The axiom of this verse and of chapter nineteen, verse 30, sets the tone for Jesus entire ministry and the church. Heartlight Provides Positive Resources for Daily Christian Living. 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. He comes to do not his own will, but the will of him that sent him, and so he correctly says of rank in his kingdom, It is not mine to give. Didst not thou agree to take God's word for it? 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. But Jesus answered and said, You do not know what you ask. 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. 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." But Jesus called them unto him, and he said, You know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. And someone said, "Jesus is going by." b. Major Prophets He had been preparing them for the new things, and the impossibility of making them coalesce with the old. International Standard Version "In the same way, the last will be first, and the first will be last, because many are called, but few are chosen." It was with this declaration that the parable began and ended. 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. It was an imperfect faith but they acted on it; and Jesus accepted it. And there were also with Him other little ships. It is clearly the failure of nature, the reversal of what might be expected. And the third day He will rise again: Most important, this was something that Jesus had no apparent control over. (1.) The first is the defence of the disciples, grounded on analogies taken from that which had the sanction of God of old, as well as on His own glory now. 97. 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. 3. In particular, to represent to us that concerning the kingdom of heaven, which he had said in the close of the foregoing chapter, that many that are first shall be last, and the last, first; with which this parable is connected; that truth, having in it a seeming contradiction, needed further explication. Matthew 20 Commentary - John Gill's Exposition of the Bible I am going to be betrayed. Jesus was probably hinting at more in this parable. All turns on that which was suitable to such a God, the giver of His own Son. When it came time to pay the workers, the men hired last were paid first and paid for a full day of work! ii. How little they had learnt the divine lesson of grace, not ordinances! . And you guessed it already its a quote from the bible "so the last shall be first & the first last"which of course made me think of a competition type challe. Therefore let him who would meet God visit the prison cell before going to the temple. Peter asked: "What do we get out of it?" They confess their faith, and He touches their eyes. Fasting, indeed, would follow when the Bridegroom was taken from them. essayed to destroy the testimony with their utmost and blasphemous contempt. Blessed Paul guarded against this, when, though the chief of the apostles, he owned himself to be nothing, to be less than the least of all saints. Jesus was there to call, not righteous men, but sinners. d. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." See Matthew 19:27-29. The New Testament The man's walk before them testifies to the reality of his forgiveness before God. 2. 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. The next chapter (Matthew 18:1-35) takes up the double thought of the kingdom and the Church, showing the requisite for entrance into the kingdom, and displaying or calling forth divine grace in the most lovely manner, and that in practice. she cried; but what had she to do with the Son of David? 1. 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. WORK AND WAGES IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD ( Matthew 20:1-16 continued). The circumstances of this serve to adorn the parable; but the general scope is plain, that the last shall be first. A ransom is something paid or given to liberate a man from a situation from which it is impossible for him to free himself. Friend, I am doing you no wrong. It does not say, that " then there came a leper," or " immediately there came a leper." The idea was you were to confess the crimes that you had committed against Rome, and as you confessed your crimes, the man who was administering that scourging would go easier and easier on you. They said to him, "We can." b. [1.] (v) Here also is the generosity of God. God does not permit Scripture to be thus used without losing its force, its beauty, and the grand object for which it was written. vi. said the Lord; and then stretched forth His hand toward His disciples with the words, "Behold my mother and my brethren! Peter asks a word from his Master, and leaves the ship to join Him on the water. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried out all the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. Christianity knows nothing of the conception of a herrenvolk, a master race. Where did they come from? . 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. Lord cometh, his reward is with him, to give unto every man according as his work shall be, as one star differeth from another star in glory, so shall it be. What feelings at such a time! But Jesus called them to Himself and said, You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. The point is that God rewards on the principle of grace, and we should therefore expect surprises. They measured Jesus by their own impotence. 11 And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 12 Saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. 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. Note, All that by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honour, and immortality, shall undoubtedly obtain eternal life (Romans 2:7), not as wages for the value of their work, but as the gift of God. He takes accordingly the title of the "Son of man" for the first time in this gospel. He often fell down exhausted, and the rough men of the slums carried him gently back to his hut. In the next discourse we may hope to have the rest of his gospel. But what, it may be asked, has this to do with the subject of our parable? Modern disciples of Jesus should view heavenly rewards the same way. Greatness does not consist in commanding others to do things for you; it consists in doing things for others; and the greater the service, the greater the honour. 45. In it there is the comfort of God. God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. Here we find our Lord, after sending out the chosen witnesses of the truth (so momentous to Israel, above all) of His own Messiahship, realizing His utter rejection, yet rejoicing withal in God the Father's counsels of glory and grace, while the real secret in the chapter, as in fact, was His being not Messiah only, nor Son of man, but the Son of the Father, whose person none knows but Himself. Wisdom Literature The other workers hired through the day were not promised a specific wage, only whatever is right. And so they began to cry out to Jesus. Thus the end is as the beginning, and even far, far worse. But Christ does not explode at their obtuseness, or blaze at their blindness, or despair at their unteachableness. Oh, for grace so to bow and bless God, even when our little travail seems in vain! is written by Phil Ware and is available in book form. Note: MLA no longer requires the URL as part of their citation standard. Many are called, c.] This clause is wanting in BL, one other, and in the Coptic and Sahidic versions. 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). GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point They said to His disciples, "Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" She was a regular member of the disciple group who accompanied Jesus (Matthew 27:56), so her involvement in her sons ambitious ideas is hardly surprising. (France). Have mercy on us, O Lord, Son of David! They were greatly displeased: The other ten disciples mistakenly thought that a unique honor had just been bestowed on James and John. So, on the other hand, the centurion sets forth with no less aptness the characteristic faith that suits the Gentile, in a simplicity which looks for nothing but the word of His mouth, is perfectly content with it, knows that, whatever the disease may be, He has only to speak the word, and it is done according to His divine will. How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. "Lord, save us; we perish," cried they, as they awoke Him; and He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. The evil spirits asked leave to pass into the herd of swine, which thus typify the final condition of the defiled, apostate mass of Israel; their presumptuous and impenitent unbelief reduces them to that deep degradation not merely the unclean, but the unclean filled with the power of Satan, and carried down to swift destruction. 13. Seemingly, the disciples did not really listen when Jesus said these things. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him ( Matthew 20:29-34 ). James was the first of the apostolic band to die a martyr ( Acts 12:2). And so, as savouring not divine but human things, he is bid to go behind (not from) the Lord as one ashamed of Him. But nothing turned aside the purpose of God, or the activity of His grace. 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. Jesus deliberately and open-eyed sets out for Jerusalem and the Cross. It is my will to give to this last man the same as to you. We have, first, the sower sowing the word. "And Jesus heard their cry and stood still. Had there been a single thing good in Israel, their choicest guides would have stood that test. 2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard. If we compare the eighth chapter, for example, with the corresponding circumstances, as far as they appear, in the gospel of Mark, we shall find the latter gives us notes of time, which leave no doubt on my mind that Mark adheres to the scale of time: the design of the Holy Ghost required it, instead of dispensing with it in his case. Changes, to us inexplicable, occur: many first last, and last first. Matthew 20:16-20 NIV - "So the last will be first, and the - Bible Gateway It was necessary to complete the picture. To underscore this, Jesus will give a parable (20:1-16) that amplifies the principle: 'many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first'," (20:16; 16:25). They cannot hurt the Christ. It can only mean here the "invited." No doubt the ship was covered with the waves; but how could that imperil the Lord of all? 2. But among my followers service alone is the badge of greatness. And they went their way. 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. Are you able to drink of the cup that I shall drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am going to be baptized with? for many be called; externally, under the ministration of the Gospel, as the Jews in general were, by Christ and his apostles; but. He had been there before. iii. Then the mother of Zebedees sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. 1. In other words, the leper is here introduced after the sermon on the mount, though, in fact, the circumstance took place long before it. He is not here sought as by the leper, the centurion, the friends of the palsied man; He Himself calls Matthew, a publican just the one to write the gospel of the despised Jesus of Nazareth. This finds its fitting place, not in Luke, but in Matthew, particularly as the details here (not in Mark, who only gives the general fact) cast great light upon God's dispensational ways. 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. The parable itself displays a reversal of expectations "the last will be first and the first will be last"; this is not only the summary of the parable (20:16), but a critical aspect of New Testament theology. 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. Herein is where the prophecy of Isaiah really stands out: "As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth"( Isaiah 53:7 ). 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. If God was there, what else could He, would He do? Envy is unlikeness to God, who is good, and doeth good, and delighteth in doing good; nay, it is an opposition and contradiction to God; it is a dislike of his proceedings, and a displeasure at what he does, and is pleased with. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! The call to serve God is the gift of His grace. Copyright 2023, Bible Study Tools. At the beginning of the day, a landowner hired people to work in his vineyard for an agreed wage (Matthew 20:1-2). And then they would take a leather whip, with little bits of lead and glass, embedded in it. And He had compassion upon them, and healed them. It was after our Lord had called the twelve, and ordained them not after He had sent them forth, but after He had appointed them apostles that the Lord comes down to a plateau upon the mountain, instead of remaining upon the more elevated parts where He had been before. 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. The manner, too, was in itself remarkable. Now notice, the mother is the one doing the speaking, but the boys are right there behind her. In Mark 2:1-28 it says, "And again he entered into Capernaum." i. Jesus gave everything to bring men back to God; and we must walk in the steps of him who loved to the uttermost. 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. 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. The ability to serve God is the gift of His grace. 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. 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. [5.] Had she not such confusion of thought that, if the Lord had heeded her words, it must have been destruction to her? 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. Poetical Books It was made after a series of announcements by Jesus that ahead of him lay an inescapable Cross; it was made at a moment when the air was heavy with the atmosphere of tragedy and the sense of foreboding. Matthew 20. Jesus openly acknowledged the suffering and agony that awaited Him. 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. And they went their way. Thus shall every mouth be stopped, and all flesh be silent before God. Not even their wonderful "attitude" entitled them to a day's pay. Please see Blue Letter Bible's Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. ., p. Third, this passage sheds a light on Jesus. 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. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. The aggravation of it; "It is because I am good." And the same day, when the even was come, He saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. It was a grave step this, and in view of His rejection now. We know this by comparing it with the gospel of Luke. "The cross," he said, "was a mousetrap (muscipula) to catch the devil, baited with the blood of Christ.". So little old Jewish mama coming to Jesus with her two sons. The very next scene, the case of Jairus, the ruler, shows it. My last word to Gods children is this: what does it matter, after all, whether we are first or whether we are last? Pentateuch 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. The grape harvest ripened towards the end of September, and then close on its heels the rains came. "Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof" He had only to say in a word, and his servant should be healed. And after the supper He took the cup, likewise and said, this cup is a new covenant in my blood, which is shed for the remission of sins, and as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death, until He comes"( 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 ). If I assume from the words "set forth in order," in the beginning of Luke's gospel, that therefore his is the chronological account, it will only lead me into confusion, both as to Luke and the other gospels; for proofs abound that the order of Luke, most methodical as he is, is by no means absolutely that of time. Oh, what a heart is ours! They shall enter heaven, as was promised. Men were in the grip of a power of evil which they could not break; their sins dragged them down; their sins separated them from God; their sins wrecked life for themselves and for the world and for God himself. 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. Further, in strict justice the fewer hours a man worked, the less pay he should have received. "My daughter is even now dead, but come and lay thy hand upon her, and she shall live." And about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle, and said to them, Why have you been standing here idle all day? They said to him, Because no one hired us. He said to them, You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right you will receive.. 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." After this, dismissing the multitudes, He retires alone, to pray, on a mountain, as the disciples toil over the storm-tossed lake, the wind being contrary. Except where noted, scripture quotations are taken from the Easy-to-Read Version 2001 by Bible League International.
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