This, I believe, is a great lesson, and too often forgotten. Far from lowering the position of His servant, He declares there was none greater among mortal men. and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples [in both the parables and the explanations alluding to what we possess in Matthew 13:1-58.]. In Mark 2:1-28 it says, "And again he entered into Capernaum." "They that are first shall be last, and they that are last shall be first"( Matthew 19:30 ). Matthew 20:16. Not only will it be fair, it will be generous beyond expectation. On this the Lord takes another step, when one said to Him, "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee." And yet in spite of that the disciples are thinking of a Kingdom. Reversal! I wish to give to this last man the same as to you. Who but God could heal? i. James had to be ready to be the first to die among the disciples; John had to be ready to live the longest Christian life and testimony among them. They could probably tell the direction in the flow, the crowd, which direction He was, but they began to cry out to Jesus. The crowd commanded them to stop their shouting; they were making a nuisance of themselves. Adventure Challenge - Couple's Edition - Matthew 20:16 - Australia - part 1 142 views Jun 20, 2021 0 Dislike Share Tanya All Fun and Games 3 subscribers Grafton ten pin bowling alley. They may come at the beginning of their life, in their youth, in adulthood, in old age, or at the very end. To be like Christ he went to live in the slums, even though he himself was suffering from tuberculosis. That act forfeited their further right to it. Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary. 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. is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. In the reception of the little children this is plain; it is not so generally seen in what follows. He now takes His place of rejection; for Him it is manifest even now by their inmost thoughts of Him when revealed. (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. A devotional to help reclaim Jesus as the daily Lord of our lives. He who had just confessed the glory of the Lord would not hear His Master speaking thus of His going to the cross (by which alone the Church, or even the kingdom, could be established), and sought to swerve Him from it. Christ had promised the apostles, who followed him in the regeneration, at the beginning of the gospel dispensation, great glory (Matthew 19:28; Matthew 19:28); but he now tells them that those who are in like manner faithful to him, even in the latter end of the world, shall have the same reward, shall sit with Christ on his throne, as well as the apostles, Revelation 2:26-3. Now He brings out not the kingdom merely, but His Church; and this not merely in view of hopeless unbelief in the mass, but of the confession of His own intrinsic glory as the Son of God by the chosen witness. 2. Those that have had gospel offers made them at the third, or sixth hour, and have resisted and refused them, will not have that to say for themselves at the eleventh hour, that these had; No man has hired us; nor can they be sure that any man will hire them at the ninth or eleventh hour; and therefore not to discourage any, but to awaken all, be it remembered, that now is the accepted time; if we will hear his voice, it must be to-day. Christianity knows nothing of the conception of a herrenvolk, a master race. No doubt the first verse says, that "when He was come down from the mount, great multitudes followed Him;" but then the second verse gives no intimation that the subject which follows is to be taken as chronologically subsequent. On the other side of the picture, behold the Lord leading on a soul to draw on divine grace in the most glorious manner. Here is the account with the labourers. At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father." 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. 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. Subsequently to that, the scribe offered to follow Jesus whithersoever He went. So translated into our present day, an average day's wage for a laborer maybe twenty-five dollars or so. Matthew 20:16 in all English translations. I Will Build My Church (16:13-20) The . 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. But among my followers service alone is the badge of greatness. 'God is love,' he shouted. It was a grave step this, and in view of His rejection now. They've missed the joy of what it is to serve the Lord. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. essayed to destroy the testimony with their utmost and blasphemous contempt. James was the first martyr among the apostles, and John was the only apostle to not die through martyrdom though not from a lack of trying. A ransom is something paid or given to liberate a man from a situation from which it is impossible to free himself. (Barclay), iii. It seemed the last place on earth to which a man in his condition should have gone. (Matthew 20:24-28) The disciples reaction; Jesus sets forth true greatness. The English translators have thus given the sense well; for the expression really conveys this slight, though the word "fellow" is printed in italics. 4. 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. 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. They gave Him full honor with this title. The New Testament ii. 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. No doubt they had heard of the wondrous power of Jesus; and no doubt they wondered if that power might ever be exercised for them. He gives sight to the blind. The plucking of the corn, and the healing of the withered hand, had taken place long before. James was the first of the apostolic band to die a martyr ( Acts 12:2). And he said unto her, What is it that you want? THE FALSE AND THE TRUE AMBITION ( Matthew 20:20-28 ), 20:20-28 At that time the mother of Zebedee's sons came to him with her sons, kneeling before him, and asking something from him. Copyright 2019 by Zondervan. 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. So we have a farther scene. 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. 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. If it be so, it is surely a ground of thankfulness to God; for it turns a stumbling-block into an evidence of the perfection of Scripture. 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. We have, first, the sower sowing the word. When those who had worked all day found that the landowner paid the same amount to the late-comers as he paid to them, they complained. Thus He sets forth both the past, the present, and the awful future of Israel, before the day of His own coming from heaven, when there will be not only the return of idolatry, solemn to say, but the full power of Satan associated with it, as we see in Daniel 11:36-39; 2 Thessalonians 2:1-17; Revelation 13:11-15. 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. The New Testament 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. 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. Jesus was probably hinting at more in this parable. Now according to the historians, this scourging was such an awful taxing thing upon the person that many people never made it to the cross. The Gentiles came in at the eleventh hour, but it was because the gospel had not been before preached to them. If God gives that grace to others, which he denies to us, it is kindness to them, but no injustice to us; and bounty to another, while it is no injustice to us, we ought not to find fault with. They worked while the others were idle. That was all over for the moment through Israel's blind sin; He was going to suffer, not yet reign, at Jerusalem. Among this celebrated people, no one was forced to serve his country in a military capacity and it was the highest honour to be deemed worthy of thus serving it. Now life treated James and John very differently. All turns on that which was suitable to such a God, the giver of His own Son. Take what is yours and go your way. And thus as Isaiah predicts the scourging, the stripes, he declares, "by His stripes ye are healed"( Isaiah 53:5 ). Second, this passage sheds a light upon the Christian life. "If you really want to be great in the kingdom of God, learn to be the servant of all. 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. No doubt the tempest was great; but what harm could it do to Jesus? 1 Corinthians 6:2; Revelation 2:26). it was not for the whole the Physician was needed. . God had given his soul a deeper, fuller sight of Christ; for the Gentile's words prove that he had apprehended God in the man who was healing at that moment all sickness and disease in Galilee. Next, the storm follows. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard ( Matthew 20:1-2 ). The "calling" of which the New Testament almost invariably speaks is what divines call effectual calling, carrying with it a supernatural operation on the will to secure its consent. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! The evil eye was an idiom used to refer to jealousy (cf. c. They likewise received a denarius: Yet the men hired first early in the day, and who had worked all day got paid exactly what the landowner had promised them (a denarius a day, Matthew 20:2). And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard . The indignation of the ten doubtless sprang less from humility than jealousy plus fear that they might lose out. (Carson). There is one very revealing little difference between Matthew's and Mark's account of this incident. 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. So when evening had come, the owner of the vineyard said to his steward, Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first. And when those came who were hired about the eleventh hour, they each received a denarius. Many are called, c.] This clause is wanting in BL, one other, and in the Coptic and Sahidic versions. And he said unto them, You shall indeed drink of my cup ( Matthew 20:23 ). My object, of course, is to point out as clearly as possible the structure of the gospel, and to explain according to my measure why there are these strong differences between the gospels of Matthew and the rest, as compared with one another. Those first hired are actually paid least in proportion to their labor and receive the least pleasure from their pay. Parents, and the disciples, like the Pharisees, were shown that grace, just because it is the expression of what God is to a ruined world, takes notice of what man in his own imaginary dignity might count altogether petty. Therefore let him who would meet God visit the prison cell before going to the temple. He calls him friend, for in reasoning with others we should use soft words and hard arguments; if our inferiors are peevish and provoking, yet we should not thereby be put into a passion, but speak calmly to them. It is an evil eye, which is displeased at the good of others, and desires their hurt. 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. In Matthew 14:1-36 facts are narrated which manifest the great change of dispensation that the Lord, in setting forth the parables we have just noticed, had been preparing them for. Jesus was there to call, not righteous men, but sinners. The kingdom of heaven assumes a form unknown to prophecy, and, in its successive mysteries, fills up the interval between the rejected Christ's going to heaven, and His returning again in glory. If he were willing to follow the Lord, it was for what he could get. They had the desperation appropriate for those who know that today is the day of salvation. The dispensational aim here leads to a more manifest disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any other specimen of these gospels. And Peter quoting Isaiah looking back at that scourging said, "by His stripes, ye were, past tense, healed"( 1 Peter 2:24 ). Before he reads his Bible let him help the beggar.". Surely not by inaccuracy; surely not by indifference to order, but contrariwise by divine wisdom that arranged the facts with a view to a purpose worthy of itself: God's arrangement of all things more particularly in this part of Matthew to give us an adequate manifestation of the Messiah; and, as we have seen, first, what He was to the appeal of the Jew; next, what He was and would be to Gentile faith, in still richer form and fulness. Succa, fol. So, I believe now, there is no attempt ever made on the Name of the Son of God, there is not a single shaft levelled at Him, but the Spirit turns to the holy, and true, and sweet task of asserting anew and more loudly His glory, which enlarges the expression of His grace to man. About five o'clock in the evening he went out and found others standing there, and said to them, 'Why are you standing here the whole day idle?' All rights reserved. That the same night that in which Jesus was betrayed, He took bread, and when He had broken it, He said, take eat this is my body which is broken for you. . It was as Son of David that they addressed Jesus. The people whose hearts are yielded to him will be recognized as his children no matter their rank or riches by worldly standards. "And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed Him, crying and saying, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us." 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. "Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David!" Thus, and after the tenderest sort, there is that which evidences the Messiah on earth present to heal His people who appeal to Him; and the Jew, above all counting upon His bodily presence demanding it, I may say, according to the warrant of prophecy, finds in Jesus not merely the man, but the God of Israel. Thus the great tree and the leavened mass are in fact the two sides of Christendom. In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers, but labourers, working, and working out our own salvation. See Deuteronomy 24:15. Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. This was an entirely normal arrangement. (1.) Jesus came to give his life a ransom for many. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation." Possibly the first felt their vanity wounded by being paid after the others. Certainly, He did not arrange His own betrayal. 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. We have here not only our Lord's ministry in the first parable, but in the second parable that which He does by His servants. And they said unto him, Because no man has hired us. What are they hired to do? 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. New International Version (NIV). Matthew 20:16 The New King James Version (NKJV) 16 So the last will be first, and the first last. The unparalleled grace of the Saviour must form and fashion the saints henceforth. 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. The Old Testament In spite of their lack of merit, the good householder required them to pick it up, thus giving it to them in spite of their forfeiture. Fasting, indeed, would follow when the Bridegroom was taken from them. Most scholars have also recognized in the many a clear reference to Isaiah. (Carson) By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11) He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12). We have the natural tie here brought into prominence; and this was a claim that Christ slighted not. Further, in strict justice the fewer hours a man worked, the less pay he should have received. 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. 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. This gives an opportunity to teach what truly defiles not things that go into the man, but those things which, proceeding out of the mouth, come forth from the heart. Doubtless, it was contingent upon the utter ruin of Israel through their unbelief; but the fall of the lesser thing opened the way for the gift of a better glory in answer to Peter's faith in the glory of His person. And I do believe that in communion there should always be healing services, where people as they take the broken bread and remember the suffering of Jesus Christ, by faith receive the result of that suffering; the purpose for which God allowed Him to be suffered, and receive healing and strength in your body. It is more particularly sin, viewed as guilt, and consequently as that which absolutely breaks and destroys all power in the soul towards both God and man. They must still continue to endure the scourge of crime they could never expiate. But what a mercy that those who appear now to be rejected may be called in another muster, enrolled, serve in the field, or work in the vineyard? "This man blasphemeth." [Note: Wiersbe, 1:73.]. Not but that there is a counsel in every will of God, and what seems to us to be done arbitrarily, will appear at length to have been done wisely, and for holy ends. The disciples had been summoned to work in the vineyard. Grace forms the hearts of those that understand it, according to the great manifestation of what God is, and what man is, too, given us in the person of Christ. in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. 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. The sovereign God takes pity on a needy world, and generously gives his salvation to all who accept his offer. And he said, "If a person eats or drinks in an unworthy manner, he is eating and drinking damnation to his own soul"( 1 Corinthians 11:26 ). [2.] Still further, here is demonstrated the unshakable loyalty of the disciples. THE CHRISTIAN REVOLUTION ( Matthew 20:20-28 continued). Thus the point that meets us in the conclusion of the chapter is, that while every character, every measure of giving up for His name's sake, will meet with the most worthy recompence and result, man can as little judge of this as he can accomplish salvation. He has His rejection before His eyes, as well as the presumptuous unbelief of this sordid, and self-confident, would-be follower. To lose all for heavenly treasure, to come and follow the despised Nazarene here below what was it to compare with that which had brought Jesus to earth? But at the same time it is plain, although He bore the consciousness of the vast change He was introducing, and expressed it thus fully and early in the history, nothing turned away His heart from Israel. But nothing turned aside the purpose of God, or the activity of His grace. And wilt thou seek for a happiness in the creature, or think from thence to make up the deficiencies of thy happiness in God? Now what is Jesus seeking to teach by this parable of sending forth the laborers into the vineyard? (v) These two blind men were grateful. He promises, First, A penny,Matthew 20:2; Matthew 20:2. The doctor who will come out at any time of the day or night to serve and save his patients; the parson who is always on the road amongst his people; the employer who takes an active interest in the lives and troubles of his employees; the person to whom we can go and never be made to feel a nuisance--these are the people whom all men love, and in whom instinctively they see Jesus Christ. 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.. Let them recognize the power that banished the leprosy, and the grace withal that touched the leper. Because Matthew's object is the display of the change of dispensation through, or consequent on, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But the Lord could not send her away without a blessing, and without a blessing reaching to His own glory. And we who have served the Lord all of our lives and we enter into eternal life. The deity of Christ was the hook; his flesh was the bait; the bait was dangled before leviathan; he swallowed it and was taken. The axiom of this verse and of chapter nineteen, verse 30, sets the tone for Jesus entire ministry and the church.
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