They looked for a conqueror; they received one broken on a cross. Matthew 20:16. It may well be that we who have been Christian for so long have much to learn from those younger Churches who are late-comers to the fellowship of the faith. ( Matthew 20:16) The parable applied: the principle of God's reward. The motive was Christ Himself: therefore He says, "Ye which have followed me." He s. Matthew 20:16 - John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible We need not dwell upon it. a. The Gospels Laborers in the Vineyard. And He said to her, What do you wish? She said to Him, Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.. Thus He points out the utter moral incongruity of fasting at that moment, and intimates that it was not merely the fact that He was going to be rejected, but that to conciliate His teaching and His will with the old thing was hopeless. Isaiah prophesied the fact that He would be scourged, but in prophesying the fact, Isaiah tells us the reason. Be sure to join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theweekendadventurer 23,599 people like this 25,112 people follow this http://www.myadventurechallenge.com/ info@myadventurechallenge.com This should quicken us to expedition and diligence in our work, that we have but a little time to work in, and the night is hastening on, when no man can work; and if our great work be undone when our day is done, we are undone for ever. God, by his gospel, is hiring labourers into his vineyard, to dress it, and keep it, paradise-work. Nothing was more a mystery in the gospel dispensation than the rejection of the Jews and the calling in of the Gentiles; so the apostle speaks of it (Ephesians 3:3-6); that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs: nor was any thing more provoking to the Jews than the intimation of it. Pentateuch It sheds light in three directions. Let me passingly notice a very few particulars. 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. They have not seized the aim of each gospel. God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. They wanted Jesus with a royal command to ensure for them a princely life. In the reception of the little children this is plain; it is not so generally seen in what follows. A man is not a Christian if his first concern is pay. Of one of the disciples, whose state may have been specially present to our Lords mind, this was, we know, only too fatally true. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard . 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. Yet it shall not be so among you: Their desire for position and status showed they did not yet know the nature of Jesus in respect to leadership and power. So long as it is all we have to give, all service ranks the same with God. b. Even if Jesus had not specifically told them, their movement south from Galilee at about the time of the Passover feast made it easy to figure out that Jesus and the disciples would be in Jerusalem for Passover. c. Lord, Son of David: However, in their desperation they glorified Jesus. i. The Lord shows that such unbelief justly and necessarily excludes itself, but not others, from blessing. Next, He lays bare the capricious unbelief of man, only consistent in thwarting every thing and one that God employs for his good; then, His own entire rejection where He had most laboured. 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Drinking of that cup. Matthew 20:16 English Standard Version 16 So the last will be first, and the first last." Read full chapter Matthew 20:16 in all English translations Matthew 19 Matthew 21 English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. There are two great lessons here. Start FREE. 20:29-34 When they were leaving Jericho, a great crowd followed him. i. They that come from the east and west, and so come in late, that are picked up out of the highways and the hedges, shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the same feast, Matthew 7:11; Matthew 7:11. "According to your faith be it done unto you.". 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, . He would send fit messengers, nor would the work be done till the rejected Messiah, the Son of man, came. It says simply, "And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." So when the evening was come, and the lord of the vineyard said unto his steward, Call the laborers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. Many people are in the ministry for what they can receive (either materially or emotionally) from their people instead of for what they can give. Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. The truth of this is apparent, if we compare the gospel of Mark. The Gentiles, who are newly called in, have as much of the privileges of the kingdom of the Messiah as the Jews have, who have so long been labouring in the vineyard of the Old-Testament church, under the yoke of the ceremonial law, in expectation of that kingdom. Slaves and servants were regarded as being at least to some extent attached to the family; they were within the group; their fortunes would vary with the fortunes of the family, but they would never be in any imminent danger of starvation in normal times. Luke-Acts 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. "I will have mercy, and not sacrifice." See Deuteronomy 24:15. 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. 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. 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. is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. We have, first, the sower sowing the word. So the last shall be first, and the first shall be last: for many are called, but few are chosen ( Matthew 20:5-16 ). Therefore what shall we have? The time of life is the day, in which we must work the works of him that sent us into the world. HEARTLIGHT is a registered service mark of Heartlight, Inc. | Privacy Policy. And he said unto them, You shall indeed drink of my cup ( Matthew 20:23 ). . 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? When do you suppose these conversations actually occurred, if we go to the question of their date? Successful service to God is the gift of His grace. 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. Apply to the Son of David; lose not a moment; he is passing by, and thou art passing into eternity, and probably wilt never have a more favourable opportunity than the present. The rich young ruler was not converted: far from being so, he could not stand the test applied by Christ out of His own love, and, as we are told, "went away sorrowful." In truth, this was Emmanuel, God with us. People simply do not and cannot MERIT salvation. Matthew 13:19-22), we find first of all the utter worthlessness of the flesh's readiness to follow Jesus. vi. And Jesus tells him, "Look no one has left anything, but what in this life he get a hundredfold, and in the life to come, eternal life"( Matthew 19:29 ). Hence, the Lord Jesus is here disclosing throughout, that the doom of Israel was pronounced and impending. 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. When they get to Jerusalem, those culminating events of the life of Jesus are going to take place. (2.) Cookie Notice: "And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth." When the account was taken; when the evening was come, then, as usual, the day-labourers were called and paid. Mark says that Jesus was walking ahead by himself, and that the disciples were amazed and afraid ( Mark 10:32-34). What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? The strange thing is that instinctively the world itself has accepted these standards. 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? 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 It is the end of the account of Jesus itinerant ministry, and its setting as they went out of Jericho points forward to the next town on the road, Jerusalem. (France). WORK AND WAGES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ( Matthew 20:1-16 continued). As the apostles were the first-fruits of the whole church, they appeared to possess some superiority; and Christ did not deny that they would sit as judges to govern the twelve tribes of Israel. c. Betrayed they will condemn Him to death deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. It is worth stopping to see what the crude hands of theology have done with that lovely saying. The power of divine grace is magnified in the conversion of some, when they are in the midst of their pleasures and worldly pursuits, as Paul. Though there be degrees of glory in heaven, yet it will be to all a complete happiness. Even those hired early in the day received a reward, and the landowner had been gracious and generous in hiring them and not others. 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. So now we have, in the healing of Peter's mother-in-law, another fact containing a principle of great value, that His grace towards the Gentile does not in the least degree blunt His heart to the claims of relationship after the flesh. Yet is He the Son of man who hath power on earth to forgive sins; and He uses His authority. 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. Nevertheless, when there was the display of the glory of the kingdom, the Father's voice proclaimed Him as His own Son, and not merely as the man thus exalted. mother of the sons of Zebedee ( Matthew 27:56). Judgment will have early cut them off. Third, this passage sheds a light on Jesus. Those who recognize the grace they have received by being included in God's Kingdom . Thus many are called by the preaching of the Gospel, but few are found who use their advantages in such a way as to become extensively useful in the Church-and many in the Church militant behave so ill as never to be admitted into the Church triumphant. 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. But yet people who have been faithful to that service, to which God has employed them, whether it be intercessory closet prayer that nobody knows anything about, and I think when we get to heaven we are going to be surprised when we see those who are sitting on the front row. Because Matthew's object is the display of the change of dispensation through, or consequent on, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. John is swifter of foot, and comes first to the sepulchre: but Peter has more courage, and goes first into it. The giving of a whole day's wages to those that had not done the tenth part of a day's work, is designed to show that God distributes his rewards by grace and sovereignty, and not of debt. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. The Lord now lets them know their mad folly, and warns them that this blasphemy was about to culminate in a still deeper, deadlier form when the Holy Ghost should be spoken against as He had been. Here, too, these Pharisees question and reproach His grace, when they see the Lord sitting at ease in the presence of publicans and sinners, who came and sat down with Him in Matthew's house. And thus as Isaiah predicts the scourging, the stripes, he declares, "by His stripes ye are healed"( Isaiah 53:5 ). To the proud inhabitant of Jerusalem, both one and the other were but a choice and change within a land of darkness. Is it not most sweet to see, that He who proves His divine glory at once associates us with Himself? (ii) There is an equally definite warning to the Jews. 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 other words, it is certain that in the gospel of Luke, in whose preface we have expressly the words "set in order," the Holy Ghost does in no way tie Himself to what, after all, is the most elementary form of arrangement; for it needs little observation to see, that the simple sequence of facts as they occurred is that which demands a faithful enumeration, and nothing more. Therein is greatness. Have we, spite of superior privileges, such unwavering faith, that we can afford to treat the matter as incredible in John, and therefore only capable of solution in his staggering disciples? The eye is often both the inlet and the outlet of this sin. we have in Peter what man is, even after all this. Notice that these people didn't go in on their own accord, the Lord sent them into the vineyard. Being in the right state of mind to do the Lords work is a gift of grace. 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. It is a question, then, of internal evidence, what that particular order is which God has employed in each different gospel. We know this by comparing it with the gospel of Luke. They must still continue to endure the scourge of crime they could never expiate. And he went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, and said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you. So they went. At the beginning of Matthew 10:1-42 He Himself sends forth themselves as labourers. But there's a big twist. They will condemn Him to death: Jesus confidently predicted that the religious leaders would do this; yet this was not something He could plan. It does not seem exactly as a pictorial view of what the Lord was doing, or going to do, but rather the repeated pledge, that they were not to suppose that the evil He had judged in the elders of Jerusalem, or the grace freely going out to the Gentiles, in any way led Him. With God, as nothing is impossible, so no one, small or great, is despised: all is seen and put in its just place; and grace, which rebukes creature pride, can afford to deal divinely with the smallest as with the greatest. 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. 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.