This came out most blessedly through the disciples. Secondly, Others are savingly wrought upon in middle age; Go work in the vineyard, at the third, sixth, or ninth hour. Then inside the house we have not only the Lord explaining the parable, the history from first to last of the tares and wheat, the mingling of evil with the good which grace had sown, but more than that, we have the kingdom viewed according to divine thoughts and purposes. And the third day He will rise again: Most important, this was something that Jesus had no apparent control over. ], "Any union leader worth their salt would protest at such employment practices. We are, in fact, in the presence of that which John so loves to dwell on Jesus viewed not merely as Son of David or Abraham, or Seed of the woman, but as the Father's Son, the Son as the Father gave, sent, appreciated, and loved Him. The kingdom of heaven assumes a form unknown to prophecy, and, in its successive mysteries, fills up the interval between the rejected Christ's going to heaven, and His returning again in glory. What Does It Mean That There Is No One Holy Like God? Matthew chapter twenty opens with the parable of the laborers going out into the vineyard.And Jesus said. We have here. Here again is found a fresh case of the same remarkable principle of selection of events to form a complete picture, which I have maintained to be the true key of all.
"Reversal!" Matthew 20:16 (What Jesus Did!) - Heartlight 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. The New Testament [1.] Jesus recognized that they didnt really understand, but they would. Therefore when He said, "this is my body broken for you", He could not refer to some bones being broken, but His body was broken open by this scourging that He received. Would you prayerfully consider a gift of support today? "What do you want me to do for you?" This furnishes occasion to the Pharisees to vent their unbelief: to them nothing is so offensive as grace, either in doctrine or in practice. (Matthew 19:30.) Get Your Bible Minute in Your Inbox Every Morning. He would not even claim the right to choose how His servants were rewarded, but yield that to His Father. They complained against the landowner: After being paid, the men hired first took up their complaint with the landowner. "In God's economy," as someone has said, "there is no such thing as a most favoured nation clause." It was with this declaration that the parable began and ended. Beracot, fol. The very next scene, the case of Jairus, the ruler, shows it. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. The last shall be first, and the first last.
Matthew 20:16 ESV - So the last will be first, | Biblia 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 now as they depart from Jericho. 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. Though a testimony to them, still it was in the result a recognition of what Moses commanded. . 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." 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. b. 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. 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. When the account was taken; when the evening was come, then, as usual, the day-labourers were called and paid. The fact of two without the personal details would not powerfully tell upon mere Gentiles perhaps, though to a Jew it might be for some ends necessary. Now do you think that God the Father would allow His Son to suffer unnecessarily? and what had the Son of David to do with a Canaanite? And when he had agreed with the laborers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard ( Matthew 20:1-2 ). To my mind, the depth of such grace only enhances the beauty of Jesus, and is the very last possible ground that justifies man in thinking lightly of the Saviour.
Adventure Challenge 47 - Matthew 20.16 - YouTube He therefore, 1. Isaiah prophesied the fact that He would be scourged, but in prophesying the fact, Isaiah tells us the reason. "They that are first shall be last, and they that are last shall be first"( Matthew 19:30 ). See Deuteronomy 24:15. There may be desires, there may be the working of the Spirit of God, but there can be no power to walk before men and to glorify God thus till there is forgiveness possessed and enjoyed in the heart. 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. No doubt the first verse says, that "when He was come down from the mount, great multitudes followed Him;" but then the second verse gives no intimation that the subject which follows is to be taken as chronologically subsequent. And they went their way. 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. The Gospels The Spirit of God has been pleased to cull and class facts otherwise unconnected; for here follow conversations that took place a long time after any of the events we have been occupied with. They forgot His glory in their own anxiety and selfishness. He went out again about twelve o'clock midday, and about three o'clock in the afternoon, and did the same. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands." The spirit, as well as the form, was alien. Here is the story of two men who found their way to a miracle. 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. Cookie Notice: Your partnership makes all we do possible. To where they exercised such dominion and authority and lordship over people, that they inserted themselves between the people and God. Nonetheless God had the right to give just as great reward to those whose service was not as long. The first came to an agreement with the master; they had a contract; they said, "We work, if you give us so much pay." Succa, fol. Wretched we, that we should need such proof of it; wretched, that we should be so slow of heart to answer to it, or even to feel its immensity! John the Baptist was sanctified from the womb, and therefore great (Luke 1:15); Timothy from a child (2 Timothy 3:15); Obadiah feared the Lord from his youth. It is my will to give to this last man the same as to you. For many are called, but few chosen." a. Salem Media Group. Had there been a single thing good in Israel, their choicest guides would have stood that test. A devotional to help reclaim Jesus as the daily Lord of our lives. Rome might at any time have recruited her armies by volunteers from such a mass of well-educated, hardy soldiers but she thought proper, to use the words of the Abbe Mably, that the honour of being chosen to serve in the wars should be the reward of the accomplishments shown by the citizens in the Campus Martius, that the soldier should have a reputation to save; and that the regard paid him, in choosing him to serve, should be the pledge of his fidelity and zeal to discharge his duty. Faithful labourers shall receive their reward when they die; it is deferred till then, that they may wait with patience for it, but no longer; for God will observe his own rule, The hire of the labourers shall not abide with thee all night, until the morning. And so, as savouring not divine but human things, he is bid to go behind (not from) the Lord as one ashamed of Him. Before he reads his Bible let him help the beggar.". Let none suppose that, in giving my own convictions, I have the presumptuous thought of putting these forward as if they were the sole motives in God's mind. "Our Daily Homily: Matthew-Revelation" Volume 5 (Westwood, New Jersey: Revell, 1966), Poole, Matthew "A Commentary on the Holy Bible" Volume 3 (Matthew-Revelation) (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1969), Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "Commentary on Matthew: The Gospel of the Kingdom" (London: Passmore and Alabaster, Paternoster Buildings, 1893), Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990). Note, [1.] Take that which is yours, and go your way: and I will give unto this last even as unto thee. Beyond the curtain of suffering lay the revelation of glory; beyond the Cross was the Crown; beyond the defeat was triumph; and beyond death was life. Chapter 8, which opens the portion that comes before us tonight, is a striking illustration as well as proof of the method which God has been pleased to employ in giving us the apostle Matthew's account of our Lord Jesus. He believed that they could and would drink the cup, and that in the end they would still be found at his side. "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. The Rabbis had a saying, "Some enter the Kingdom in an hour; others hardly enter it in a lifetime." You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: Both James and John had to be baptized in suffering as Jesus was, but their cups and baptisms were different. 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. It ought to be so with every forgiven soul. It is the paradox of the Christian life that he who aims at reward loses it, and he who forgets reward finds it. 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!" It is often more agonizing to contemplate the painful future than it is to actually live it. Out in the world, said Jesus, it is quite true that the great man is the man who controls others; the man to whose word of command others must leap; the man who with a wave of his hand can have his slightest need supplied. It is simply designed to teach that in the church, among the multitudes who will be saved, Christ makes a difference. 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. Matthew 19. 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. 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. Judgment will have early cut them off. 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.
Matthew 20:16 - "So the last will be first, and the - Bible Gateway Here is the agreement made with the labourers (Matthew 20:1-7; Matthew 20:1-7); and here it will be asked, as usual. ESV Text Edition: 2016. In Matthew it is their mother. There will be differences at the close. Nevertheless, His ear was open to the call on behalf of Israel perishing, dying, dead. But the Son of God, blending the infinite majesty of his Deity with the perfect capacity to suffer as a man, offered an atonement of such inestimable value that he has absolutely paid the entire debt for his people. (Spurgeon), iv. All turns on that which was suitable to such a God, the giver of His own Son. Probably thisto teach us that men who have wrought in Christ's service all their days may, by the spirit which they manifest at the last, make it too evident that, as between God and their own souls, they never were chosen workmen at all. The reason I consider to be plain; and the same principle applies to various other parts of our gospel where we have two cases mentioned, where in the other gospels we have only one. get answers to your Bible questions from 50+ resources ($2,400+ value! Such is His grace, such His wisdom. The Lord, while thoroughly proving that He forgot nothing, owned everything that was of grace in Peter or the rest, while opening the same door to "every one" who forsakes nature for His name's sake, solemnly adds, "But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first." Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. The Lord works in delivering power; but withal the power of Satan fills and carries away the unclean to their own destruction. He was not setting out rules for wages and employment, but giving an illustration of Gods grace. The circumstances of this serve to adorn the parable; but the general scope is plain, that the last shall be first.
Matthew 20 | NLT Bible | YouVersion It should also encourage us in reference to the hardships and difficulties of our work, that it is but for a day; the approaching shadow, which the servant earnestly desireth, will bring with it both rest, and the reward of our work,Job 7:2. And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" 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. (v) Here also is the generosity of God. If there be a privilege more manifest than another which has dawned on us, it is what we have found by and in Jesus, that now we can say nothing is too great for us, nothing too little for God. But the Lord could not send her away without a blessing, and without a blessing reaching to His own glory. That act forfeited their further right to it. Individual instructors or editors may still require the use of URLs. The disciples should expect to be rewarded; but they should not be surprised if, when rewards are distributed, God will reward others in unexpected ways. To the end the events are put together, just as in Matthew 8:1-34, without regard to the point of time when they occurred. Did you not agree with me for a denarius? "Then," said the Lord, "are the children free. [Note: Norman A. Huffman, "Atypical Features in the Parables of Jesus," Journal of Biblical Literature 97 (1978):209. (Matthew 20:16) The parable applied: the principle of Gods reward. And she said unto him, Grant that these my two boys may sit, the one your right hand, and the other on your left, in your kingdom ( Matthew 20:20-21 ). (d) T. Hieros. "That ye may know it (then saith He to the sick of the palsy), Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thy house." That is why the first will be last and the last will be first. This is the prerogative of the King of kings. When the ten heard about this, they were angry with the two brothers. a. Yet is He the Son of man who hath power on earth to forgive sins; and He uses His authority. Thus the fresh revelations of grace in no way detract from that which God had of old established in nature; but, contrariwise, only impart a new and greater force in asserting the real value and wisdom of God's way even in these least things. They were beggars; but it was not money they asked for, it was nothing less than sight. HEARTLIGHT is a registered service mark of Heartlight, Inc. | Privacy Policy. To mock and to scourge: Jesus predicted these specific aspects of His coming agony which on a human level He could not arrange. We have here not only our Lord's ministry in the first parable, but in the second parable that which He does by His servants. Or, are you grudging because I am generous?' Let those who have so little experience of what man is, even in the regenerate, beware lest they impute to the Baptist such an acting of a part as shocks us, when Jerome imputed it to Peter and Paul in the censure of Galatians 2:1-21. Read full chapter. 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. (Barclay), ii. And, 2. At its close we see the leper approaching the Lord, after He had been preaching throughout Galilee and casting out devils. He went to live in a six foot by six-foot hut in a Tokyo slum. c. They likewise received a denarius: Yet the men hired first early in the day, and who had worked all day got paid exactly what the landowner had promised them (a denarius a day, Matthew 20:2). About the third hour, [nine o'clock in the morning], he saw others standing idle in the market place, and he said unto them; Go into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. If those who trusted in themselves that they were wise and righteous would not have Him, He would call even a publican on the spot to be among the most honoured of His followers, and would not disdain to be their joy when they desired His honour in the exercise of His grace. What can be simpler than that John put the question through his disciples, because he (not they only) had a question in the mind? The eye is often both the inlet and the outlet of this sin. . Let not those that come in at the eleventh hour, be put behind the rest, but, lest they should be discouraged, call them first. Let them recognize the power that banished the leprosy, and the grace withal that touched the leper. Time would fail now to dwell on this chapter, interesting as it is. Oh, for grace so to bow and bless God, even when our little travail seems in vain! The blessings of the kingdom are the same for all who enter, whether Jews who had worshipped God for centuries, or Gentiles who had just been saved from heathenism; whether scribes who had studied Gods law for many years, or tax collectors who had just repented; whether those who had served God for a lifetime, or those converted in old age. And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. Please see Blue Letter Bible's Privacy Policy for cookie usage details. 2. God could not be limited by a question of place; His word was enough. Article Images Copyright 2023 Getty Images unless otherwise indicated. When those who had worked all day found that the landowner paid the same amount to the late-comers as he paid to them, they complained. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. He never doubted that James and John would maintain their loyalty. for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. See here. c. Lord, Son of David: However, in their desperation they glorified Jesus. God hires labourers, not because he needs them or their services (for, if we be righteous, what do we unto him? Well, he did not come to get your service; he came to give you his services; not that you might first do him honor, but that he might show you mercy. (Spurgeon). And then Pilot delivered Him unto them to be scourged. He said unto them, Go also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that is what you shall receive. Jesus of course was talking about His crucifixion and His death. What we have, is not our own, and therefore it is not lawful for us to do what we will with it; but what God has, is his own; and this will justify him, First, In all the disposals of his providence; when God takes from us that which was dear to us, and which we could ill spare, we must silence our discontents with this; May he not do what he will with his own? What could be said of her intelligence then? Particular epochs in Luke are noted with great care; but, speaking now of the general course of the Lord's life, a little attention will discover, from the immensely greater preponderance paid to the consideration of time in the second gospel, that there we have events from first to last given to us in their consecutive order. Let me passingly notice a very few particulars. 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. 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. c. Early in the morning: This is literally at dawn, usually reckoned to be about 6:00 in the morning. Matthew chapter 20 New International Version 1 For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. The Old Testament 9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. This is a wonderful, simple question God has not stopped asking. The men who were standing in the market-place were not street-corner idlers, lazing away their time. The Roman penny was, in our money, of the value of a sevenpence half-penny, a day's wages for a day's work, and the wages sufficient for a day's maintenance. On the evening of the day when He delivered the seven parables given in Matthew 13:1-58. The true disciple does not begin his work in the masters vineyard by first calculating his own value. 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 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? 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? 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.. Barclay, William "The Gospel of Matthew, Volume 2" (The New Daily Study Bible, Matthew 11-28) (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1975), Bruce, Alexander Balmain "The Synoptic Gospels: The Expositor's Greek Testament" Volume 1, Section 1 (Matthew-Luke) (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1897), Carson, D.A. (SeeMatthew 9:32-33; Matthew 9:32-33.) What an anticipation of the walk by faith, not by sight, in which the Gentiles, when called, ought to have glorified God, when the rejection of the Messiah by His own ancient people gave occasion to the Gentile call as a distinct thing! Very apt we all are to undervalue the deserts of others, and to overvalue our own. Now the parable: A landowner went out early in the morning (6 am) to hire laborers for his vineyard. Does this scribe offer to follow Jesus? The apostles were sent forth at the first and third hour of the gospel day; they had a first and a second mission, while Christ was on earth, and their business was to call in the Jews; after Christ's ascension, about the sixth and ninth hour, they went out again on the same errand, preaching the gospel to the Jews only, to them in Judea first, and afterward to them of the dispersion; but, at length, as it were about the eleventh hour, they called the Gentiles to the same work and privilege with the Jews, and told them that in Christ Jesus there should be no difference made between Jew and Greek. Will be betrayed: Conceivably, Jesus could have been delivered to the religious authorities without this. Thereon the Lord also has His word to say, first reminding Peter of his new name suitably to what follows. Then follows another incident, which equally proves that the Spirit of God is not here reciting the facts in their natural succession; for it is assuredly not at this moment historically that the Lord goes into the house of Peter, sees there his wife's mother laid sick of a fever, touches her hand, and raises her up, so that she ministers unto them at once. If we turn toMark 1:1-45; Mark 1:1-45, the proof of what I have said will appear as to the leper. 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. For He loved Peter felt for him, and his wife's mother was precious in His sight. Not only shall the Judge of all the earth do right, but what will not He do who gives all good? i. "There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch, that the ship was covered with the waves; but he was asleep." 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. Taken together, the entire picture is one of great suffering. ; Continuity with Matthew 19 These are the words of an older gentleman who trusted Christ a few days before he died from cancer. "I am certain that there is much about the scourging about Jesus that we do not fully understand. A few I have chosen for higher stations in the church. Using the term "elect," Titus 1:1 reinforces the idea that God separates some few from the many who are called: "Paul, a bondservant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's . a. ii. in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry. As their conduct showed, all they were concerned with was to get as much as possible out of their work. d T. Hieros. Jesus came to give his life a ransom for many. It would require the credulity of a sceptic to believe that this is not the self-same fact that we have before us inMatthew 8:1-34; Matthew 8:1-34. Higher proportionate rewards shall be given to them than to others.
Matthew 20:16 - Commentary, explanation and study verse by verse But at the end, when His disciples are in the extremity of trouble, in the midst of the sea, the Lord walks on the sea toward them, and bids them not fear; for they were troubled and afraid.
A new tribe presented other four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny." In him there was a spiritual force far beyond that found in the leper, to whom the hand that touched, as well as cleansed, him proclaimed Israel's need and state as truly as Emmanuel's grace. The design is, I think, manifest: the Spirit of God is here giving a vivid picture of the manifestation of the Messiah, of His divine glory, of His grace and power, with the effect of this manifestation. Not merely were there many pieces of value, but one pearl of great price. When the legions were thus completed, the citizens who had been called, but not chosen, returned to their respective employments, and served their country in other capacities. Thus it is easy to see, that the reason for here putting together the leper and the centurion lies in the Lord's dealing with the Jew, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, in His deep grace working in the Gentile's heart, and forming his faith, as well as answering it, according to His own heart. i.