As before he asserted his justice, so here his sovereignty; Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? It sheds light in three directions. Very apt we all are to undervalue the deserts of others, and to overvalue our own. They complained against the landowner: After being paid, the men hired first took up their complaint with the landowner. The common call is promiscuous, to come and work in the vineyard; but the effectual call is particular, and it is then effectual when we come at the call. And then he said interesting things for this cause; "There are many who are weak and sick among you, because they do not understand the Lord's body"( 1 Corinthians 11:30 ). He received nothing from others; his was a life of giving, and the giving of a lifeNo service is greater than to redeem sinners by his own death, no ministry is lowlier than to die in the stead of sinners. (Spurgeon), ii. In the next discourse we may hope to have the rest of his gospel. The New King James Version (NKJV) organises this chapter as follows: . [4.] The apostle startles at the thought of it; God forbid!Romans 3:5; Romans 3:6. This he said in the hearing of the disciple who would act the traitor: did no compunction visit his base heart? (Spurgeon), ii. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried out all the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. a. He had no reason to quarrel with the master; for what he gave was absolutely his own, Matthew 20:15; Matthew 20:15. The system of law is easy to figure out: you get what you deserve. [2.] Prophets The man's walk before them testifies to the reality of his forgiveness before God. Now He brings out not the kingdom merely, but His Church; and this not merely in view of hopeless unbelief in the mass, but of the confession of His own intrinsic glory as the Son of God by the chosen witness. c. Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant: In the Kingdom community, status, money, popularity should never be the prerequisites for leadership. 4. For many be called, but few chosen.The warning is repeated after the parable of the Wedding Feast (Matthew 22:14), and as it stands there in closer relation with the context, that will be the fitting place for dwelling on it. He said to her, "What do you wish?" Now the parable: A landowner went out early in the morning (6 am) to hire laborers for his vineyard. why not sorrow and shame that they should have so little understood their Master's mind? Yes, it was His to rule and command the sea, even as the land and all that in them is. They boast, as the prodigal's elder brother did, of their good services; We have borne the burthen and heat of the day; that was the most they could make of it. (Matthew 19:30.) [2.] 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. Successful service to God is the gift of His grace. (ii) There is an equally definite warning to the Jews. In the reception of the little children this is plain; it is not so generally seen in what follows. There never can be strength in the soul till forgiveness is known. Or is your eye evil because I am good? (ii) These two blind men were undiscourageable. i. He said to them, 'Go you also to the vineyard.' The scribe had no heart for the hidden glory. But our Lord with dignity demands of Peter, "What thinkest thou, Simon?" Pauline Epistles It is simply designed to teach that in the church, among the multitudes who will be saved, Christ makes a difference. They next proceeded to the creation of subaltern officers, whom the tribunes chose from among the soldiers of the greatest reputation. b. It means quite simply this. 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. Yet it shall not be so among you: Their desire for position and status showed they did not yet know the nature of Jesus in respect to leadership and power. 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. [At the end of his parable about the Kingdom of Heaven being like workers hired at different times during the day, Jesus said,] "So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.". This was the very blessing that aroused, above all, the hatred of the scribes. Oh, what a heart is ours! Matthew 13:19-22), we find first of all the utter worthlessness of the flesh's readiness to follow Jesus. He does not now compare the Jews to the Gentiles, (as in another passages) nor the reprobate, who swerve from the faith, to the elect who persevere; and therefore the sentence which is introduced by some interpreters, many are called, but few are chosen, does not apply to that point. If the first workers had been paid first, they would not have had time to develop the expectation of more pay for themselves. and a sinking ship are serious difficulties to a man. It is a picture of what was about to take place when the Lord Jesus, quitting Israel and the earth, ascends on high, and all assumes another form not the reign upon earth, but intercession in heaven. It's God's to give, however, to whomever He pleases. It is equally clear that the seven worse spirits mean the complete energy of the devil in the maintenance of Antichrist against the true Christ: and this, strange to say, along with idols. This would not be a legal claim on man, but the scattering of good seed, life and fruit from God, and this in the unlimited field of the world, not in the land of Israel merely. But these men slept in Gethsemane, forsook the Master when He was arrested, and one of them at least failed Him at the crosswe can only follow Christ in his cup and baptism, after we have been endued with the Spirit of Pentecost. (Meyer). Hence, the Lord Jesus is here disclosing throughout, that the doom of Israel was pronounced and impending. Matthew 20:16New International Version. We can count on God dealing with us justly, graciously, and generously whether we serve God all our lives or only a short time having become His disciples later in life. How many millions does the long-suffering of God lead to repentance! Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem: This was not a surprise to the disciples. a. Hold out, faith, and patience, yet a little while. It is tragic that we have gotten so far away from the concepts that Jesus taught. It was as Son of David that they addressed Jesus. He said to them, 'Go you also into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' Be sure to join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/theweekendadventurer 23,599 people like this 25,112 people follow this http://www.myadventurechallenge.com/ info@myadventurechallenge.com But still, it was His carrying on the great process of shewing out more and more the total rejection of His rejectors. We have each of us our own vineyard to keep, our own soul; and it is God's and to be kept and dressed for him. Their reward was as much of grace as was that of the bitter "firsters"! Disease must obey Him, as the soldier or the servant obeyed the centurion, their superior. "Upon this rock," says He, "I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." 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. v. Living under grace is sort of a two-edged sword. Hence, here it is a question not merely of cleansing, but of forgiveness, and forgiveness, too, as that which precedes power, manifested before men. iv. In what sense did Jesus, our Lord, take their infirmities, and bear their sicknesses? We have the natural tie here brought into prominence; and this was a claim that Christ slighted not. The parable may also be applied more generally, and . 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. It is clear that the unclean spirit, returning, brings idolatry back again. But this may be, and commonly is, applied to the several ages of life, in which souls are converted to Christ. 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. He welcomed his bed-fellow. 13. This, of course, is not the moment to unfold it. 14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last.(A). He gives sight to the blind. Seeking the Gospel in Malachi, the Last Book of the Old Testament. The world will respect, and admire, and sometimes fear, the man of power; but it will love the man of love. Here we see the worldly ambition of the disciples in action. and when they were alone, He expounded all things to His disciples [in both the parables and the explanations alluding to what we possess in Matthew 13:1-58.]. [There is what I call a clear, unmistakable note of time.] In Mark 2:1-28 it says, "And again he entered into Capernaum." (Matthew 20:8-10) The landowner pays his workers. Plainly, the church isnt to operate the way the world does. Sign up now for the latest news and deals from Bible Gateway! The Gentiles, who are newly called in, have as much of the privileges of the kingdom of the Messiah as the Jews have, who have so long been labouring in the vineyard of the Old-Testament church, under the yoke of the ceremonial law, in expectation of that kingdom. If, amid the multitude of Christians, I choose to signalize such men as Paul, and Martyn, and Brainerd, and Spencer, and Summerfield - to appoint some of them to short labor but to wide usefulness, and raise them to signal rewards, I injure not the great multitude of others who live long lives less useful and less rewarded. And so they didn't really remember that He said He was going to rise the third day, until after the resurrection. The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, but it should be different among the people of God. And I do believe that in communion there should always be healing services, where people as they take the broken bread and remember the suffering of Jesus Christ, by faith receive the result of that suffering; the purpose for which God allowed Him to be suffered, and receive healing and strength in your body. God's delight is to pick out the hindmost for the first place, to the disparagement of the foremost in their own strength. The glory of Christ's person strengthens us, not only to understand His cross, but to take up ours. Here is the account with the labourers. Thus explained, this parable has no reference to the call of the Gentiles, nor to the call of aged sinners, nor to the call of sinners out of the church at all. To hire laborers for his vineyard: The landowner went to the marketplace, which was the gathering place for day laborers. Sorrow would come full soon when He, the Bridegroom of His people, should be taken away; and then should they fast. Power and love were come for any one to draw on. Now life treated James and John very differently. It is hard for those that do or suffer more than ordinary for God, not to be elevated too much with the thought of it, and to expect to merit by it. This world looks at the outward appearance, but God knows our hearts. Most scholars have also recognized in the many a clear reference to Isaiah. (Carson) By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11) He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many (Isaiah 53:12). The highest creature must go away into nothing, if he must go away with that only which is his own: but if we understand it of that which is ours by gift, the free gift of God, it teaches us to be content with such things as we have. In the kingdom so much the less sparing is the retribution of those who despise or abuse grace. 22 But Jesus answered by saying to . The man that was not called promises to go anywhere, in his own strength; but the man that was called feels the difficulty, and pleads a natural duty before following Jesus. Sinners are said to labour in the very fire (Habakkuk 2:13), whereas God's servants, at the worst, do but labour in the sun; not in the heat of the iron furnace, but only in the heat of the day. 3. Johannine Writings Matthew 20. We can never repay God for what he has done for us but we can always be grateful to him. Here we find our Lord, after sending out the chosen witnesses of the truth (so momentous to Israel, above all) of His own Messiahship, realizing His utter rejection, yet rejoicing withal in God the Father's counsels of glory and grace, while the real secret in the chapter, as in fact, was His being not Messiah only, nor Son of man, but the Son of the Father, whose person none knows but Himself.
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