The order of payment was important. 2. General Epistles "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom? How many millions does the long-suffering of God lead to repentance! And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. 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. 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 enough that Israel be awakened from the sleep of death, and see aright. The point isnt that all have the same reward though all Gods people do go to the same heaven (where they will have reward in different measure). The Gospels It is a direct violation of both the two great commandments at once; both that of love to God, in whose will we should acquiesce, and love to our neighbour, in whose welfare we should rejoice. ], "Any union leader worth their salt would protest at such employment practices. God does not permit Scripture to be thus used without losing its force, its beauty, and the grand object for which it was written. There is hope of old sinners, that they may be brought to true repentance; nothing is too hard for Almighty grace to do, it can change the Ethiopian's skin, and the leopard's spots; can set those to work, who have contracted a habit of idleness. Major Prophets He had no reason to envy his fellow servant, or to grudge at him; or to be angry that he came into the vineyard no sooner; for he was not sooner called; he had no reason to be angry that the master had given him wages for the whole day, when he had idled away the greatest part of it; for Is thine eye evil, because I am good? It tells us of their ambition. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? Perhaps, Christ here gives an intimation to Peter, not to boast too much, as he seemed to do, of his having left all to follow Christ; as if, because he and the rest of them had borne the burthen and heat of the day thus, they must have a heaven by themselves. Neither would Jewish disciples necessarily receive more than Gentile disciples whom God calls later in His program of preparation for the kingdom (cf. 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. Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Matthew, Expository Sermons - From The Executable Outlines Series by Mark A. Copeland - Hundreds of free sermon outlines and Bible study materials available for online browsing and downloading. 20:17-19 As he was going up to Jerusalem, Jesus took the twelve disciples apart, and said to them, while they were on the road, "Look you, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the Scribes, and they will condemn him to death, and they will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify; and on the third day he will be raised.". It was going on, then, to the bitter end, and surely not without such suffering and sorrow as holy, unselfish, obedient love alone can know. The world knows quite well that a good man is a man who serves his fellow-men. Jesus said that those who would share his triumph must drink his cup. 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. Not even their wonderful "attitude" entitled them to a day's pay. And, behold, there were two blind men who were sitting by the way side, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, saying, Have mercy upon us, O Lord, thou son of David. It was with this declaration that the parable began and ended. This is one of the most revealing passages in the New Testament. There are two great lessons here. Possibly the first felt their vanity wounded by being paid after the others. He came to occupy not a throne, but a cross. All this is what happens when men take the poetry of love and try to turn it into man-made theories. The dispensational aim here leads to a more manifest disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any other specimen of these gospels. What shall be their wages? But they were so desperate, they weren't discouraged, they even cried louder, "Jesus, thou son of David have mercy on us. What can be conceived so perfectly to illustrate the great design of the gospel of Matthew? Out in the world there was the Roman governor with his retinue and the eastern potentate with his slaves. "If you wish to be great," he says, "be a servant; if you wish to be first of all be a slave." Jesus was passing by. He is not going to lower Himself to a human measure. Does not this suit you, poor sinner you who never did serve him, you who could not, as you are, minister to him? He is the Lord of the harvest. 1. on the spot or they will never be taken. He healed, and bore its burden on His heart before God, as truly as He took it away from men. There is no greater mistake than to suppose, because there is the richest development of God's grace in new things, that He abandons or weakens natural relationships and authority in their place. What does Matthew chapter 20 mean? | BibleRef.com The Old Testament And they said unto him, We're able ( Matthew 20:22 ). He never doubted that James and John would maintain their loyalty. He gives sight to the blind. Thirdly, The gospel call is given to those that stand idle in the market-place. 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. Each devotional consists of a scripture passage and a reflection and a prayer which open up the day's scripture and show how it challenges you to live for Jesus. So He is telling the disciples this was going to happen. Men little weigh what their words will sound and prove in the day of judgment. The Gentiles came in at the eleventh hour, but it was because the gospel had not been before preached to them. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. How many times during communion has God touched me physically, and ministered to me physically, as I received that work of Christ for my own physical need?So Jesus predicts His crucifixion finally, and then rising again. Observe. It was true that He was made of woman, and made under the law; but He was Jehovah Himself, that lowly Nazarene. He does not come to be served, but to serve. Isaiah prophesied the fact that He would be scourged, but in prophesying the fact, Isaiah tells us the reason. What Does It Really Mean That Your Body Is a Temple? Take notice of the care with which the Spirit of God here omits all reference to this: "And a certain scribe came." But nothing would stop the two blind men; for them it was a matter of sight or blindness, and nothing was going to keep them back. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny." In the evening multitudes are brought, taking advantage of the power that had so shown itself, publicly in the synagogue, and privately in the house of Peter; and the Lord accomplished the words ofIsaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:4: "Himself," it is said, "took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," an oracle we might do well to consider in the limit of its application here. c. For many are called, but few chosen: This was said in the context of this illustration of grace. Thus man's badness takes occasion from God's goodness to be more exceedingly sinful. For many are called, but few chosen.. What does it mean? He may therefore give or withhold his blessings, as he pleases. In the end of this chapter (15) is another miracle of Christ's feeding a vast multitude. The landowner rebuked them for their jealousy and resentment of the landowners generosity towards others. No sooner had Peter pronounced to Jesus the truth of His person, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," than Jesus holds the secret no longer. 21 "What is your request?" he asked. For this challenge, you'll need dinner at home and two nerf guns. Didst not thou agree to take up with heaven as thy portion, thy all, and to take up with nothing short of it? "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. (2.) But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister [or servant]; And whosoever will be the chief among you, let him be the bondslave ( Matthew 20:23-27 ): Jesus here is teaching the servanthood of the ministry and the path to greatness. That they might mock me, scourge me, and crucify me, but I will rise again on the third day.Now again whenever Jesus talked to His disciples about His death, this thought was so repulsive to them, their minds just turned off, and they never heard, "I am going to rise again on the third day." Both Mark and Luke add their own touches to the story, to show that on this occasion there was in the atmosphere of the apostolic band a certain tenseness and a certain foreboding of tragedy to come. The Rabbis had a saying, "Some enter the Kingdom in an hour; others hardly enter it in a lifetime." To him who compares this with Luke 6:1-49, there need not remain a question as to the identity of the scene. He has His rejection before His eyes, as well as the presumptuous unbelief of this sordid, and self-confident, would-be follower. To drink the cup simply means to follow Christ wherever he may lead, and to be like him in any situation life may bring. When that great saint Toyohiko Kagawa first came into contact with Christianity, he felt its fascination, until one day the cry burst from him: "O God, make me like Christ." A Roman coin was once found with the picture of an ox on it; the ox was facing two things--an altar and a plough; and the inscription read: "Ready for either." 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. These blind men received their sight from Jesus, and then they gave to him their grateful loyalty. Warning them against that casual, careless attitudes in which many of them were receiving it. His cup may be drunk in one great moment; his cup may be drunk throughout a lifetime of Christian living. 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. THE MASTER SEEKS HIS WORKERS ( Matthew 20:1-16 ), 20:1-16 "For the situation in the Kingdom of Heaven is like what happened when a householder went out first thing in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. The market-place is a place of concourse, and there Wisdom cries (Proverbs 1:20; Proverbs 1:21); it is a place of sport, there the children are playing (Matthew 11:16; Matthew 11:16); and the gospel calls us from vanity to seriousness; it is a place of business, of noise and hurry; and from that we are called to retire. Matthew 5:45). Verse Matthew 20:16. So it was here. So the last shall be first, and the first last The GENTILES, who have been long without the true God, shall now enjoy all the privileges of the new covenant; and the Jews, who have enjoyed these from the beginning, shall now be dispossessed of them; for, because they here rejected the Lord, he also hath rejected them. Or is your eye evil because I am good? It is more particularly sin, viewed as guilt, and consequently as that which absolutely breaks and destroys all power in the soul towards both God and man. I Will Build My Church (16:13-20) The . Anyone who took this parable as a practical basis for employment would soon be out of business." For many are called, but few chosen.". The fact is, in judging others we judge ourselves. Matthew 20 | ESV Bible | YouVersion Pentateuch The New Testament Jesus was moved with compassion to the depths of his being, and touched their eyes; and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. 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!" 2 And after agreeing with the workers for the standard wage, he sent them into his vineyard. This is the more to be noticed, inasmuch as the gospel of Matthew has been in general adopted as the standard of time, save by those who have rather inclined to Luke as supplying the desideratum. He tells them that they should not have gone over (or finished) the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come. To me it is evident, from a careful comparison of them all, as I think it is capable of clear and adequate proof to an unprejudiced Christian mind, that neither Matthew nor Luke confines himself to such an order of events. 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). In Matthew 15:1-39 we have another picture, and twofold. Thank you for registering. Set a timer for 20 minutes (no peeking) and start eating. These are the words of an older gentleman who trusted Christ a few days before he died from cancer. None can suppose that these were deemed useless, or that, because not now chosen to serve their country in the field, they were proscribed from the rights and privileges of citizens, much less destroyed, because others were found better qualified to serve their country at the post of honour and danger. It is a short time; the reward is for eternity, the work is but for a day; man is said to accomplish, as a hireling, his day,Job 14:6. THE CHRISTIAN REVOLUTION ( Matthew 20:20-28 continued). People do not merit salvation either by works or by attitudes of trust. "The ransom could not have been paid to God; it was therefore paid to the Evil One, who was holding us fast until the ransom should be given to him, even the life of Jesus." The men who were hired at the eleventh hour who worked only about one hour were obviously elated about being paid first, and being paid for a full day. In the distribution of future joys, as it was in the gathering of the manna, he that shall gather much, will have nothing over, and he that shall gather little, will have no lack, Exodus 16:18. 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