This parable taught the disciples not to think of heavenly rewards in terms of justice, getting in proportion to what they deserved. The householder had every right to have cut them off with a trifle instead of a whole day's pay. Modern disciples of Jesus should view heavenly rewards the same way. Most clearly it is not so much a question of sin in the aspect of uncleanness (typifying deeper things, but still connected with the ceremonial requirements of Israel, as we find from what our Lord said in the chapter to the cleansed leper). If it was His rejection, these scornful men were themselves rejected in the very act. So little old Jewish mama coming to Jesus with her two sons. "And, behold, certain of the scribes said within themselves, This man blasphemeth." Neither giveth he an account of any of his matters; nor is it fit he should. I'll be turned over to the chief priests. [Note: Wiersbe, 1:73.]. 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. 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. Johannine Writings O Lord God, your grace to me is marvelous. In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers, but labourers, working, and working out our own salvation. Or is your eye evil because I am good? Luke-Acts 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. This done, with a word for the conscience appended, He takes up and pleads the cause of John. Many a man, who, as the world counts it, is a poor man, will be great in the Kingdom, because he never thought in terms of reward but worked for the thrill of working and for the joy of serving. From God they will both receive the same welcome, for both Jesus Christ is waiting, and for neither, in the divine sense, has life ended too soon or too late. And yet He takes time still to minister to the needs of others. I have endeavoured, though, of course, cursorily, and I feel most imperfectly, to give thus far Matthew's sketch of the Saviour as the Holy Ghost enabled him to execute it. The crowd commanded them to stop their shouting; they were making a nuisance of themselves. 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. He was to be scourged; few tortures in the world compared with the Roman scourge, and there we see the suffering of physical pain. "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom? Jesus thought about how He would fulfill the will of His Father in the future. "Day laborers" would be readily available in the market place. I have endowed them with apostolic gifts or with superior talents, and suited them for wider usefulness. 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 ). The offence taken (Matthew 20:11; Matthew 20:12); They murmured at the good man of the house; not that there is, or can be, any discontent or murmuring in heaven, for that is both guilt and grief, and in heaven there is neither; but there may be, and often are, discontent and murmuring concerning heaven and heavenly things, while they are in prospect and promise in this world. So He meekly retires, healing, yet forbidding it to be blazed abroad. . Jesus said that among the Gentiles there is this desire to exercise lordship and dominion over people. But this may be, and commonly is, applied to the several ages of life, in which souls are converted to Christ. Historical Books Laborers in the Vineyard. Then, in Mark 3:1-35, there are notes of time more or less strong. He had been preparing them for the new things, and the impossibility of making them coalesce with the old. The age of serving in the army was from seventeen to forty-five, and the manner in which they were chosen was the following: -. They did not understand what was happening, but they could see in every line of Jesus' body the struggle of his soul. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select an Ending Point The youth were instructed, almost from their cradle, in military exercises. 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. If I am faithful for an hour, if I am faithful for twelve hours, it is my faithfulness to the service to which the Lord has sent me.Now a lot of times we think that men like Billy Graham will surely receive the greatest rewards in heaven, because look at the tremendous fruit of his ministry. Minor Prophets 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. Matthew 20:16 Commentaries: "So the last shall be first, and the first The system of grace is foreign to us: God deals with us according to who He is, not according to who we are. Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. i. (iii) These are the original lessons of this parable, but it has very much more to say to us. To drink the cup simply means to follow Christ wherever he may lead, and to be like him in any situation life may bring. He had brought out the kingdom before in view of that which betrayed to Him the unpardonable blasphemy of the Holy Ghost. God's generosity will not succumb to human jealousy. . It is best understood as a parable about grace and reward. 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. iii. Matthew 19:1-30 brings in another lesson of great weight. A man who wanted to work came there first thing in the morning, carrying his tools, and waited until someone hired him. How Daniels Prophecy of 70 Weeks Connects to the End Times. Matthew 20:16 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary - Bible Study Tools 20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. The Lord has nothing for them, or for Him, but to go right on to the end. The Son of Man will be betrayed: Jesus again told the disciples what awaited Him in Jerusalem, but no reaction from the disciples is noted. It is worth stopping to see what the crude hands of theology have done with that lovely saying. Nothing can be simpler. Gregory the Great took the picture to even more grotesque, almost revolting, lengths. Or is your eye evil because I am good?. The indignation of the ten doubtless sprang less from humility than jealousy plus fear that they might lose out. (Carson). 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. Major Prophets God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. Error: Passwords should have at least 6 characters, Error: Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores. It is a saying of R. Simeon ben Jochai d, "I have seen the children of the world to come (elsewhere e it is, of the chamber), , "and they are few".''. Life had been imparted to, the sleeping maid of Zion the blind men call on Him as the Son of David, and not in vain. Matthew gives no such details, but call and mission are together here. When they had received the boon for which they craved, they did not go away and forget; they followed Jesus. In Matthew 16:1-28 we advance a great step, spite (yea, because) of unbelief, deep and manifest, now on every side. You may unsubscribe from Bible Gateways emails at any time. When they received it, they grumblingly complained against the master. Secondly, In all the dispensations of his grace, God gives or withholds the means of grace, and the Spirit of grace, as he pleases. Cecil Northcott in Famous Life Decisions tens of what Kagawa did. d. Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve: Real ministry is done for the benefit of those ministered to, not for the benefit of the minister. Yet He confidently announced to His disciples that this would happen. 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. And, 2. 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. The earnestness of these men was marvelous; they were desperate to be healed, and ignored the crowd that tried to quiet them (they cried out all the more). In this he had laboured, as he said, from his youth up: "What lack I yet?" Thus the great tree and the leavened mass are in fact the two sides of Christendom. The unparalleled grace of the Saviour must form and fashion the saints henceforth. Matthew, Mark and John all give lists of the women who were at the Cross when Jesus was crucified. The laws of that kingdom are not wrapt up in parables, but plainly set down, as in the sermon upon the mount; but the mysteries of that kingdom are delivered in parables, in sacraments, as here and Matthew 13:1-58; Matthew 13:1-58 The duties of Christianity are more necessary to be known than the notions of it; and yet the notions of it are more necessary to be illustrated than the duties of it; which is that which parables are designed for. All that are chosen from eternity, are effectually called, in the fulness of time (Romans 8:30), so that in making our effectual calling sure we make sure our election (2 Peter 1:10); but it is not so as to the outward call; many are called, and yet refuse (Proverbs 1:24), nay, as they are called to God, so they go from him (Hosea 11:2; Hosea 11:7), by which it appears that they were not chosen, for the election will obtain,Romans 11:7. Oh, what a heart is ours! 1. "Lord, save us; we perish," cried they, as they awoke Him; and He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea. 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. And the third day He will rise again: Jesus was remarkably specific in this announcement of His fate, and foretold many things over which He had no apparent control. a. Nevertheless, His ear was open to the call on behalf of Israel perishing, dying, dead. But that cannot be the meaning of it here; the "called" being emphatically distinguished from the "chosen." At least we can draw the following applications from it. They may come at the beginning of their life, in their youth, in adulthood, in old age, or at the very end. His word should silence all our murmurings, that, whatever God does to us, or withholds from us, he does us no wrong. Poetical Books 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 ). Minor Prophets Of course, both do preserve chronological order when it is compatible with the objects the Holy Spirit had in inspiring them; but in both the order of time is subordinated to still greater purposes which God had in view.