They looked at one another, and they tried to fathom where there was no depth, but where the truth lay on the surface. (Spurgeon), vi. It often happens that we are easily discouraged from seeking the presence of God. But it would be unusual for a wealthy "landowner" to locate his own . Some think this parable speaks of the way that people come to God at different stages of their life. Love is the sign of true discipleship. Before dinner starts, hide your nerf guns, then start the soundtrack to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. 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. The Lord has nothing for them, or for Him, but to go right on to the end. It was an imperfect faith but they acted on it; and Jesus accepted it. Peter answers, "Of strangers." vi. "That by His stripes you may be healed." The Lord works in delivering power; but withal the power of Satan fills and carries away the unclean to their own destruction. Thirdly, The gospel call is given to those that stand idle in the market-place. Matthew 20:16 Context 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Adventure Challenge - Couple's Edition - Matthew 20:16 - YouTube It is an evil eye, which is displeased at the good of others, and desires their hurt. last will be on the same footing as the first, and the first as the last, those who esteem themselves last shall be first, and those who esteem themselves first shall be last, . 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. 5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. In Mark 10:35-45 it is James and John who come to Jesus with this request. Seemingly, the disciples did not really listen when Jesus said these things. A man may go idle to hell; but he that will go to heaven, must be busy. If God was there, what else could He, would He do? So the last will be first, and the first last. Nothing can be simpler. I feel sure that no Christian harbours a doubt about it. It is a just prefiguration of what will be in the close of the age the mass of the unbelieving Jews, now impure, but then also given up to the devil, and so to evident perdition. And they went their way. The aggravation of it; "It is because I am good." I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. He comes to do not his own will, but the will of him that sent him, and so he correctly says of rank in his kingdom, It is not mine to give. 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. 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. Jesus summed up his whole life in one poignant sentence: "The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many." As we have seen, the pay was 4 pence a day; and, if they were unemployed for one day, the children would go hungry at home, for no man ever saved much out of 4 pence a day. Evidently it is the change of dispensation that is in question and at hand, the cutting off of the fleshly seed for their unbelief, and the bringing in of numerous believers in the name of the Lord from among the Gentiles. ii. The crowd commanded them to stop their shouting; they were making a nuisance of themselves. Thus man's badness takes occasion from God's goodness to be more exceedingly sinful. b. The true disciple does not begin his work in the masters vineyard by first calculating his own value. 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. (Matthew 20:16) The parable applied: the principle of Gods reward. He had no reason to envy his fellow servant, or to grudge at him; or to be angry that he came into the vineyard no sooner; for he was not sooner called; he had no reason to be angry that the master had given him wages for the whole day, when he had idled away the greatest part of it; for Is thine eye evil, because I am good? Or is your eye evil because I am good?. The Christian works for the joy of serving God and his fellow-men. Set a timer for 20 minutes (no peeking) and start eating. Far from lowering the position of His servant, He declares there was none greater among mortal men. 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.(A), 17Now Jesus was going up to Jerusalem. We need not dwell upon it. But, as I have stated, the choice and ordination of the twelve apostles had really taken place before the sermon on the mount, though not mentioned in Matthew, but in Mark and Luke. It does not say, that " then there came a leper," or " immediately there came a leper." I merely indicate by the way how the thorough increasing rejection of the Lord Jesus in His lower glory has but the effect of bringing out the revelation of His higher. And then he said interesting things for this cause; "There are many who are weak and sick among you, because they do not understand the Lord's body"( 1 Corinthians 11:30 ). Passwords should have at least 6 characters. Origen said it was the devil; Gregory of Nyssa objected that this put the devil on the same level as God, and allowed the devil to dictate terms to God. What shall be their wages? [2.] a. Certainly, He did not arrange His own betrayal. To be like Christ he went to live in the slums, even though he himself was suffering from tuberculosis. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." The faithful and true witness, it was His to display that power in goodness which shall be put forth fully in the world to come, the great day when the Lord will manifest Himself to every eye as Son of David, and Son of man too. Yet man, in face of all, is so deceived of the enemy, that he prefers to be left with the demons rather than enjoy the presence of the Deliverer. The disciples had been summoned to work in the vineyard. And He arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. 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. 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. In calling the labourers, they must begin from the last, and so to the first. It was really after the transfiguration recorded in chapter 17 of our gospel. (i) It is in one sense a warning to the disciples. [1.] He said, "Call those fellows to me." 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Amen. This parable taught the disciples not to think of heavenly rewards in terms of justice, getting in proportion to what they deserved. "If you really want to be great in the kingdom of God, learn to be the servant of all. And wilt thou seek for a happiness in the creature, or think from thence to make up the deficiencies of thy happiness in God? GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, (Hebrew/Greek Search by English Definition), * 'Number Delimiters' only apply to 'Paragraph Order', Search verses, phrases, and topics (e.g. Jesus, nevertheless, owned all that could be owned in him. Thou didst; and wilt thou go and agree with the world? 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. The grape harvest ripened towards the end of September, and then close on its heels the rains came. But this is enough to silence all murmurs and objectors, that God is sovereign Lord of all, and may do what he will with his own. So many people, both in things material and in things spiritual, get what they want, and then forget even to say thanks. "The cross," he said, "was a mousetrap (muscipula) to catch the devil, baited with the blood of Christ.". 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. And who knows, but what they may have put her up to it, because when Jesus asked the question, they're ready to respond. Where did they come from? Major Prophets He now takes His place of rejection; for Him it is manifest even now by their inmost thoughts of Him when revealed. The crown set before us is a crown of righteousness, which the righteous Judge shall give. They gave Him full honor with this title. The market-place was the equivalent of the labour exchange. He therefore, 1. A fish was the last being for man to make his banker of; with God all things are possible, who knew how to blend admirably in the same act divine glory, unanswerably vindicated, with the lowliest grace in man. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the ship. Many of them bleed to death. But Christ does not explode at their obtuseness, or blaze at their blindness, or despair at their unteachableness. Outwardly it was a condition of comparative cleanness. He was ignorant of himself, because ignorant of God, and imagined that it was only a question of man's doing good for God. (Ken Chumbley, The Gospel of Matthew, commentary, p.#351). Yet He confidently said it would happen. So translated into our present day, an average day's wage for a laborer maybe twenty-five dollars or so. Jesus came to give his life a ransom for many. General Epistles 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. Then follows the rise of what was great in its littleness till it became little in its greatness in the earth; and the development and spread of doctrine, till the measured space assigned to it is brought under its assimilating influence. James was the first of the apostolic band to die a martyr ( Acts 12:2). 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. "There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch, that the ship was covered with the waves; but he was asleep." Blue Letter Bible study tools make reading, searching and studying the Bible easy and rewarding. Secondly, The particular pleading with those that were offended with this distribution in gavel-kind. Any worker was welcome, even if he could give only an hour to the work. (Barclay). God is the great Householder, whose we are, and whom we serve; as a householder, he has work that he will have to be done, and servants that he will have to be doing; he has a great family in heaven and earth, which is named from Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:15), which he is Owner and Ruler of. By submitting your email address, you understand that you will receive email communications from Bible Gateway, a division of The Zondervan Corporation, 3900 Sparks Drive SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 USA, including commercial communications and messages from partners of Bible Gateway. Laborers in the Vineyard. ii. Thus the fresh revelations of grace in no way detract from that which God had of old established in nature; but, contrariwise, only impart a new and greater force in asserting the real value and wisdom of God's way even in these least things. That was all over for the moment through Israel's blind sin; He was going to suffer, not yet reign, at Jerusalem. This was the very blessing that aroused, above all, the hatred of the scribes. And He had compassion upon them, and healed them. There are two great lessons here. Unfortunately, they have missed the blessing of knowing God, and serving God all their lives. Copyright 2019 by Zondervan. The landowner asked if they were jealous because the landowner was generous to other people. He stood in the driving rain to preach, coughing all the time. Probably thisto teach us that men who have wrought in Christ's service all their days may, by the spirit which they manifest at the last, make it too evident that, as between God and their own souls, they never were chosen workmen at all. They are the circumstances that preceded the discourse upon the mount, as given in Matthew 5:1-48; Matthew 6:1-34; Matthew 7:1-29. Possibly the first felt their vanity wounded by being paid after the others. This world looks at the outward appearance, but God knows our hearts. Can I not do what I like with my own money? In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers, but labourers, working, and working out our own salvation. It is worth stopping to see what the crude hands of theology have done with that lovely saying. 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. After this, in the chapter we have the positive hindrance asserted of what man counts good. Spurgeon applied this to us spiritually: Why is any one of us remaining idle towards God? But that they might not be carried away by ambition or vain confidence in themselves, it was necessary also to remind them that others, who would long afterwards be called, would be partakers of the same glory, because God is not limited to any person, but calls freely whomsoever He pleases, and bestows on those who are called whatever rewards He thinks fit. There is hope of old sinners, that they may be brought to true repentance; nothing is too hard for Almighty grace to do, it can change the Ethiopian's skin, and the leopard's spots; can set those to work, who have contracted a habit of idleness. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard. a. The two blind men called upon Him as the Son of David; a sample this of what will be in the end, when the heart of Israel turns to the Lord, and the veil is done away. Then inside the house we have not only the Lord explaining the parable, the history from first to last of the tares and wheat, the mingling of evil with the good which grace had sown, but more than that, we have the kingdom viewed according to divine thoughts and purposes. When it came time to pay the workers, the men hired last were paid first and paid for a full day of work! And the third day He will rise again: Jesus was remarkably specific in this announcement of His fate, and foretold many things over which He had no apparent control. 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. We have here. "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." There is an element of human tenderness in this parable. b. Then Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and he said unto them, [now He is on the way, there is probably great multitudes, but He takes the twelve apart] He said, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him and the third day he shall rise again ( Matthew 20:17-19 ). But the future is in view also. 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." We begin with the comparatively limited significance it originally had. If the Gentiles were to be allowed into the fellowship of the Church at all, they must come in as inferiors. And he went out about the third hour: The third hour was about 9:00 a.m.; the sixth hour was about 12 noon; the eleventh hour was about 5:00 in the evening. "Oh, you bet you, we're able." The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, but it should be different among the people of God. And they said unto him, Because no man has hired us. The disciples should expect to be rewarded; but they should not be surprised if, when rewards are distributed, God will reward others in unexpected ways. IfPsalms 8:1-9; Psalms 8:1-9 goes farther, surely that was for the Son of man, who for the suffering of death was exalted. Sorrow would come full soon when He, the Bridegroom of His people, should be taken away; and then should they fast. Those who had come first thought that they would receive more; but they too received 4 pence each. (Matthew 20:17-19) Jesus again reveals the fate waiting for Him at Jerusalem. [2.] The householder had every right to have cut them off with a trifle instead of a whole day's pay. For this challenge, you'll need dinner at home and two nerf guns. it was not for the whole the Physician was needed. All of this takes the simple picture Jesus gave too far. He was to be mocked by the Romans; there we see the suffering of humiliation and of deliberate insult. The priest, in chap. BEST VALUE in digital Bible study. 'These last,' they said, 'have only worked for one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have home the burden and the hot wind of the day.' Sometimes a man dies full of years and full of honour, with his day's work ended and his task completed. THE LORDSHIP OF THE CROSS ( Matthew 20:20-28 continued). d. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve: Real ministry is done for the benefit of those ministered to, not for the benefit of the minister. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner: Like many of Jesus parables, this story is about an employer and those who work for him. God turns away none that are willing to be hired, for yet there is room. 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. But at the end, when His disciples are in the extremity of trouble, in the midst of the sea, the Lord walks on the sea toward them, and bids them not fear; for they were troubled and afraid. The eye is often both the inlet and the outlet of this sin. 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. See here. In spite of all he had said, here were these men and their mother still chattering about posts in an earthly government and kingdom. 1. All through their history the Jews had dreamed of the Messiah; but the Messiah of whom they had dreamed was always a conquering king, a mighty leader, one who would smash the enemies of Israel and reign in power over the kingdoms of the earth. The tribunes of the second and third likewise made their choice one after another; and he that remained entered into the fourth legion. It is the paradox of the Christian life that he who aims at reward loses it, and he who forgets reward finds it. He sits on the dust heap among the prison convicts. Jesus' conclusion to the parable mirrors the formula introduced at Matthew 19:30, which leads into the parable: "So the last will be first, and the first will be last" (20:16; see also 19:30). He didn't come that people might cater to Him and minister to Him, He came to minister to the people's needs. For him the cup was the constant discipline and struggle of the Christian life throughout the years. When He reigns as David's Son, there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of Hosts. 'God is love. It shows us his kindness. 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. The devil, by his temptations, is hiring labourers into his field, to feed swine. Jesus will use this story to answer a question from Matthew 19:27: See, we have left all and followed You. Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Prophets There will be differences at the close. 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. Matthew 20:16 NIV - "So the last will be first, and the - Bible Gateway They looked for a conqueror; they received one broken on a cross. 3 And going out about the third hour he saw others standing idle in the marketplace, 4 and to them he . And the multitude around them said, "Shut up, hold your peace." When did this take place, if we enquire into it merely as a matter of historical fact? 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. But these men slept in Gethsemane, forsook the Master when He was arrested, and one of them at least failed Him at the crosswe can only follow Christ in his cup and baptism, after we have been endued with the Spirit of Pentecost. (Meyer). Here is the first mention of the mode of Jesus death and of the Gentiles part in it (only the Romans could crucify people). (Carson). "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. Matthew 20:1-16 - It's Not About Seniority! - Bible 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. but what a heart was His! That is why the first will be last and the last will be first. When they get to Jerusalem, those culminating events of the life of Jesus are going to take place. Oh, what a heart is ours! They've come to Jericho. NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Does not this suit you, poor sinner you who never did serve him, you who could not, as you are, minister to him? And they went their way. When God settles all the accounts, then things are going to be valued by his standards and not the world's standards. [1.] iv. It was the little foreshadowing of what will be when the Lord has joined the remnant in the last days, and then fills with blessing the land that He touches. To him who compares this with Luke 6:1-49, there need not remain a question as to the identity of the scene. Commentary on Matthew 20:1-16 - Working Preacher Though primitive Christianity had more of the purity and power of that holy religion than is to be found in the degenerate age wherein we live, yet what labourers may be sent into the vineyard in the eleventh hour of the church's day, in the Philadelphian period, and what plentiful effusions of the Spirit may then be, above what has been yet, who can tell? Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. This sets forth not at all the way in which the Christian stands related to Christ; for even though we had known Him after the flesh, henceforth know we Him no more. (Matthew 20:8-10) The landowner pays his workers. They were offended that the landowner gave the men who worked less equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. 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. 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. The Old Testament d. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? Wretched we, that we should need such proof of it; wretched, that we should be so slow of heart to answer to it, or even to feel its immensity! The Lord shows that such unbelief justly and necessarily excludes itself, but not others, from blessing. He is also the writer of many of the letters that you find in your New Testament.". What are they hired to do? Your promises are thrilling. The Lord pleads the cause of the disciples. First, Carnal worldlings agree with God for their penny in this world; they choose their portion in this life (Psalms 17:14); in these things they are willing to have their reward (Matthew 6:2; Matthew 6:5), their consolation (Luke 6:24), their good things (Luke 16:25); and with these they shall be put off, shall be cut off from spiritual and eternal blessings; and herein God does them no wrong; they have what they chose, the penny they agreed for; so shall their doom be, themselves have decided it; it is conclusive against them. That the recompence of reward will be given to the saints, not according to the time of their conversion, but according to the preparations for it by grace in this world; not according to the seniority (Genesis 43:33), but according to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

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