ST MATTHEW
CHAPTER 20
Jesus gives the parable of the laborers in the vineyard—He foretells his crucifixion and resurrection—He came to give his life a ransom for many.
1 FOR the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, [ A person that owns property, most likely a farmer. ] which went out early in the morning [ So he goers down to home depot at about 6:00 am to hire day laborers. ] to hire labourers into his vineyard.
2 And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, [ In those days labor was cheap. It was kind of like you work all day for enough money to eat, everyone was living meal to meal. ] he sent them into his vineyard.
[ So this first group gets hired and they agreed to work all day for the penny. At this point they are happy to just have a job. ]
3 And he went out about the third hour, [ The owner goes back t0 Home Depot at 9:00 Am to get more workers. The farmer has a big harvest and the grain needs to be harvested right away - So the idea for him is to hire as many as he can. ] and saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
[ Sitting on the curb with their lunch pales. ]
4 And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, [ Go get to work as there is a lot that needs tpo be done. ] and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way.
5 Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise.
[ So the farmer goes back to hire more laborers again at noon and 3:00 pm. ]
6 And about the eleventh hour he went out, [ About 5:00 pm. ] and found others standing idle, [ They are looking for work but none is to be found. Do you think that these men were worried whether they would eat that night or not? Most likely. ] and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle?
7 They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. [ We would love to if we could find someone to hire us. ] He saith unto them, Go ye also [ Like the others that I have hired before you. ] into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.
[ I will be fair in what I pay you. Notice that they were like something is better than nothing, we will take whatever we can get. But there is no established wage. ]
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.
9 And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, [ Those who were hired last and only worked for a short time. ] they received every man a penny.
[ Each got a penny, this is the amount that the workers agreed to on the first shift for them to work all day. ]
10 But when the first came, [ Those who went to labor at 6 in the morning. They see that the owner has paid the last ones to come to work a penny, so they think that they are entitled to more than they agreed at the beginning. Let me say an amount where early in the morning they were happy to have. ] they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.
[ But the farmer gave them the amount that was agreeded upon. One penny. ]
11 And when they had received it, they murmured [ Why did they murmur? Check your on gut here. When you hear that somebody came in for one hour of labor but got paid a full day's wage, what does it do to you? What does it do to your head? Do you immediately think that's not fair? Do you immediately get a little upset about it? This again goes back to the paradox. This loving, amazing, caring housekeeper and property owner was kind and he paid everyone for the wage. He paid them for the day and yet people were upset about it paradoxically, and this is the rub of all of this. Now, interestingly, Elder Holland was very clear. "No one was mistreated," he says. The early workers agreed to a full wage for the day and they received it. The owner kept the contract that they made with them.
And apparently, they were very happy about it. They took the work.
Yeah. They took the work because the work they were desperate for and you know what else? They knew the wage. They knew what they would be paid. The others didn't necessarily know what they would be paid, and because they didn't know what they would be paid, they were in a riskier place. They were grateful to receive the work. Remember, no work, no money, no eat, and with more workers than jobs being chosen in the morning, it was a blessing. For every hour, for everyone that got hired, it was a pure blessing because that meant that they were going to be able to exist and to subsist. Now, what about the men not chosen? What about the men not chosen in the first hour or the third hour or the next hiring? Elder Holland asked, "Why should you be jealous because I choose to be kind?" He's paraphrasing what the householder would say. Why should you be jealous because I chose to be kind? I think a lot of us see this in our own existence where we watch people. How come they get that benefit? ] 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.
[ That is a valid point. However that was not what was agreed upon.With the last it was in essence a gift to the late comers, those who had suffered all day with the idae that they might not eat that night. ]
13 But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny?
[ Valid point. So who is right here? ]
14 Take that thine is, and go thy way: [ You get what you agreed to so be happy and go on your way. But you can hear them as they left It's just not fair. It's just not. Well maybe it is not but it was because of kindness that it was not fair. No one was hurt all were benefited - and some were jealous. CS Lewis said "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. It is the comparison that makes you proud, the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride is gone." ] I will give unto this last, even as unto thee.
15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? [ If I want to help someone you should be thankful that I would do that, not angry at me because you simply did not get more. So the same old problem of pride rears it head. If we are alway competing, and comparing, and contrasting what we have and get with what other have an get, and if one person gets ahead and we have a zero-sum mentality, then we are actually getting behind, where with God, it's abundant. When you then hold this metaphor, this story up and parable up as an image of what our heavenly Father will do for us, where it doesn't matter when you show up, just show up and he'll pay you the full blessing. He'll give you the full blessing, and that is a point that Elder Holland drives home. Show up. It doesn't matter when you show up, just show up. Hold on. Oh, by the way, another lesson he gives is stop pouting. Lesson number one from the Lord's vineyard, coveting, pouting and tearing down others does not elevate your standing, nor does demeaning someone else improve your self-image, so be kind and be grateful that God is kind. It is a happy way to live your life. ] Is thine eye evil, because I am good?
[ Elder Hollan goes on to suggest "My beloved brothers and sisters, what happened in this story at nine or noon or three is swept up in the grandeur of the universally generous payment at the end of the day. The formula of faith is to hold on, work on, see it through and let the distress of earlier hours, real or imagined, fall away in the abundance of the final reward. Don't dwell on old issues or grievances, not toward yourself, nor your neighbor, nor even, I might add, toward this true and living church. The majesty of your life, of your neighbor's life and of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be made manifest at the last day, even if such majesty is not always recognized by everyone in the early going." So don't hyperventilate about something that happened at nine in the morning when the grace of God is trying to reward you at six in the evening, whatever your labor arrangements have been throughout the day. ]
17 ¶ And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them,
18 Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the son of man [ Title for Christ - The "son of God" and the "son of Man" are synonymous... In the pure Adamic language, the name Elohim, the Father, is "Man of Holiness" (signifying that God is a Holy Man), and the name of Christ, the son, is short for "son of Man of Holiness" (Mormon Doctine p671; Moses 6:57. ] shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death,
19 And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.
[ The apostles who spent all of this time with Jesus never understood the message here. Did they not grieve when he died, did they not run to the tomb, did they not start to plan what they were going to do next? I think that there is atype here for us. Do we think that the scriptures are literal or figurative? Do we really think that the things, the miracles that are supposed to happen in the last days are just symbolic. Did not Jeremiah say that the events will be so grand that no one will ever talk about the miracle of Moses Parting the red sea so great will be the miracle when the ten tribes return. Do we really believe it? Do we? Or do we pass it off with the idea that God really can't do that? Do we in a way because just as the apostles had not seen someone be resurrected before they could not comprehend it as such they could not comprehend how Jesus could die and then come back in three days. So in a way they put limits of God, are we like that today? ]
20 ¶ Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.
21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.
22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.
23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.
25 But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them.
26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister;
28 Even as the son of
man [title for Christ - The "son of God" and
the "son of Man" are synonymous... In the pure Adamic language, the
name Elohim, the Father, is "Man of Holiness" (signifying that God
is a Holy Man), and the name of Christ, the son, is short for "son of
Man of Holiness"
(Mormon Doctine p671; Moses 6:57] came not to be ministered unto, but
to minister, and to give his
life a ransom for many.
30 ¶ And, behold, two blind men sitting by the way side, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David.