matthew 20:16 adventure challenge

Then they remembered, oh, yeah, He said He was going to rise on the third day. When he had come to an agreement with them that they would work for 4 pence a day, he sent them into his vineyard. As their conduct showed, all they were concerned with was to get as much as possible out of their work. In the case of the laborers, those who worked all day did not deserve their pay after having thrown it on the ground. Examine the Scripture, and you will see for yourselves. Matthew 19:1-30 brings in another lesson of great weight. 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). The line from the . So the last shall be first, and the first last. 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. Peter asked: "What do we get out of it?" And they went. But Israel had no sense of their leprosy; and they valued not, but despised, their Messiah, albeit divine I might almost say because divine. Or, are you grudging because I am generous?' "And He entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into His own city." Not merely were there many pieces of value, but one pearl of great price. ii. 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. There is an element of human tenderness in this parable. They forgot His glory in their own anxiety and selfishness. He answered one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother." What Jesus Did! There is nothing more tragic in this world than a man who is unemployed, a man whose talents are rusting in idleness because there is nothing for him to do. Observe, They did not come for their pay till they were called; we must with patience wait God's time for our rest and recompence; go by our master's clock. There will be differences at the close. Further, in strict justice the fewer hours a man worked, the less pay he should have received. Because it is free grace, that is given to those that have it, boasting is for ever excluded; and because it is free grace, that is withheld from those that have it not, murmuring is for ever excluded. 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. What are they hired to do? Is it not most sweet to see, that He who proves His divine glory at once associates us with Himself? Now this seems to be the principal scope of this parable, to show that the Jews should be first called into the vineyard, and many of them should come at the call; but, at length, the gospel should be preached to the Gentiles, and they should receive it, and be admitted to equal privileges and advantages with the Jews; should be fellow-citizens with the saints, which the Jews, even those of them that believed, would be very much disgusted at, but without reason. If he will do it, it is not for us to gainsay; for he is in one mind, and who can turn him? But at the same time it is plain, although He bore the consciousness of the vast change He was introducing, and expressed it thus fully and early in the history, nothing turned away His heart from Israel. And then Pilot delivered Him unto them to be scourged. Free Challenge: Mr & Mrs Smith. "The cross," he said, "was a mousetrap (muscipula) to catch the devil, baited with the blood of Christ.". Friend, I am doing you no wrong. 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. Suffering from the disloyalty of friends. Had she not such confusion of thought that, if the Lord had heeded her words, it must have been destruction to her? We need not dwell upon it. Jesus said that among the Gentiles there is this desire to exercise lordship and dominion over people. c. And they immediately followed Him: This was a great result. "The foxes," says He, "have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man hath not where to lay His head." But our Lord with dignity demands of Peter, "What thinkest thou, Simon?" They said to His disciples, "Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?" This attitude threatened to be carried forward into the Christian Church. The men who were standing in the market-place were not street-corner idlers, lazing away their time. The first is, as it has been said, "All service ranks the same with God." Take that which is yours, and go your way: and I will give unto this last even as unto thee. They never did make front page or even back page. Johannine Writings About five o'clock in the evening he went out and found others standing there, and said to them, 'Why are you standing here the whole day idle?' This is one of the most revealing passages in the New Testament. And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?" It adds to the reason for this interpretation, that Christ was conversing about the rewards that should be given to his followers, and not about the numbers that should be called, or about the doctrine of election. Poetical Books They used their waiting time in considering their own superiority to the latecomers. (Spurgeon). Matthew did not wish to show James and John guilty of worldly ambition, and so he puts the request into the mouth of their mother rather than of themselves. And immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed Him. So the last will be first, and the first last. If God shall bless your brother, and make him ten times more useful than you are, then you see that he is blessing you not only blessing him, but you. Not only shall the Judge of all the earth do right, but what will not He do who gives all good? But it is expressly the pattern after which He was to deal, and will deal, with Israel. Finally, he was to be crucified; there we see the ultimate suffering of death. 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. 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 seemed the last place on earth to which a man in his condition should have gone. They couldn't see Him. Not that His own rejection was not before His spirit, but here He looks not beyond that land and people; and, as far as the twelve were concerned, He sends them on a mission which goes on to the end of the an. However imperfect it may be, if faith is there, Jesus accepts it. 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. Note, First, The soul of man stands ready to be hired into some service or other; it was (as all the creatures were) created to work, and is either a servant to iniquity, or a servant to righteousness,Romans 6:19. That many who begin last, and promise little in religion, sometimes, by the blessing of God, arrive at greater attainments in knowledge, grace, and usefulness, than others whose entrance was more early, and who promised fairer. Had there been a single thing good in Israel, their choicest guides would have stood that test. First, The general pay (Matthew 20:9; Matthew 20:10); They received every man a penny. 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.(A). Accordingly, notice that, in the manner in which the Holy Ghost introduces it, there is no statement of time whatever. This parable may sound to us as if it described a purely imaginary situation, but that is far from being the case. 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? Whether you love to hike, bike, paddle or simply chase waterfalls, we have an Adventure Challenge for you! They are the circumstances that preceded the discourse upon the mount, as given in Matthew 5:1-48; Matthew 6:1-34; Matthew 7:1-29. A new tribe presented other four soldiers, and the second legion chose first. 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. They cannot hurt the Christ. Copyright 1996 - 2023 All rights reserved. The details, found elsewhere, of her being at the point of death then, before reaching the house, the news that she was dead, are not here. Though God is a debtor to none, yet he is graciously pleased to make himself a debtor by his own promise, for the benefit of which, through Christ, believers agree with him, and he will stand to his part of the agreement. The Lord then had been shown such as He was towards Israel, had Israel in their leprosy come to Him, as did the leper, even with a faith exceedingly short of that which was due to His real glory and His love. GenesisExodusLeviticusNumbersDeuteronomyJoshuaJudgesRuth1 Samuel2 Samuel1 Kings2 Kings1 Chronicles2 ChroniclesEzraNehemiahEstherJobPsalmsProverbsEcclesiastesSong of SongsIsaiahJeremiahLamentationsEzekielDanielHoseaJoelAmosObadiahJonahMicahNahumHabakkukZephaniahHaggaiZechariahMalachiMatthewMarkLukeJohnActsRomans1 Corinthians2 CorinthiansGalatiansEphesiansPhilippiansColossians1 Thessalonians2 Thessalonians1 Timothy2 TimothyTitusPhilemonHebrewsJames1 Peter2 Peter1 John2 John3 JohnJudeRevelation, Select a Beginning Point Hence it is that He has grouped together circumstances which make this plain, without raising the question of when they occurred; in fact, they range over a large space, and, otherwise viewed, are in total disorder. 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. 20Then the mother of Zebedees sons(K) came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down,(L) asked a favor of him. It does not say, that " then there came a leper," or " immediately there came a leper." They knew that they were the chosen people, nor would they ever willingly forget that choice. Again he went out about the sixth hour and the ninth hour, [noon and three in the afternoon], he did likewise. The money was paid by the overseer, but he was standing by enjoying the scene. (Bruce). He came not to be served, but to serve. 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.