a. Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Matthew 20:16 - John Darby's Synopsis We may remark that, when the Lord answers Peter, it was the consequence of having left all for Christ upon His call. (E) They will condemn him to death 19and will hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged(F) and crucified. 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. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. The parable may also be applied more generally, and . The simple meaning seems to be: As those who did not come at the invitation of the householder to work in the vineyard did not receive the denarius, or wages, so those who do not obey the call of the Gospel, and believe in Christ Jesus, shall not inherit eternal life. They said to His disciples, "Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" If I am faithful for an hour, if I am faithful for twelve hours, it is my faithfulness to the service to which the Lord has sent me.Now a lot of times we think that men like Billy Graham will surely receive the greatest rewards in heaven, because look at the tremendous fruit of his ministry. Salem Media Group. He may therefore give or withhold his blessings, as he pleases. for many be called; externally, under the ministration of the Gospel, as the Jews in general were, by Christ and his apostles; but. (G) On the third day(H) he will be raised to life!(I). (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. He had been there before. They used their waiting time in considering their own superiority to the latecomers. (Spurgeon). 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. Matthew 5:45). He said to them, 'Go you also to the vineyard.' After Paul had preached on Mars Hill, there were those who said, "We will hear you again about this" ( Acts 17:32). "That ye may know it (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." The market-place was the equivalent of the labour exchange. For they needed someone to help Him bear the cross. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Use semicolons to separate groups: 'Gen;Jdg;Psa-Mal' or 'Rom 3-12;Mat 1:15;Mat 5:12-22', There are options set in 'Advanced Options', The Whole Bible 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. It can only mean here the "invited." When it came time to pay the workers, the men hired last were paid first and paid for a full day of work! Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary. In the Christian Church seniority does not necessarily mean honour. 1. It is not a thing that can be settled by a mere assertion. Thus, whatever the peculiarity of the new blessings, the old thing could be taken up, though upon new grounds, and, of course, on the confession that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. All men, no matter when they come, are equally precious to God.". But the future is in view also. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point ii. He tells them that they should not have gone over (or finished) the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. With them, to be unemployed for a day was disaster. "Day laborers" would be readily available in the market place. [2.] Rome might at any time have recruited her armies by volunteers from such a mass of well-educated, hardy soldiers but she thought proper, to use the words of the Abbe Mably, that the honour of being chosen to serve in the wars should be the reward of the accomplishments shown by the citizens in the Campus Martius, that the soldier should have a reputation to save; and that the regard paid him, in choosing him to serve, should be the pledge of his fidelity and zeal to discharge his duty. We are dependent, therefore, for determining this case, on the fact that Mark does habitually adhere to the chain of events. "The cross," he said, "was a mousetrap (muscipula) to catch the devil, baited with the blood of Christ.". 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. In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers, but labourers, working, and working out our own salvation. They must still continue to endure the scourge of crime they could never expiate. Peter goes forth, but losing sight of the Lord in the presence of the troubled waves, and yielding to his ordinary experience, he fears the strong wind, and is only saved by the outstretched hand of Jesus, who rebukes his doubt. This tested their thoughts of the glory of Jesus. There are people who think that, because they have been members of a Church for a long time, the Church practically belongs to them and they can dictate its policy. But the parable may be applied more generally, and shows us, 1. The reason I consider to be plain; and the same principle applies to various other parts of our gospel where we have two cases mentioned, where in the other gospels we have only one. There will be differences at the close. So He is telling the disciples this was going to happen. 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. Possibly the first felt their vanity wounded by being paid after the others. It begins with a well-known scene but then introduces surprising elements to make a powerful point. Workers in the vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). General Epistles GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point i. He came not to be served, but to serve. Just the idea of Him being crucified was so shocking, that their minds in trying to absorb that, lost everything else He said after that. Let me passingly notice a very few particulars. Hence, here it is a question not merely of cleansing, but of forgiveness, and forgiveness, too, as that which precedes power, manifested before men. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.. 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. He tells him that those he envied should fare as well as he did; "I will give unto this last, even as unto thee; I am resolved I will." 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. Secondly, Till we are hired into the service of God, we are standing all the day idle; a sinful state, though a state of drudgery to Satan, may really be called a state of idleness; sinners are doing nothing, nothing to the purpose, nothing of the great work they were sent into the world about, nothing that will pass well in the account. The indignation of the ten doubtless sprang less from humility than jealousy plus fear that they might lose out. (Carson). There is no question of to whom the ransom was paid. Reviewing, then, these closing incidents of the chapter (ver. To hire laborers for his vineyard: The landowner went to the marketplace, which was the gathering place for day laborers. Any worker was welcome, even if he could give only an hour to the work. (Barclay). Because Matthew's object is the display of the change of dispensation through, or consequent on, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. 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. How often the heart shows itself, not merely by what we ask, but by the uncalled-for feelings we display against other people and their faults! Historical Books Plainly, the church isnt to operate the way the world does. The world knows quite well that a good man is a man who serves his fellow-men. Not only were they healed, but they also followed the One who did great things for them. He didn't come that people might cater to Him and minister to Him, He came to minister to the people's needs. 7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last: for many are called, but few are chosen ( Matthew 20:5-16 ). All will not be the wise that understand, nor those who instruct the mass in righteousness. Jerusalem's proud, traditional hypocrisy is exposed, and grace fully blesses the tried Gentile. 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. No doubt the tempest was great; but what harm could it do to Jesus? Not that His own rejection was not before His spirit, but here He looks not beyond that land and people; and, as far as the twelve were concerned, He sends them on a mission which goes on to the end of the an. Neither did He need to wait for His exaltation as man; for He was ever God, and God's Son, who therefore, if one may so say, waits for nothing, for no day of glory. 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? Ministers call them into the vineyard, to do their work; death calls them out of the vineyard, to receive their penny: and those to whom the call into the vineyard is effectual, the call out of it will be joyful. Mockery could go no farther. 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. 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. Or is your eye evil because I am good? He said unto them, Go also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that is what you shall receive. 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. Shall we turn to Matthew's gospel chapter twenty, and continue our book-by-book study through the Word of God? What special mercy and tenderness, not only in the end, but also in the way the Lord deals with Israel! And to these men who were blind, they saw this as their one opportunity for a whole new life. A daily dose of Christian quotes to inspire and encourage. If they had let him pass, their chance would have gone by for ever; but when the chance came they seized it. Certainly, He did not arrange His own betrayal. 1. [2.] 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 was an entirely normal arrangement. Far from lowering the position of His servant, He declares there was none greater among mortal men. Note, There are but few chosen Christians, in comparison with the many that are only called Christians; it therefore highly concerns us to build our hope for heaven upon the rock of an eternal choice, and not upon the sand of an external call; and we should fear lest we be found but seeming Christians, and so should really come short; nay, lest we be found blemished Christians, and so should seem to come short,Hebrews 4:1. And she came worshiping him, and desiring a favor from him. Minor Prophets Then they remembered, oh, yeah, He said He was going to rise on the third day. Now a penny was a denarius and it was just a day's wage, the average day's wage. HEARTLIGHT is a registered service mark of Heartlight, Inc. | Privacy Policy. "I have seen the children of the world to come (elsewhere (e) it is, of the chamber), , "and they are few".''. 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. But whereas the most unlikely people entered the kingdom, those for whom it had been prepared were excluded (Matthew 20:16). It was cruel, cutting, cursed scorn. (Spurgeon), v. And to crucify: Crucifixion was not the only way criminals were executed under the Romans, yet Jesus knew that this was how He would be put to death. 5. And Peter quoting Isaiah looking back at that scourging said, "by His stripes, ye were, past tense, healed"( 1 Peter 2:24 ). The market-place is a place of concourse, and there Wisdom cries (Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 1:21); it is a place of sport, there the children are playing (Matthew 11:16; Matthew 11:16); and the gospel calls us from vanity to seriousness; it is a place of business, of noise and hurry; and from that we are called to retire. 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. 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.. They said, "Lord, if we could just see." [2.] It puts the Devil on a level with God; it means that the Devil could dictate his terms to God, before he would let men go. But the master well knew that 4p a day was no great wage; he well knew that, if a workman went home with less, there would be a worried wife and hungry children; and therefore he went beyond justice and gave them more than was their due. In gentleness, in sympathy, and in love, with never an impatient word, he seeks to lead them to the truth. He that would be great among you, let him be your servant and if you want to be chief, then become the bondslave." Johannine Writings They put upon Him a scarlet robe, and they begin to say unto Him, "Hail king of the Jews," and they mocked Him. The landowner asked if they were jealous because the landowner was generous to other people. But when the Lord was here, no matter what the unbelief of others, it was only an opportunity for the grace of Jesus to shine out. (vi) Surely that brings us to the supreme lesson of the parable--the whole point of work is the spirit in which it is done. This furnishes occasion to the Pharisees to vent their unbelief: to them nothing is so offensive as grace, either in doctrine or in practice. Thus it is shown that, though we have rich grace to the Gentile, there is the remembrance of natural relationship still. 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. 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 our gospel we have not seen the apostles called and ordained. But they were so desperate, they weren't discouraged, they even cried louder, "Jesus, thou son of David have mercy on us. But I am convinced that there are others who will receive either as great or even greater honor than will Billy Graham who you have never heard of. The nature of envy; It is an evil eye. That was a test of his faith. 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. In Jesus' name. 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. in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. Verse 29 gives us strict time. He could not bear to see them idle. Deliver Him to the Gentiles: Jesus knew that the religious leaders of the Jews did not have authority to carry out capital punishment themselves; yet sometimes they executed men despite this prohibition (Acts 7:54-60). 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. Let them read their error in One who was evidently superior to the condition and the ruin of man in Israel. Jesus was passing by. In Matthew we have no distinction of their call from their mission. There is nothing more tragic in this world than a man who is unemployed, a man whose talents are rusting in idleness because there is nothing for him to do. Here again is found a fresh case of the same remarkable principle of selection of events to form a complete picture, which I have maintained to be the true key of all. 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.(A). The sovereign God takes pity on a needy world, and generously gives his salvation to all who accept his offer. Thus the great tree and the leavened mass are in fact the two sides of Christendom. To eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. (1.) Before dinner starts, hide your nerf guns, then start the soundtrack to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. How thoroughly did our Lord take a lowly place for our sakes! It was a scorned Messiah who, when rejected of His own people, Israel, turned to the Gentiles by the will of God: it was One who could look upon publicans and sinners anywhere. 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. Jesus said that among the Gentiles there is this desire to exercise lordship and dominion over people. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. To all justice shall be done. To all to whom the rewards of heaven are promised they shall be given. Nicodemus may be born again when he is old, and the old man may be put off, which is corrupt. For many are called, but few chosen." a. 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." COUPLES DOUBLE CHALLENGE - we brought in our wonderful friends Vala \u0026 aonghas who also have Mini versions of their selves who where completely up for the challenge as well and super excited about getting dressed for the part :) haha leia \u0026 logan you guys where amazing !!!! Something of affinity there is between this parable and that of the prodigal son, where he that returned from his wandering, was as dear to his father as he was, that never went astray; first and last alike. i. 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. Read full chapter. In view of the context, the 12 disciples correspond to the workers hired at the beginning of the day, the beginning of Jesus public ministry. Even those hired early in the day received a reward, and the landowner had been gracious and generous in hiring them and not others. Ransom was most commonly used as the purchase price for freeing slaves. (Carson) Lytron (ransom) and the preposition anti (for, literally instead of) point clearly to the idea of his taking our place. (France), ii. 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. Suffering from the disloyalty of friends. Not merely were there many pieces of value, but one pearl of great price. 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. Why are they postponed here? And yet the Lord says, we get the penny, and so that's good enough for me.Now the Lord does here point out, "look if I want to be good, if I want to extend grace, you shouldn't really complain about the grace that I extend. All shall reach heaven, and all shall receive what I promise to the faithful. The true disciple does not begin his work in the masters vineyard by first calculating his own value. Or is your eye evil because I am good? None are hired at the twelfth hour; when life is done, opportunity is done; but "while there is life, there is hope." He makes some more useful than others, without regard to the time which they serve, and he will reward them accordingly. The limit was reached by Peter the Lombard. Such is the perversity of man, that he who is not called thinks he can follow Jesus whithersoever He goes. When the legions were thus completed, the citizens who had been called, but not chosen, returned to their respective employments, and served their country in other capacities. Spurgeon applied this to us spiritually: Why is any one of us remaining idle towards God? A man may go idle to hell; but he that will go to heaven, must be busy. But, from first to last, what a trial of spirit, and what triumph! All rights reserved. Their state had long been that of a man whom the unclean spirit had left, after a former dwelling in him. And He prophesied so accurately the things.First of all, He is going to be betrayed. It is a question, then, of internal evidence, what that particular order is which God has employed in each different gospel. 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. There was value for Him to look at His coming trial, and to think and say, I will complete what My Father has given Me to do. I am going to be betrayed.