. Nor was the unbelief confined to these religionists of letter and form; for next (verse 14) the question comes from John's disciples: "Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?" 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. It is always thus. 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. Far from lowering the position of His servant, He declares there was none greater among mortal men. Prophets And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brothers. In Matthew 17:1-27 another scene appears, promised in part to some standing there in Matthew 16:28, and connected, though as yet hiddenly, with the cross. 1 "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. So the last will be first, and the first last: Peter and the disciples knew they had given up a great deal to follow Jesus. The book features 50 challenges to do with your partner at affordable price points (FREE to about $50). "Verily, I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven." 3 He went out about nine o'clock . In Christianity there must always be this invincible optimism in the moment when things are conspiring to drive a man to despair. But the master well knew that 4p a day was no great wage; he well knew that, if a workman went home with less, there would be a worried wife and hungry children; and therefore he went beyond justice and gave them more than was their due. i. 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. Here is the first mention of the mode of Jesus death and of the Gentiles part in it (only the Romans could crucify people). (Carson). God's delight is to pick out the hindmost for the first place, to the disparagement of the foremost in their own strength. In a sense, everybody is called to recognize God through the natural world, but the word "chosen" shows that God must personally rescue us from our self-centered blindness. iv. iii. Grace forms the hearts of those that understand it, according to the great manifestation of what God is, and what man is, too, given us in the person of Christ. 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. 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? It was very different with the hired day-labourers. Isaiah prophesied the fact that He would be scourged, but in prophesying the fact, Isaiah tells us the reason. That's one of the two. And you guessed it already its a quote from the bible \"so the last shall be first \u0026 the first last\"which of course made me think of a competition type challenge !!! Thus many are called by the preaching of the Gospel, but few are found who use their advantages in such a way as to become extensively useful in the Church-and many in the Church militant behave so ill as never to be admitted into the Church triumphant. As Matthew's Jesus preached earlier, God provides rain for the just and unjust alike (cf. Matthew 20:16 - Bible Verse Meaning and Commentary - Bible Study Tools Lastly, Here is the application of the parable (Matthew 20:16; Matthew 20:16), in that observation which occasioned it (Matthew 19:30; Matthew 19:30); So the first shall be last, and the last first. 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. Mark gives them in the end of his second and the beginning of his third chapters. And yet in spite of that the disciples are thinking of a Kingdom. The Lord works in delivering power; but withal the power of Satan fills and carries away the unclean to their own destruction. He was to be mocked by the Romans; there we see the suffering of humiliation and of deliberate insult. They have treated the Bible either with levity, or as too awful a book to be apprehended really; not with the reverence of faith, which waits on Him, and fails not in due time to understand His word. There are a great many things which have to be done at the moment or they will never be done. That they might possibly be outstripped by their successors in profession, and, though they were before others in profession, might be found inferior to them in knowledge, grace, and holiness. 1. In the reception of the little children this is plain; it is not so generally seen in what follows. They worked in the heat of the day while others shaded themselves. Here is the story of two men who found their way to a miracle. At its close we see the leper approaching the Lord, after He had been preaching throughout Galilee and casting out devils. This done, with a word for the conscience appended, He takes up and pleads the cause of John. Jesus knew what was going on in their minds; and he spoke to them words which are the very basis of the Christian life. [6.] He tells him that those he envied should fare as well as he did; "I will give unto this last, even as unto thee; I am resolved I will." There are gates on the East which is the direction of the dawn, and whereby a man may enter in the glad morning of his days; there are gates on the West which is the direction of the setting sun, and whereby a man may enter in his age. So the last shall be first - This is the moral or scope of the parable. It is true that in this particular instance Mark no more surrounds the leper with notes of time and place than do Matthew and Luke. In some cases the last called will be among the first in rank of blessing. Second, the parable of the laborers in the vineyard is about the first and the last. Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers. Thus the great tree and the leavened mass are in fact the two sides of Christendom. Matthew 20:16New International Version. Abstulit, sed et dedit--He hath taken away; but he originally gave. It is important to see that the landowner did not treat anyone unfairly, though he was more generous to some than to others. He who gave the law maintained its authority, and used it as an occasion for testifying His own power and presence. I am certain that everyone that was afflicted had heard of the fame of Jesus. yea, they may forget, yet will not I forget thee. We have the natural tie here brought into prominence; and this was a claim that Christ slighted not. They mock the calm utterance of Him who chooses things that are not; and the Lord turns out the unbelievers, and demonstrates the glorious truth that the maid was not dead, but living. 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. These workers hired at the very beginning of the working day agreed to work for a denarius a day, the common daily wage for a workingman. None the less does the Lord uphold it, purged of what accretions had come in to obscure its original and proper character. 2. This is unfortunate, since his works contain priceless gems of information that are found nowhere except in the ancient writings of the Jews. I have endowed them with apostolic gifts or with superior talents, and suited them for wider usefulness. And then they would take a leather whip, with little bits of lead and glass, embedded in it. The limit was reached by Peter the Lombard. And that's exactly what the word, "minister" means, servant. That God is debtor to no man; a great truth, which the contents in our Bible give as the scope of this parable. 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. So the last shall be first, and the first last. Matthew 20:16. When it came time to pay the workers, the men hired last were paid first and paid for a full day of work! vi. And still is he betrayed! Origen has no doubt that the ransom was paid to the devil. 4. Parallel use in Matthew 19:30 where the closing expression of chapter 19 opens the parable in chapter 20. Has nothing yet had power to engage us to sacred service? To convince the murmurer that he did no wrong, he refers him to the bargain: "Didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Deuteronomy 15:9; 1 Samuel 18:9). (Carson), ii. Third, this passage sheds a light on Jesus. Next is the one pearl of great price, the unity and beauty of that which was so dear to the merchantman. Note, The unchangeableness of God's purposes in dispensing his gifts should silence our murmurings. What could be said of her intelligence then? Judas one of the twelve, who is listening to Him, will be the one who betrays Him. Though he vainly thought, that if those few were but two, they were himself and his son. The circumstances of this serve to adorn the parable; but the general scope is plain, that the last shall be first. And to these men who were blind, they saw this as their one opportunity for a whole new life. This, then, I apprehend to be the reason why we End two demoniacs mentioned; whereas, in Mark or Luke for other purposes, the Spirit of God only draws attention to one of the two. With them, to be unemployed for a day was disaster. The indulgence of the selfish, murmuring temper might hinder their election even to that work. God does not look on the amount of our service. 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. b. Note, [1.] 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. People do not merit salvation either by works or by attitudes of trust. Not only will it be fair, it will be generous beyond expectation. Matthew calls her the mother of the sons of Zebedee; Mark calls her Salome; and John calls her Jesus' mother's sister. Observe that it is at this point the chapter begins with vindicating the sanctity of marriage. vii. In Matthew 13:1-58 we have the well-known sketch of these new ways of God. Pauline Epistles And he went out about the third hour ( Matthew 20:3 ). They in turn will give me to the Gentiles, the Romans. "Oh, you bet you, we're able." In that market-place men stood waiting because no one had hired them; in his compassion the master gave them work to do. They used their waiting time in considering their own superiority to the latecomers. (Spurgeon). ". . And Peter quoting Isaiah looking back at that scourging said, "by His stripes, ye were, past tense, healed"( 1 Peter 2:24 ). And so anti what Jesus has declared. Then comes the boast of Peter, though for others as well as himself. Men little weigh what their words will sound and prove in the day of judgment. 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!" Matthew 20:16 - John Darby's Synopsis We may remark that, when the Lord answers Peter, it was the consequence of having left all for Christ upon His call. The Old Testament This tested their thoughts of the glory of Jesus. Israel must give full testimony in the bright day of His coming. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard . And thus He, whose glory was so forgotten by His disciples Jesus, Himself thinks of that very disciple, and says, "For me and thee.". It means quite simply this. 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). There were many who died right there as the result of the scourging itself. Remember, God doesn't look at us the way this world does. 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 ). Then, after the parable of the mustard seed (ver. A double action follows. 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! Prophets In this manner, each tribe successively chose four soldiers, till the legions were complete. d T. Hieros. A daily devotional about the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. 8 So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. . In the next discourse we may hope to have the rest of his gospel. "Then," said the Lord, "are the children free. All rights reserved. Warning those who were using this Love feast as an excuse just to sort of gorge themselves, and they were not really realizing the spiritual significance of these things. Nicodemus may be born again when he is old, and the old man may be put off, which is corrupt. . Then Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and he said unto them, [now He is on the way, there is probably great multitudes, but He takes the twelve apart] He said, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him and the third day he shall rise again ( Matthew 20:17-19 ). 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. They put it off until a more convenient time, but so often the more convenient time never comes. A similar principle applies to the little children, who are next introduced; and the same thing is true substantially of natural or moral character here below. Again, when we listen to another (and now it is one of His disciples), at once faith shows its feebleness. To eat with unwashed hands defileth not a man. If we understand it of that which is ours by debt or absolute propriety, it would be a dreadful word; we are all undone, if we be put off with that only which we can call our own. 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. It often happens that we are easily discouraged from seeking the presence of God. v. Living under grace is sort of a two-edged sword. A verification email has been sent to the address you provided. The Old Testament Matthew 11:1-30, exceedingly critical for Israel, and of surpassing beauty, as it is, must not be passed over without some few words. 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. (e) T. Bab. 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. When he had come to an agreement with them that they would work for 4 pence a day, he sent them into his vineyard. They knew that they were the chosen people, nor would they ever willingly forget that choice. This is one of the most revealing passages in the New Testament. So many people, both in things material and in things spiritual, get what they want, and then forget even to say thanks. People simply do not and cannot MERIT salvation. In the next incident the force of the plea turns on God's goodness towards the wretchedness of man. A man is not a Christian if his first concern is pay. Can you drink the cup which I have to drink?" But here pardon dispensed on earth arouses the pride of the religious leaders to the quick, and implacably. In heaven, every vessel will be full, brimful, though every vessel is not alike large and capacious. 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.
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