us to be content with such things as we have. The point is that God rewards on the principle of grace, and we should therefore expect surprises. Jesus gave everything to bring men back to God; and we must walk in the steps of him who loved to the uttermost. Now when he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.. None are hired at the twelfth hour; when life is done, opportunity is done; but "while there is life, there is hope." 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".''. Thus He points out the utter moral incongruity of fasting at that moment, and intimates that it was not merely the fact that He was going to be rejected, but that to conciliate His teaching and His will with the old thing was hopeless. The devil, by his temptations, is hiring labourers into his field, to feed swine. 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. He came to occupy not a throne, but a cross. On the other side of the picture, behold the Lord leading on a soul to draw on divine grace in the most glorious manner. 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. This signifies the jealousy which the Jews were provoked to by the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of heaven. The ability to serve God is the gift of His grace. The deity of Christ was the hook; his flesh was the bait; the bait was dangled before leviathan; he swallowed it and was taken. to forget His ancient people. Jesus was moved with compassion to the depths of his being, and touched their eyes; and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. Anyone who took this parable as a practical basis for employment would soon be out of business." And He said to her, What do you wish? She said to Him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.. The ignorance is wholly on our side: all they say or omit was owing to the far-reaching and gracious wisdom of Him who inspired them. More and more excellent shall be the children of the desolate than those of the married wife,Isaiah 54:1. Who knows but that the church, in its old age, may be more fat and flourishing than ever, to show that the Lord is upright? To labour in his vineyard. It is not enough that Israel be awakened from the sleep of death, and see aright.
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