Matthew Chapter 20
19 ended with Jesus' answer to Peter about what those who'd left home to follow Jesus would get. Jesus tells Peter what he will get in the resurrection - in the Millennial. And he says that all who are there, who left something behind, will get it back 100 fold. (2021 - or multi-fold. There's a note in the TCR that the word isn't necessarily a promise of 100.)
2022 - Looking at the transition from 19 to 20, it seems that the chapter break is just inserted. There doesn't seem to be any reason to think that Jesus' discourse here didn't just continue uninterrupted. From rewards for those who gave up earthly things to follow Him on earth, to the parable of the laborers.
So now this chapter starts with the parable of the laborers.
2022 - This verse:
"7 They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You go into the vineyard too.'" [Mat 20:7 ESV]
So...it is not that these men didn't want to work, nor were they unwilling to work. No work had been given to them, though the hour was quite late. Is this parable about those saved at the last hour of their lives still receiving the same salvation as those who were saved as very young children, or is this about saved but not given any labor to do until very late in their lives? Maybe it is even bigger than that, and this is about the church age, and how many - as in the US where it is so very easy to be a Christian - and how much of it goes by with little to harvest and so not enough work to go around. If you look at the master's response to them saying no one hired them, it is almost like he sends them out even though they are not really even needed. Just so they aren't standing around. Does that mean that if we don't feel a strong calling to risk our lives for Christ that we should at least do a little something before we die? Does this parable mean that we will be rewarded for what the master calls us to do, in equal measure with those called to do far more than we for far longer than we did, because that is what we were called for? That interpretation seems like an "out" for so many of us who haven't got much to point to as our sacrifice in this life. But it isn't...any more than Jonah going the other way was. If he says "go to work" and we don't, that is very bad. But everyone cannot be Jonah...This is interesting. I do think I am right that this is NOT about salvation, it is about the rewards. And even in rewards, there seems to be little difference made between Billy Graham and John Doe. Those 11th hour workers were there and ready to work all day, but not called until the last hour...but when called, they went.
I like the master's answer to those who grumbled about not being paid more than those who only worked an hour:
15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or do you begrudge my generosity?' [Mat 20:15 ESV]
The Kingdom is God's, and he gives it to whosoever he will. This goes along with the hard saying about Jesus saving only those God chooses. There was another parable also like this, where some thought they were treated unfairly but I've lost the connection. The lost sheep is similar. He leaves the 99 to get the lost one.
2020 - It's easy to say this just means that it is never too late. Or to say it means that all will be equal in heaven. Surely there will be justice in that all will be judged the same, and I think that "same" is that we'll be judged on what we did with what we were given. As in the parable of the talents. What we've lost, if anything, will be restored a hundred fold. This is a huge reward in the next world for following God in this one. Beyond that, the reward is about how well we stewarded what was entrusted to us - we all have abilities and resources. Do we sit around and not make use of them, or do we dig and scrape to get as much as we can from them?
Possible FB post 2021.
2021 - This verse:
16 So the last will be first, and the first last." [Mat 20:16 ESV] Here is an interesting slant on this verse...Those who worked longest received their pay last. Those who barely worked at all received their pay first. Perhaps this verse - vs 16 - is just about the order in which we will be judged and not about how the best receive no more than the least. I think seeing it as everyone getting the same might apply to all spending eternity in heaven, but I don't think it is consistent with other scriptures about judgment to say that there will be no difference at all. Daniel will stand in the place appointed for him. James and John were not allowed a high position because it was already promised to others. Those others will have earned their position in the hierarchy, and there will be no taking turns. Better to be rewarded at the end than at the beginning.
2026 - Looking at this verse again I notice the last phrase of vs. 15, which is a question:
"...Or is your eye envious because I am generous?" This implies that those who had worked all day were jealous of those who got the same money for a lot less work. Jealousy/envy was the root of their complaint, not fairness. They didn't resent that the late arrivals got a lot for a little, they just wanted to do a lot less for the same pay also. They resented the generous treatment of someone else. They were focused on the behavior of the other servants, and not rejoicing at the generosity of the master. Yes...there is the key.
2026 - I ran the above interpretation through ChatGPT and it phrased it this way, which I really like:
The problem is not principled concern for justice, but a bad eye toward generosity. In other words, envy corrupts their moral judgment. They recast generosity as unfairness because they are measuring by comparison, not covenant or right.
The early workers’ error was not that they valued fairness, but that they defined fairness by comparison with others rather than by the master’s faithfulness and freedom.
Here are a few other lines from ChatGPT when I pressed further:
There is one further caution. This parable probably should not be pressed too far into a detailed doctrine of heavenly rank, as though each payment detail maps neatly onto final reward structure. Its force is more about the freedom and generosity of God in the kingdom, and about the danger of an envious eye among those who serve him.
The other parable you were trying to remember may be the elder brother in Luke 15. That is probably the closest parallel. He too is not satisfied by the father’s faithfulness to him; he is offended by the father’s generosity to another. That is very close to Matthew 20.
I would not have connected to the other brother in the Prodigal Son parable, but once it is stated, it is pretty much undeniable. I don't think I have ever heard it preached quite this way.
I should make a FB post out of it. It is important.
2023 - This year, even more, it seems to me that this is not about getting saved in the nick of time. This is about the order in which people will be judged - when the saved will be judged. Now, it seems to be that those hired last, or those who did the least work, will be rewarded first, and paid the same. But ALL will get paid, so this is all about saved people. It is NOT about poor people being rich, poor singers being Pavarotti style baritones, or the physically weak being Charles Atlas in heaven. I think it means that everyone will know that those first in line at the judgment did the least...but what we do is NOT what determines whether we are in heaven. Jesus determines that - ONLY Jesus determines that. But as judgment goes on, accomplishment will increase, and all present will know that. Perhaps John the Baptist will be the last man judged at this judgment? There will be honor to those judged last.
2024 - So let's think about this...Jesus begins this parable by telling us it is about "the kingdom of heaven", and how things work there. Some work very very hard and very very long, some show up at the last minute. Yet all receive the same pay.
Three kingdoms...here and now, the kingdom is spiritual, the kingdom is the church. Since it is a spiritual kingdom, we might say that the "pay" is also spiritual. I would tend to say that the pay is different though, depending on how much you work at it. Surely the pay in this kingdom is about a closer walk. But not physical pay.
There is the Millennial, a physical kingdom where Christ will be on a physical throne and reign with a rod of iron. The saved will come into that kingdom, and the Millennial begins right after Armageddon. Is this about those who choose to be on Jesus' side in that battle the day before the battle occurs, and yet they enter the Millennial just as those who have been loyal in the face of the most intense persecution in the history of the planet? They get it, they get a job, they get a place, and so on. Those who show up the last day are just as rich or just as poor as those who endured the whole seven years. This seems to make some sense.
Or it could be about eternity in heaven. Everyone gets eternal life. Forever life. Does it really matter if you wear a big crown or a small if you get eternal life?
I don't know...perhaps it means all of these. Perhaps it means that we all live our lives and deal with what comes. That being saved and faithful in all things does not guarantee a more successful, peaceful, disease free, extra long life. In the New Covenant age, we all live in the same broken world. But...how does the all day or just the last hour part fit into this view?
SEE BELOW, COMMENTS ON VS 28. THAT IS WHAT IT MEANS. As is so very often the case, you cannot pick a single "paragraph" out of what Jesus says, out of what Matthew or Luke write. Jesus did not think in "threads" but in rope, with many threads bound into each cord and the cords wrapped around each other to make a coherent unbreakable whole.
Is there not an example anywhere of one who was dedicated, lost his/her way, and came back at the end? You could make the prodigal son say that. You could make the 99 and 1 say that. But is that really what they are about? MSB says no in both cases. Says the prodigal and the 1 were lost until the end.
(7/25/20 - What about this, from today's reading:
176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments. [Psa 119:176 ESV]
How does this not confirm once and for all that the lost sheep in the parable are saved, but strayed. And here too, the implication is that the sheep is so lost that even though he/she is now trying to get back to the fold, it is too "lost" to do so. Wow. The Bible confirms itself internally in so many ways. The Bible interprets itself internally.)
Possible FB text noted 3/27/23.
Jesus foretells coming events in Jerusalem. This is only 2 verses, but this is at least the second gospel that has related them, and it has been very specific both times. 2020-It is the third time we've read Jesus' foretelling of events. Yesterday's comments explain how it is that he told them so specifically, but yet they were surprised when events went just as predicted.
James and John want the good seats. But in Matthew's account, it is their mother who asks on their behalf. They say they can drink the same cup, and Jesus tells them they will do so...but they don't get those chairs. We've been talking about rewards since the rich young ruler. We have the brief "aside" of Jesus telling them what will happen to him, and then we go right back to rewards. This time, James and John request a specific reward. Matthew and Mark both tell us about this request, Luke leaves it out entirely. 2020 - In Mark, the mother is not mentioned at all. In Matthew, it is entirely the mother who initiates the request. Also, Jesus' initial response in both accounts is "You don't know what you're asking". I guess the lesson is pretty straight forward. If we pray for something out of God's will, we aren't going to get it, whether we ask it, or Mom asks it for us. I'm not sure they should have known who would get these spots....but they should have known this: 13 But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days." [Dan 12:13 ESV] They should have known that at the end, there would be places assigned to certain people. And they should have known Daniel didn't ask it. So they were violating what Jesus had told them about sitting low and waiting to be asked to come up higher. They certainly had that wrong. And I think they believed that Jesus as King was what was about to come about while they were in Jerusalem. They thought these seats were just around the corner. But just around the corner, Herod has James killed, and John has a long long way to go, including exile on Patmos, before he dies. I wonder if their drinking the same cup as Christ is in fact a combination. Between them - between James and John, they die for what they believe, and for no other crime. And they suffer and are deprived of worldly wealth for their entire lives. If you look at what they each went through, then they did drink the cup that Jesus drank. Jesus makes it plain again that seeking honor and top position is a Gentile thing, and not to be sought. This is so antagonistic to what the world teaches...
2023 - Hmm...this just occurred to me. Gentile government and civil organization is never, ever based upon a theocratic form of government. Israel was perhaps the first and only legitimate theocracy ever formed, though Iran I think claims that is what they have - perhaps other Muslim countries do also. The "values" that derive from a secular government are never - rarely? - consistent with those of a theocracy. So for this reason, secular ambition is a called a Gentile characteristic.
One other point here...There was a pretty big crowd traveling with Jesus apparently, if James' and John's mother was with them.
2021 - Vs. 20 makes it clear that James and John were with their mother when she made her request. They were part of the request, they knew what she was about to ask, and they were with her - signifying that they too were in on the request. So the fact that the mother is not mentioned in the other account - Mark's account, the first gospel's account - doesn't mean she wasn't there. It just takes more note of James and John being part of the request.
2024 - This verse: 28 even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." [Mat 20:28 ESV]. My tendency, and I think the tendency of most people, is to allocate the labor, the sacrifice, the load equally among all those in the group. We feel we are being treated unfairly if we have to do a little more...for the same pay!!!...than someone else. I "weigh the workload" every day and insist on getting "my time" to play instead of volunteering to do all the work - volunteering to be the slave and to "give my life" for others, and stop insisting on fair treatment. This is a categorically mistaken way to do things, as clearly taught in this passage. I need to just stop it, and BE a SLAVE. BE poor in spirit, be meek, mourn. It all ties, it is all about the same thing. We all get paid the same here, whether we do all the work or almost none! There is no room for resentment, because the master decides whom to assign to this job or that - here easy there difficult.
Two blind men healed as they leave Jericho. Yesterday's account told only of one I believe. Yes...Mark and Luke mention only one. MSB note reconciles the differences. 2020 - This account in Matthew does not mention that it was faith that healed them. I made much of that aspect yesterday, and put together possibly three FB posts. Matthew's account focuses on Jesus' reason for healing them. He had pity on them. It wasn't about their faith at all.
34 And Jesus in pity touched their eyes, and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. [Mat 20:34 ESV]