Some of the people of our own day who fancy that their sweet and pious attitude in some way entitles them to God's favor should take note of this. 10 million Ukrainians without power because of Russia. This parable taught the disciples not to think of heavenly rewards in terms of justice, getting in proportion to what they deserved. Now life treated James and John very differently. "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." Sometimes a man dies full of years and full of honour, with his day's work ended and his task completed. This, then, I apprehend to be the reason why we End two demoniacs mentioned; whereas, in Mark or Luke for other purposes, the Spirit of God only draws attention to one of the two. God's generosity will not succumb to human jealousy. You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: Both James and John had to be baptized in suffering as Jesus was, but their cups and baptisms were different. They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' b. The crowd commanded them to stop their shouting; they were making a nuisance of themselves. A reaction might especially be expected when Jesus said He would be betrayed. Matthew 20 He preached in the same church as C. H. Spurgeon over one hundred years earlier. 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. 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. 1. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point 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 about the eleventh hour, [five in the evening] he went out, and found others standing idle, and said unto them, Why do you stand here idle all day? He was not setting out rules for wages and employment, but giving an illustration of Gods grace. This world looks at the outward appearance, but God knows our hearts. Take what is yours and go your way. The unparalleled grace of the Saviour must form and fashion the saints henceforth. (Matthew 20:17-19) Jesus again reveals the fate waiting for Him at Jerusalem. And the third day He will rise again.. It often happens that we are easily discouraged from seeking the presence of God. Zion may say of the Lord who laboured in vain, whom the nation abhorred, "The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me." . It is tragic that we have gotten so far away from the concepts that Jesus taught. The money was paid by the overseer, but he was standing by enjoying the scene. (Bruce). 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. This, I believe, is a great lesson, and too often forgotten. "Then," said the Lord, "are the children free. 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. 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. 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. And, 2. Yet He confidently said it would happen. A new tribe presented other four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. iv. Finally, this parable that illustrates the principle that Gods manner of rewarding is not like mans practice of giving rewards. The scribes, at the beginning of the chapter, could not hide from the Lord their bitter rejection of His glory as man on earth entitled, as His humiliation and cross would prove, to forgive. (Ken Chumbley, The Gospel of Matthew, commentary, p.#351). See Deuteronomy 24:15. There is no greater mistake than to suppose, because there is the richest development of God's grace in new things, that He abandons or weakens natural relationships and authority in their place. Let those who have so little experience of what man is, even in the regenerate, beware lest they impute to the Baptist such an acting of a part as shocks us, when Jerome imputed it to Peter and Paul in the censure of Galatians 2:1-21. And if thou hast what thou didst agree for, thou hast no reason to cry out of wrong; thou shalt have what we agreed for." The New Testament 1. The Rabbis had a saying, "Some enter the Kingdom in an hour; others hardly enter it in a lifetime." When it came time to pay the workers, the men hired last were paid first and paid for a full day of work! What feelings at such a time! It is a picture of what was about to take place when the Lord Jesus, quitting Israel and the earth, ascends on high, and all assumes another form not the reign upon earth, but intercession in heaven. "Christ demands that the driving force in your life must be love. To take on the position of the minister is to take on the position of the servant to the flock of God. The grounds of such a judgment will naturally come before us ere long: I can merely refer to it now as my conviction. Your partnership makes all we do possible. Gods grace always operates righteously. 2. iv. 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. Here he asserts his own justice; Friend, I do thee no wrong. 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. This was an entirely normal arrangement. He speaks of Israel then, and of Israel before He comes in glory, but He entirely omits any notice of the circumstances which were to come in by the way. Out of the market-place, where, till they are hired into God's service, they stand idle (Matthew 20:3; Matthew 20:3), all the day idle (Matthew 20:6; Matthew 20:6). but it was far too much for the young man. Email / username or password was incorrect! There were two; but the Spirit of God chose out, in Mark and Luke, the more remarkable of the two, and traces for us his history, a history of no small interest and importance, as we may feel when we come to Mark; but it was of equal moment for the gospel of Matthew that the two demoniacs should be mentioned here, although one of them was in himself, as I gather, a far more strikingly desperate case than the other. b. The question fairly arises, Why it is that the Holy Ghost has been pleased so remarkably to leave time out of the question in this chapter, as well as in the next? Yet is He the Son of man who hath power on earth to forgive sins; and He uses His authority.
He had no reason to quarrel with the master; for what he gave was absolutely his own, Matthew 20:15; Matthew 20:15. Then, in Mark 3:1-35, there are notes of time more or less strong. And who knows, but what they may have put her up to it, because when Jesus asked the question, they're ready to respond. The priest, in chap. At the beginning of Matthew 10:1-42 He Himself sends forth themselves as labourers. [There is what I call a clear, unmistakable note of time.] Descending then upon the plateau, He delivered what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew gives no such details, but call and mission are together here. Even so the last shall be first, and the first shall be last.". This is the more to be noticed, inasmuch as the gospel of Matthew has been in general adopted as the standard of time, save by those who have rather inclined to Luke as supplying the desideratum. (Matthew 20:32-34) Jesus heals the two blind men. The New King James Version (NKJV) organises this chapter as follows: . This furnishes occasion to the Pharisees to vent their unbelief: to them nothing is so offensive as grace, either in doctrine or in practice. Origen has no doubt that the ransom was paid to the devil. The request of James and John not unnaturally annoyed the other disciples. But I do believe that in this parable, He is teaching that a person at the end of the road can turn, in the eleventh hour and come to God, and receive a share of the kingdom, equal share, as far as eternal life is concerned.Another thing that it teaches, I believe, is that we all will be rewarded for our faithfulness in our service to God. We are, in fact, in the presence of that which John so loves to dwell on Jesus viewed not merely as Son of David or Abraham, or Seed of the woman, but as the Father's Son, the Son as the Father gave, sent, appreciated, and loved Him. They said, "Lord, if we could just see." It was the custom in Palestine for a Rabbi to teach as he walked along the road; and no doubt those around Jesus could not hear what Jesus was saying for this clamorous uproar. 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. "That ye may know it (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. John is swifter of foot, and comes first to the sepulchre: but Peter has more courage, and goes first into it. (Matthew 20:1-2) A landowners workers early in the morning. 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. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. It is simply designed to teach that in the church, among the multitudes who will be saved, Christ makes a difference. But Jesus answered and said, You don't know what you are asking. To eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. At the great day, though the dead in Christ shall rise first, yet they which are alive and remain, on whom the ends of the world (the eleventh hour of its day) comes, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds; no preference shall be given to seniority, but every man shall stand in his own lot at the end of the days. The landowner reminded them that he had paid them the amount they had agreed to, and if he paid others the same amount, that was his concern. If you have any questions, please review our Privacy Policy or email us at privacy@biblegateway.com. 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. It is as if Jesus said to them, "You have received the great privilege of coming into the Christian Church and fellowship very early, right at the beginning. Matthew 20. It is all of grace and not of debt; nor does that exclude obedience. 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. Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores. i. He said to them, 'Go you also to the vineyard.' 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. 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. Throughout it is the religious kind that are tested and found wanting. Jesus uses a kind of gradation. "There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch, that the ship was covered with the waves; but he was asleep." No request is too great to bring to Jesus. '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.' Is thine eye evil, because I am good? The Pharisees were enraged at a power they could not deny, which rebuked themselves so much the more on account of its persistent grace; but Jesus passes by all blasphemy as yet, and goes on His way nothing hinders His course of love. Beracot, fol. Through this parable Jesus assured Peter and the disciples that they will be rewarded but the principle of many who are first will be last and the last first (Matthew 19:30) meant that God may not reward as man expects even as the parable illustrated. And if those who in the last moment come into the kingdom of God, God rewards them, and they receive the reward for their place in the kingdom. Observe that it is at this point the chapter begins with vindicating the sanctity of marriage. The impression is that the landowner was surprised to find people idle, because he had plenty of work to give them. I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. A similar principle applies to the little children, who are next introduced; and the same thing is true substantially of natural or moral character here below.