In Matthew 16:1-28 we advance a great step, spite (yea, because) of unbelief, deep and manifest, now on every side. 1. ii. 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. It is a just prefiguration of what will be in the close of the age the mass of the unbelieving Jews, now impure, but then also given up to the devil, and so to evident perdition. But if this be so, there is here absolute certainty that our Lord, on the very Sabbath in which He cast out the unclean spirit from the man in the synagogue of Capernaum, immediately after quitting the synagogue, entered the house of Peter, and that there and then He healed Peter's wife's mother of the fever. They were not attached to any group; they were entirely at the mercy of chance employment; they were always living on the semi-starvation line. i. 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." Counting from 6 a.m. therefore, the third hour is 9 a.m., the sixth hour is twelve midday, and the eleventh hour is 5 p.m. 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. [6.] There is hope for old sinners; for if, in sincerity, they turn to God, they shall doubtless be accepted; true repentance is never too late. vii. For many are called, but few chosen." a. a. In the case of the laborers, those who worked all day did not deserve their pay after having thrown it on the ground. 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. 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. 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 !!!! He promised to pay all the later workers fairly. 20:29-34 When they were leaving Jericho, a great crowd followed him. [1.] They complained against the landowner: After being paid, the men hired first took up their complaint with the landowner. 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. Secondly, Others are savingly wrought upon in middle age; Go work in the vineyard, at the third, sixth, or ninth hour. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. And they went their way. It seemed the last place on earth to which a man in his condition should have gone. The slum dwellers of Tokyo laughed at him, but they came to respect him. There are two great lessons here. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. Grace should be especially manifested in our service; it is of grace, not works. Pauline Epistles Therefore it was not a mere simple fact that He banished sickness or infirmity, but He carried them in His spirit before God. . See here. Yet man, in face of all, is so deceived of the enemy, that he prefers to be left with the demons rather than enjoy the presence of the Deliverer. He came to occupy not a throne, but a cross. It shall not be so among you, but whoever wishes to prove himself great among you must be your servant; and whoever wishes to occupy the foremost place will 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.". He who gave the law maintained its authority, and used it as an occasion for testifying His own power and presence. 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. b. In the next scene, then, we have the disciples as a whole tried by a sudden danger to which their sleeping Master paid no heed. Those whom Christ fed miraculously, though of different sizes, men, women, and children, did all eat, and were filled. Nor was it only a difference in the forms the truth took; but the vital principle which Christ was diffusing could not be so maintained. For they needed someone to help Him bear the cross. "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. Second, this passage sheds a light upon the Christian life. (Matthew 20:3-7) Through the day, the landowner continues to hire workers. So the last will be first, and the first last, Betrayed they will condemn Him to death deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. (iv) Here, also, is the infinite compassion of God. He was tricked by the seeming helplessness of Jesus; he took Jesus to be a mere man; he tried to retain hold of Jesus, and in trying to do so, he lost his power and was broken for ever. At the beginning of the day, a landowner hired people to work in his vineyard for an agreed wage (Matthew 20:1-2). "Who is my mother? And then they would take a leather whip, with little bits of lead and glass, embedded in it. He knew what they needed and what they wanted, but God still wants us to tell Him our needs as a constant expression of our trust and reliance on Him. 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen. Thus, the present dealings of God in grace, the actual shape taken by the kingdom of heaven, the calling of the Gentiles, the formation of the Church, are all passed completely over. The people might have failed, but, surely, there were some differences surely those that were honoured and valued were not so depraved! A daily devotional about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. He had been preparing them for the new things, and the impossibility of making them coalesce with the old. Suffering from great humiliation and degradation. He was not called. A ransom is something paid or given to liberate a man from a situation from which it is impossible for him to free himself. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. There is such tremendous reward just in being able to minister to people, the feedback that comes from it is so rewarding. 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 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.. The Gospels 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. The first thing to be remarked is, that the leper was an early incident in the manifestation of the healing power of our Lord. 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. The ox had to be ready either for the supreme moment of sacrifice on the altar or the long labour of the plough on the farm. Succa, fol. Matthew 20:1-16 is a true-to-life parable. It is as if Jesus was going to gather in upon himself every possible kind of physical and emotional and mental suffering that the world could inflict. Time would fail now to dwell on this chapter, interesting as it is. In the reception of the little children this is plain; it is not so generally seen in what follows. 2. In immediate juxtaposition to this stands the Gentile centurion, who seeks healing for his servant. Passwords should have at least 6 characters. Salem Media Group. Then the mother of Zebedees sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him. In what sense did Jesus, our Lord, take their infirmities, and bear their sicknesses? Try Bible Gateway Plus free today! Three things the master of the house urges, in answer to this ill-natured surmise. Historical Books They supposed that they would receive more: The men who worked for the landowner all day saw the men who worked for only an hour come away from the pay table, and they supposed, If the landowner is paying these guys a full days pay for one hours work, then we will get far more., i. It is not a thing that can be settled by a mere assertion. Having left Nazareth, as we saw, He takes up His abode in Capernaum, which was henceforth "His own city." But Jesus answered and said, You don't know what you are asking. He went to live in a six foot by six-foot hut in a Tokyo slum. But there's a big twist. He maintains His sovereign title to do good, to do as He will with His own. 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. Is it not most sweet to see, that He who proves His divine glory at once associates us with Himself? Hold out, faith, and patience, yet a little while. Think of when this request was made. 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. 6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? Before dinner starts, hide your nerf guns, then start the soundtrack to Mr. & Mrs. Smith. Finally, we have all wound up, after the going forth of a testimony which was truly universal in its scope, by the judicial severance at the close, when it is not only the good put into vessels, but the bad dealt with by the due instruments of the power of God. 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. The Gentiles came in at the eleventh hour, but it was because the gospel had not been before preached to them. However imperfect it may be, if faith is there, Jesus accepts it. And wilt thou seek for a happiness in the creature, or think from thence to make up the deficiencies of thy happiness in God? He is first of all betrayed by Judas to the chief priests, because Judas made a bargain with the priests to turn Jesus over to them. Finally, he was to be crucified; there we see the ultimate suffering of death. 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. 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. Parallel use in Matthew 19:30 where the closing expression of chapter 19 opens the parable in chapter 20. (SeeMatthew 9:32-33; Matthew 9:32-33.) 13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Secondly, the prophecy of Psalms declared, "not a bone of Him shall be broken"( Psalms 34:20 ). 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. Johannine Writings But Luke saith, they understood none of these things; that is, surely they believed none of them, the saying was hid from them. (Poole), v. When our Lord told the twelve that he would die, they imagined that it was a parable, concealing some deep mystery. ", 'The Lord Is My Savior, Shield, Refuge, and Stronghold'. The true disciple is motivated by love not lust. she cried; but what had she to do with the Son of David? God has work for all ages; no time amiss to turn to God; none can say, "It is all in good time;" for, whatever hour of the day it is with us, the time past of our life may suffice that we have served sin; Go ye also into the vineyard. It appears to me, that the nature or aim of Mark's gospel demands this. He may therefore give or withhold his blessings, as he pleases. But this is enough to silence all murmurs and objectors, that God is sovereign Lord of all, and may do what he will with his own. That scourging was for you. Whence they are hired? But it was for a land of darkness and sin and death that Jesus came from heaven the Messiah, not according to their thoughts, but the Lord and Saviour, the God-man. 45. It doesn't mean someone who is to be looked up to, and someone who is to be catered to, and someone who is to be bowed to, and all of this kind of stuff, and do special favors because he is the minister. Idols, abominations, no longer infected that dwelling as of old. It shows us his honesty. Israel must give full testimony in the bright day of His coming. 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. Pentateuch 4. Who hires them? "If you wish to be great," he says, "be a servant; if you wish to be first of all be a slave." 2. Those who had come first thought that they would receive more; but they too received 4 pence each. Jesus was passing by. of their own children, or of strangers?" 3 "About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. He has His rejection before His eyes, as well as the presumptuous unbelief of this sordid, and self-confident, would-be follower. It was true that He was made of woman, and made under the law; but He was Jehovah Himself, that lowly Nazarene. Work for God will not admit of trifling. And they joined the crowd following Him on up to Jerusalem.Remember at this point the heart of Jesus is very heavy, because He knows that He soon is going to be betrayed, mocked, scourged, crucified. 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. The Lord pleads the cause of the disciples. He's being despised and rejected. This he said in the hearing of the disciple who would act the traitor: did no compunction visit his base heart? (Spurgeon), ii. But if Matthew here laid aside all question of time, it was in view of other and weightier considerations for his object. It says simply, "And, behold, there came a leper and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." Gentile as he was, he was for that very, reason the less narrowed in his thoughts of the Saviour by the prevalent notions of Israel, yea, or even by Old Testament hopes, precious as they are. Reader, whosoever thou art, act in behalf of thy soul as these blind men did in behalf of their sight, and thy salvation is sure. This attitude threatened to be carried forward into the Christian Church. Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem: This was not a surprise to the disciples. Even those hired early in the day received a reward, and the landowner had been gracious and generous in hiring them and not others. 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. 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. There never can be strength in the soul till forgiveness is known. Men little weigh what their words will sound and prove in the day of judgment. The fact is, beloved brethren, there is but one Jesus; and whoever it may be, whether John the Baptist, or the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, after all it is divinely-given faith which alone sustains: else man has to learn painfully somewhat of himself; and what is he to be accounted of? And then he repeats this again. 1 For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire a labourers into his vineyard. Wisdom Literature Verse 29 gives us strict time. And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" In it there is the comfort of God. It is enough to meet a difficulty which many feel by the simple plea that the reason assigned is in my judgment a valid explanation, and in itself a sufficient solution of the apparent discrepancy. How little they had learnt the divine lesson of grace, not ordinances! It is clearly the failure of nature, the reversal of what might be expected. Even when they were bluntly told that there lay ahead a bitter cup, it never struck them to turn back; they were determined to drink it. Poetical Books Accordingly, here we have, first, the Lord judging the wrong thoughts of "Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem." Does this scribe offer to follow Jesus? They put it off until a more convenient time, but so often the more convenient time never comes. 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. Thus, in the chapter before us, we have a very comprehensive sketch of the Lord's manifestation from that time, and in type going on to the end of the age. Hence, here it is a question not merely of cleansing, but of forgiveness, and forgiveness, too, as that which precedes power, manifested before men. Minor Prophets In heaven, every vessel will be full, brimful, though every vessel is not alike large and capacious. 10 But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. Bishop PEARCE thinks it is an interpolation from Matthew 22:14. Though primitive Christianity had more of the purity and power of that holy religion than is to be found in the degenerate age wherein we live, yet what labourers may be sent into the vineyard in the eleventh hour of the church's day, in the Philadelphian period, and what plentiful effusions of the Spirit may then be, above what has been yet, who can tell? 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. It is tragic that we have a professional ministry that so often seeks people to cater to it, rather than to realize that they are the servants of all. 3. They knew that they were the chosen people, nor would they ever willingly forget that choice. Because Matthew's object is the display of the change of dispensation through, or consequent on, the rejection of Jesus by the Jews. The householder had every right to have cut them off with a trifle instead of a whole day's pay. And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard ( Matthew 20:1-2 ). [1.] He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive. Then came to Him the mother of Zebedee's children [now James and John were the sons of Zebedee and she came to Him] with her sons ( Matthew 20:20 ). And, look you, two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted out, "Lord, have pity on us, you Son of David!" Instead of repining that we have no more, let us take what we have, and be thankful. The meek and trustful spirit is to be desired; so also is the worker; but neither class of people, nor yet another class combining the virtues of both, can in any degree merit salvation. A great tempest. New International Version (NIV). 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. And so anti what Jesus has declared. 2. Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Isaiah prophesied the fact that He would be scourged, but in prophesying the fact, Isaiah tells us the reason. Though he vainly thought, that if those few were but two, they were himself and his son. He is not going to lower Himself to a human measure. If, amid the multitude of Christians, I choose to signalize such men as Paul, and Martyn, and Brainerd, and Spencer, and Summerfield - to appoint some of them to short labor but to wide usefulness, and raise them to signal rewards, I injure not the great multitude of others who live long lives less useful and less rewarded. The unparalleled grace of the Saviour must form and fashion the saints henceforth. 13. 'God is love. All rights reserved. The dispensational aim here leads to a more manifest disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any other specimen of these gospels. [1.] The best of the labourers, and those that begin soonest, having so many empty spaces in their time, and their works not being filled up before God, may truly be said to labour in the vineyard scarcely one hour of their twelve; but because we are under grace, and not under the law, even such defective services, done in sincerity, shall not only be accepted, but by free grace richly rewarded. Spurgeon applied this to us spiritually: Why is any one of us remaining idle towards God? So we have a farther scene. And if those who in the last moment come into the kingdom of God, God rewards them, and they receive the reward for their place in the kingdom. And there were also with Him other little ships. No. Matthew 20:16-20 NIV - "So the last will be first, and the - Bible Gateway He healed, and bore its burden on His heart before God, as truly as He took it away from men. It is the man who will not be kept from Christ who in the end finds him. Secondly, In all the dispensations of his grace, God gives or withholds the means of grace, and the Spirit of grace, as he pleases. 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. In Mark 10:35-45 it is James and John who come to Jesus with this request. Did you not come to an agreement with me to work for 4 pence ? So thoroughly is it in view of Israel that our Lord does not say one word here about the Church, or the intervening condition of Christendom. Matthew 20 | NLT Bible | YouVersion (v) Here also is the generosity of God. 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 the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. Examine the Scripture, and you will see for yourselves. And then Paul warned the Corinthians about the manner in which they did partake of the Lord's supper. Some think this parable speaks of the way that people come to God at different stages of their life.