3 "About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. To represent to us the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 20:1; Matthew 20:1), that is, the way and method of the gospel dispensation. i. It was as Son of David that they addressed Jesus. 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. It sheds light in three directions. i. All rights reserved worldwide. Even those hired early in the day received a reward, and the landowner had been gracious and generous in hiring them and not others. The Old Testament 2. (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. why not sorrow and shame that they should have so little understood their Master's mind? But the future is in view also. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! We need not dwell upon it. It is the glory of Christ; not so much as Son of the living God, but as the exalted Son of man, who once suffered here below. I do not believe that God would just allow His Son to take all of that suffering, if there were not some value to be received from that suffering. He also gives Peter the keys of the kingdom, as we see afterwards. 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. 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. No doubt it is a tie of nature for this life only. 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. In the next discourse we may hope to have the rest of his gospel. "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." What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? c. But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give: Jesus here showed remarkable submission to His Father. 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. This utter, growing rejection of Jesus was coming out now rejection, at first allowed and whispered in the heart, soon to be pronounced in words like drawn swords. It is not for us surely to think this impossible. If God shall bless your brother, and make him ten times more useful than you are, then you see that he is blessing you not only blessing him, but you. If to conquer with Christ meant to suffer with Christ, they were perfectly willing to face that suffering. A man out of his plenty may give us a gift of a hundred pounds, and in truth we are grateful; a child may give us a birthday or Christmas gift which cost only a few pence but which was laboriously and lovingly saved up for--and that gift, with little value of its own, touches our heart far more. Spurgeon applied this to us spiritually: Why is any one of us remaining idle towards God? In the Christian Church seniority does not necessarily mean honour. 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. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took Him even as He was in the ship. Jesus thought about how He would fulfill the will of His Father in the future. The Lord was in Capernaum, where Peter lived; and on a certain Sabbath-day, after the call of Peter, wrought in the synagogue mighty deeds, which are here recorded, and by Luke also. This was the very blessing that aroused, above all, the hatred of the scribes. Jesus gives the parable of the laborers in the vineyardHe foretells His crucifixion and resurrectionHe came to give His life as a ransom for many. 8, could not deny what was done in the case of the leper, who showed himself duly, and brought his offering, according to the law, to the altar. . And thus He, whose glory was so forgotten by His disciples Jesus, Himself thinks of that very disciple, and says, "For me and thee.". Who hires them? Yet they were paid exactly the same. Unfortunately, they have missed the blessing of knowing God, and serving God all their lives. i. Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. It was His meat to do the will of God. And then Paul warned the Corinthians about the manner in which they did partake of the Lord's supper. 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. They used their waiting time in considering their own superiority to the latecomers. (Spurgeon). 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. It is clear that the unclean spirit, returning, brings idolatry back again. The reason for the change is this--Matthew was writing twenty-five years later than Mark; by that time a kind of halo of sanctity had become attached to the disciples. Descending then upon the plateau, He delivered what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. So the last shall be first, and the first last. 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. Or is your eye evil because I am good? 1. You shall indeed drink of 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 shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. And Peter quoting Isaiah looking back at that scourging said, "by His stripes, ye were, past tense, healed"( 1 Peter 2:24 ). 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. What Does It Really Mean That Your Body Is a Temple? :) www.facebook.com/tiacookphotographywww.instagram.com/tiacookphotographywww.tiacookphotography.co.uk all rights reserved to Tia Cook Photography (Matthew 20:29-31) Two blind men gain the attention of Jesus. "On his first night he was asked to share his bed with a man suffering from contagious itch. Next, we behold Him meeting the centurion after another manner altogether. 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. she cried; but what had she to do with the Son of David? Minor Prophets He received nothing from others; his was a life of giving, and the giving of a lifeNo service is greater than to redeem sinners by his own death, no ministry is lowlier than to die in the stead of sinners. (Spurgeon), ii. This done, with a word for the conscience appended, He takes up and pleads the cause of John. In Matthew 13:1-58 we have the well-known sketch of these new ways of God. Henceforth, too, He forbids the disciples to proclaim Him as the Messiah. To take on the position of the minister is to take on the position of the servant to the flock of God. 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. If God be better in any respect to others than to us, yet we have no reason to complain while he is so much better to us than we deserve, in giving us our penny, though we are unprofitable servants. Thus it is shown that, though we have rich grace to the Gentile, there is the remembrance of natural relationship still. The householder had every right to have cut them off with a trifle instead of a whole day's pay. In Matthew we have no distinction of their call from their mission. And they went. It might be well enough for a Pharisee; it might be worthy of a legal formalist, but it would never do for God; and the Lord Jesus was come here not to accommodate Himself to their thoughts, but, above all, to do God's will of holy love in an evil, wretched world. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the Younger and of, Jesus' mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and. 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. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! Thus, the fourth chapter of Mark coincides, marked with such data as can leave no doubt. He was to be condemned to death; there we see the suffering of injustice, which is very hard to bear. The offence removed. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard . Salem Media Group. When the world and the devil begin to rebuke, in this case, it is a proof that the salvation of God is nigh; therefore, let such cry out a great deal the more. (Clarke). Did you not agree with me for a denarius? There is no one cup for the Christian to drink. "Can a woman forget her sucking child? Had all the sinners that ever lived in the world been consigned to hell, they could not have discharged the claims of justice. God, by his gospel, is hiring labourers into his vineyard, to dress it, and keep it, paradise-work. in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. The world will respect, and admire, and sometimes fear, the man of power; but it will love the man of love. Free Challenge: Mr & Mrs Smith. But when the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise received each a denarius. We are going to Jerusalem. Challenge the Adventurer within you! The strange thing is that instinctively the world itself has accepted these standards. The Gospels Copyright 1996 - 2023 All rights reserved. The grace of God does not give us more blessing than we deserve it gives blessing to us completely apart from the principle of deserving. Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. A man is not a Christian if his first concern is pay. I will obey to the end.. 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. That was all over for the moment through Israel's blind sin; He was going to suffer, not yet reign, at Jerusalem. Any worker was welcome, even if he could give only an hour to the work. (Barclay). No request is too great to bring to Jesus. (Matthew 20:3-7) Through the day, the landowner continues to hire workers. 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. i. "What do you want me to do for you?" There must be the mouth to praise the Lord, and speak of the glorious honour of His majesty, as well as eyes to wait on Him. John is swifter of foot, and comes first to the sepulchre: but Peter has more courage, and goes first into it. They don't understand all of the provision that the Lord has made for them. 1. The devil was tricked by God. i. Jesus asked this question with full knowledge that these men were blind. First, Some are effectually called, and begin to work in the vineyard when they are very young; are sent in early in the morning, whose tender years are seasoned with grace, and the remembrance of their Creator. Matthew 20:16. Then, in Mark 3:1-35, there are notes of time more or less strong. Whatever is right I will give you whatever is right you will receive: The landowner promised the earliest workers a days wage (a denarius a day). Certainly, He did not arrange His own betrayal. 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. Matthew 13:19-22), we find first of all the utter worthlessness of the flesh's readiness to follow Jesus. Reversal! The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, but it should be different among the people of God. (v) Here also is the generosity of God. Chapter 8, which opens the portion that comes before us tonight, is a striking illustration as well as proof of the method which God has been pleased to employ in giving us the apostle Matthew's account of our Lord Jesus. Peters question about what the Twelve would receive (Matthew 20:27) had implied that they should receive a greater reward since their sacrifice had been greater. It brings me to the real crisis; that is, the final presentation of our lord to Jerusalem. The Lord, however, in the same chapter, shows that it was not a question alone of what was to be done, or to be suffered, or is to be by-and-by, but what He was, and is, and never can but be. In short, he had a question because he was a man. His cup may be drunk in one great moment; his cup may be drunk throughout a lifetime of Christian living. The men who were standing in the market-place were not street-corner idlers, lazing away their time. BEST VALUE in digital Bible study. 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 last trumpet, at the great day, shall call the labourers,1 Thessalonians 4:16. Therefore let him who would meet God visit the prison cell before going to the temple. Where love is, there is God.' 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. 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. "In God's economy," as someone has said, "there is no such thing as a most favoured nation clause." Mark gives them in the end of his second and the beginning of his third chapters. On the other side of the picture, behold the Lord leading on a soul to draw on divine grace in the most glorious manner. ii. . God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. At that time Jesus answered, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. But among my followers service alone is the badge of greatness. 20:29-34 When they were leaving Jericho, a great crowd followed him. In Mark 2:1-28 it says, "And again he entered into Capernaum." ii. The ability to serve God is the gift of His grace. He was not called. C. G. Montefiore calls this parable "one of the greatest and most glorious of all." The man that was not called promises to go anywhere, in his own strength; but the man that was called feels the difficulty, and pleads a natural duty before following Jesus. And the same day, when the even was come, He saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. Oh, you have to love the mothers, don't you? 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. The people might have failed, but, surely, there were some differences surely those that were honoured and valued were not so depraved! Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. for many be called; externally, under the ministration of the Gospel, as the Jews in general were, by Christ and his apostles; but. "This man blasphemeth." God proves what He is by the revelation of Jesus. Out in the world there was the Roman governor with his retinue and the eastern potentate with his slaves. When do you suppose these conversations actually occurred, if we go to the question of their date? It would require the credulity of a sceptic to believe that this is not the self-same fact that we have before us inMatthew 8:1-34; Matthew 8:1-34. 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. 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. The Lord hints at what the man's real desires were not Christ, not heaven, not eternity, but present things. To labour in his vineyard. 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. The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, 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. It is not only the fact that God slighted matters of prescriptive ordinance because of the ruined state of Israel, who rejected His true anointed King, but there was this principle also, that certainly God was not going to bind Himself not to do good where abject need was. It can only mean here the "invited." 2. They may come at the beginning of their life, in their youth, in adulthood, in old age, or at the very end. 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 he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach." [2.] All rights reserved. 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. There is here the first decisive step to the last act of the inescapable tragedy. i. And it really was a heavy bondage trip. By His stripes ye are healed, spiritually, yes, but I do not think that it can be limited to spiritual only, the whole context, and especially Matthew eight would extend it also to physical healing. It may indeed have had a comparatively limited application when it was spoken for the first time; but it contains truth which goes to the very heart of the Christian religion. The plucking of the corn, and the healing of the withered hand, had taken place long before. Those last hired receive the most pay and are paid first. For a day. He went out again about nine o'clock in the morning, and saw others standing idle in the market-place. 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. But first appears the new and great fact, that Christ was going to build a new building, His assembly, on the truth and confession of Himself, the Son of God. "Oh, you bet you, we're able." 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. Friend, I am doing you no wrong. of 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. In calling the labourers, they must begin from the last, and so to the first. b. This was an entirely normal arrangement. Luke, too, tells how Jesus took the disciples to himself alone that he might try to compel them to understand what lay ahead ( Luke 18:31-34). The design is, I think, manifest: the Spirit of God is here giving a vivid picture of the manifestation of the Messiah, of His divine glory, of His grace and power, with the effect of this manifestation. Wisdom Literature 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. "No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment; for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse." If there were, so to speak, a justification of circumcision by faith, undoubtedly there was also the justification of uncircumcision through their faith. i. Hence, the Lord Jesus is here disclosing throughout, that the doom of Israel was pronounced and impending. ii. The New Testament In the picture of the holy city in the Revelation there are twelve gates. For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire laborers into his vineyard. a great multitude followed Him. (Matthew 20:20-21) The mother of James and John asks for a place of special status for her sons. 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. 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, . Jesus was no doubt very weakened by it. The servants are clearly divided into two classes. The age of serving in the army was from seventeen to forty-five, and the manner in which they were chosen was the following: -.
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