1 “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who was the master of a household, who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 

 God expects workers in his kingdom. God placed man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate and keep it. I think we often see "work" as punishment. The work we do in God's vineyard shouldn't be seen so much as working for God, as working with God.

I remember when my grandson was young. We had a small garden in the backyard and when he was young he loved being in the garden working with his grandfather. The work was a joy.

But when we were in our sinful state, we no longer saw God as loving. We didn't want to work for Him. But God came for us.The initiative, as always, rests with God and not with man. From the time when God went seeking Adam in Paradise, the Father still seeks people to worship and love him in order to redeem them. It is obvious also that God expects a man to work in His farm, or vineyard; that is, in HIS church! The laborers were hired into His vineyard. They were not told to go to work in the vineyard of their choice! No one can think that the master of the house (God)  would have rewarded the workers for labor in any field but His own.

2 When he had agreed with the laborers for a denarius a day, he sent them into his vineyard.

3 He went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 

4 He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and whatever is right I will give you.’ So they went their way. 

5 Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour, and did likewise. 

God's invitation to man is constant and not confined to any age or condition of life. Morning, noon, evening and twilight, the Master calls men to work in his vineyard. We see hear what God thinks of the work men do outside the church. Those not working in the vineyard are simply standing around "idle." All is lost except what is done for Christ and at his direction. 

6 About the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle. He said to them, ‘Why do you stand here all day idle?’

7 “They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’

“He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 

Why were these men not hired earlier? If, as the householder suggested, they had been standing around all day, why had they not been hired already? The householder was then on his fifth trip to the marketplace; laborers were urgently needed. Some may think the householder had deliberately passed them by without an invitation to work. After all, they said that the reason for their unemployment was their lack of opportunity to work, or lack of an employer. Will God pass some by, not offering them a chance for a reward? Look honestly at what Jesus wants to convey in this situation, as it applies to spiritual things.

God is calling people all the time; but, through the influence of Satan, some do not hear, or hearing do not believe or believing yield to various seductive deterrents. Therefore, we reject the view that those eleventh hour workers were justified in their day-long idleness on the grounds that they had had no chance to work. True, that is what THEY said the reason was. But the words of the householder are a complete refutation of their flimsy alibi. It is quite easy to believe men rather than God, as witnessed by the commentators who accept the paper-thin alibi of those late workers. Would the wise and generous householder (standing here for God Himself) have charged those men with idleness unless he, in fact, had seen them on his repeated trips to the marketplace? No, don't disbelieve the charge of the householder on the basis of the weak excuse they gave. It is a further commentary on the love, fairness; and goodness of God, that the householder accepted them anyway.

Yeah. I know what you are thinking. I kind of thought it myself for a while. Why not wait until the evening of life to respond to the gospel call. But what a frightful chance those late workers took. Who could have dared to suppose that the householder would again appear in the twilight on his fifth mission to the marketplace? The gospel abounds with warnings that the first call should be heeded. "Behold, NOW is the accepted time."

8 When evening had come, the lord of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning from the last to the first.’

 

9 “When those who were hired at about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 

10 When the first came, they supposed that they would receive more; and they likewise each received a denarius. 

11 When they received it, they murmured against the master of the household, 

12 saying, ‘These last have spent one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat!’

13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Didn’t you agree with me for a denarius? 

14 Take that which is yours, and go your way. It is my desire to give to this last just as much as to you. 

15 Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’ 

16 So the last will be first, and the first last. For many are called, but few are chosen.”

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way, he said to them, 

18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, 

19 and will hand him over to the Gentiles to mock, to scourge, and to crucify; and the third day he will be raised up.”

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to him with her sons, kneeling and asking a certain thing of him. 

James and John were the sons of Zebedee. Here we see their mother kneeling before Jesus.

Have you ever bowed before God....,only to ask a favor? 

21 He said to her, “What do you want?”

She said to him, “Command that these, my two sons, may sit, one on your right hand, and one on your left hand, in your Kingdom.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”

They said to him, “We are able.”

23 He said to them, “You will indeed drink my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with, but to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it is for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”

24 When the ten heard it, they were indignant with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus summoned them, and said, “You know that the rulers of the nations lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. 

26 It shall not be so among you, but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant. 

27 Whoever desires to be first among you shall be your bondservant,

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.”

29 As they went out from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 

30 Behold, two blind men sitting by the road, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!” 

31 The multitude rebuked them, telling them that they should be quiet, but they cried out even more, “Lord, have mercy on us, you son of David!”

32 Jesus stood still, and called them, and asked, “What do you want me to do for you?”

33 They told him, “Lord, that our eyes may be opened.”

34 Jesus, being moved with compassion, touched their eyes; and immediately their eyes received their sight, and they followed him.