What Jesus calls upon his followers to do he himself did. No word whatever implies that the cleansing of the leper happened at that time. In immediate juxtaposition to this stands the Gentile centurion, who seeks healing for his servant. The giving of a whole day's wages to those that had not done the tenth part of a day's work, is designed to show that God distributes his rewards by grace and sovereignty, and not of debt. The glory of Christ's person strengthens us, not only to understand His cross, but to take up ours. He's been with them now for almost three years, and He feels it necessary to draw them now into that more intimate fellowship with His suffering, as He has set His face to go to Jerusalem, knowing exactly what awaits Him there. Thus many that are last shall be first. Usernames should only contain letters, numbers, dots, dashes, or underscores. but what a heart was His! Peter wanted to know what they would get in return. Luke, too, tells how Jesus took the disciples to himself alone that he might try to compel them to understand what lay ahead ( Luke 18:31-34). In Matthew 16:1-28 we advance a great step, spite (yea, because) of unbelief, deep and manifest, now on every side. In the case of the laborers, those who worked all day did not deserve their pay after having thrown it on the ground. The same indifference to the mere sequence of events is found occasionally in other parts of the gospel; but I have purposely dwelt upon this chapter 8, because here we have it throughout, and at the same time with evidence exceedingly simple and convincing. Free Challenge: Mr & Mrs Smith. The world may assess a man's greatness by the number of people whom he controls and who are at his beck and call; or by his intellectual standing and his academic eminence; or by the number of committees of which he is a member; or by the size of his bank balance and the material possessions which he has amassed; but in the assessment of Jesus Christ these things are irrelevant. It was clearly a question of connection with the apostle of the circumcision ( i.e., Peter's wife's mother). In the picture of the holy city in the Revelation there are twelve gates. The Lord increase thy earnestness and faith! (Clarke), 2018 David Guzik No distribution beyond personal use without permission, The Whole Bible What we have, is not our own, and therefore it is not lawful for us to do what we will with it; but what God has, is his own; and this will justify him, First, In all the disposals of his providence; when God takes from us that which was dear to us, and which we could ill spare, we must silence our discontents with this; May he not do what he will with his own? They had their mistaken ambitions; they had their blindness; they had their wrong ideas; but he never dreamed of writing them off as bad debts. But that cannot be the meaning of it here; the "called" being emphatically distinguished from the "chosen." I injure no one, and have a right to do what I will with my own. 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. The parable itself displays a reversal of expectations "the last will be first and the first will be last"; this is not only the summary of the parable (20:16), but a critical aspect of New Testament theology. [2.] The fact is, in judging others we judge ourselves. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 'God is love,' he shouted. And still is he betrayed! They may not be as long in the vineyard as others; their race may be sooner run; but I have chosen to honor them in this manner, and I have a right to do it. And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed 2 He agreed to pay them a denarius for the day and sent them into his vineyard. He gives sight to the blind. But this may be, and commonly is, applied to the several ages of life, in which souls are converted to Christ. Does this scribe offer to follow Jesus? Sometimes a young person dies almost before the door of life and achievement have opened at all. These were sent into the vineyard, it is true, at the eleventh hour; but nobody had hired them, or offered to hire them, before. The request of James and John not unnaturally annoyed the other disciples. Three things the master of the house urges, in answer to this ill-natured surmise. For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner, Whatever is right I will give you whatever is right you will receive, Call the laborers and give them their wages, beginning with the last to the first, They supposed that they would receive more, equal to us who have borne the burden and the heat of the day. Well, he did not come to get your service; he came to give you his services; not that you might first do him honor, but that he might show you mercy. (Spurgeon). 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. 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. vi. He evinces, that at the very time when Peter forgot the vision and the Father's voice, virtually reducing Him to mere man, He was God manifest in the flesh. There may be desires, there may be the working of the Spirit of God, but there can be no power to walk before men and to glorify God thus till there is forgiveness possessed and enjoyed in the heart. If we compare the eighth chapter, for example, with the corresponding circumstances, as far as they appear, in the gospel of Mark, we shall find the latter gives us notes of time, which leave no doubt on my mind that Mark adheres to the scale of time: the design of the Holy Ghost required it, instead of dispensing with it in his case. The idea was you were to confess the crimes that you had committed against Rome, and as you confessed your crimes, the man who was administering that scourging would go easier and easier on you. (ii) These two blind men were undiscourageable. Thus many are called by the preaching of the Gospel, but few are found who use their advantages in such a way as to become extensively useful in the Church-and many in the Church militant behave so ill as never to be admitted into the Church triumphant. But this is enough to silence all murmurs and objectors, that God is sovereign Lord of all, and may do what he will with his own. Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased." The landowner reminded them that he had been completely fair to them. We can never repay God for what he has done for us but we can always be grateful to him. Drinking of that cup. None can suppose that these were deemed useless, or that, because not now chosen to serve their country in the field, they were proscribed from the rights and privileges of citizens, much less destroyed, because others were found better qualified to serve their country at the post of honour and danger. Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. The New King James Version (NKJV) organises this chapter as follows: . This finds its fitting place, not in Luke, but in Matthew, particularly as the details here (not in Mark, who only gives the general fact) cast great light upon God's dispensational ways. Therefore what this saying means is quite simply--it cost the life and the death of Jesus Christ to bring men back to God. See Matthew 19:27-29. To the end the events are put together, just as in Matthew 8:1-34, without regard to the point of time when they occurred. Those first hired are actually paid least in proportion to their labor and receive the least pleasure from their pay. Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year. He sits on the dust heap among the prison convicts. Successful service to God is the gift of His grace. He makes some more useful than others, without regard to the time which they serve, and he will reward them accordingly. To drink the cup simply means to follow Christ wherever he may lead, and to be like him in any situation life may bring. So, then, we learn that the mother of James and John was named Salome, and that she was the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. What can be conceived so perfectly to illustrate the great design of the gospel of Matthew? In later days others will come in. But among my followers service alone is the badge of greatness. The dispensational aim here leads to a more manifest disregard of the bare circumstance of time than in any other specimen of these gospels. & Sanhedrim, fol. But I see no sufficient reason to refuse the impression that John found it hard to reconcile his continued imprisonment with a present Messiah; nor do I discern a sound judgment of the case, or a profound knowledge of the heart, in those who thus raise doubts as to John's sincerity, any more than they appear to me to exalt the character of this honoured man of God, by supposing him to play a part which really belonged to others. His reply came in stages. After this (what makes it still more unquestionable) comes the case of the demoniac. The strange thing is that instinctively the world itself has accepted these standards. And now as they depart from Jericho. The Son of Man will be betrayed: Jesus again told the disciples what awaited Him in Jerusalem, but no reaction from the disciples is noted. This, of course, is not the moment to unfold it. The prisoner would be tied to a post in such a way, as your back would be stretched. So the last shall be first, and the first last. And the third day He will rise again: Most important, this was something that Jesus had no apparent control over. This parable taught him that God would give him a just reward for his sacrificial labor for Jesus. Next, the storm follows. This signifies the jealousy which the Jews were provoked to by the admission of the Gentiles into the kingdom of heaven. It was made after a series of announcements by Jesus that ahead of him lay an inescapable Cross; it was made at a moment when the air was heavy with the atmosphere of tragedy and the sense of foreboding. This, too, we ascertain from Mark 1:1-45, where there are clear marks of the time. So little old Jewish mama coming to Jesus with her two sons. So, on the other hand, the centurion sets forth with no less aptness the characteristic faith that suits the Gentile, in a simplicity which looks for nothing but the word of His mouth, is perfectly content with it, knows that, whatever the disease may be, He has only to speak the word, and it is done according to His divine will. The devil was tricked by God. Wisdom Literature None the less does the Lord uphold it, purged of what accretions had come in to obscure its original and proper character. Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the. I. Not merely were there many pieces of value, but one pearl of great price. He stood in the driving rain to preach, coughing all the time. A man out of his plenty may give us a gift of a hundred pounds, and in truth we are grateful; a child may give us a birthday or Christmas gift which cost only a few pence but which was laboriously and lovingly saved up for--and that gift, with little value of its own, touches our heart far more. Some consider that John the Baptist enquired solely for the sake of his disciples. 2. And thus as Isaiah predicts the scourging, the stripes, he declares, "by His stripes ye are healed"( Isaiah 53:5 ). Jesus summed up his whole life in one poignant sentence: "The Son of Man came to give his life a ransom for many." 4. It may indeed have had a comparatively limited application when it was spoken for the first time; but it contains truth which goes to the very heart of the Christian religion. Probably thisto teach us that men who have wrought in Christ's service all their days may, by the spirit which they manifest at the last, make it too evident that, as between God and their own souls, they never were chosen workmen at all. This made it to be plainly and only a difficulty for God to solve. How are we to account for a selection so marked, an elimination of time so complete? At several stages through the day he hired additional workers, then at the end of the day paid them their wages (Matthew 20:3-8). i. conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him ( Matthew 20:29-34 ). In this work we must not be slothful, not loiterers, but labourers, working, and working out our own salvation. As for the Gentile, the Lord's proffer to go and heal his servant brought out the singular strength of his faith. By proceeding, you consent to our cookie usage. He therefore, 1. It is true that in this particular instance Mark no more surrounds the leper with notes of time and place than do Matthew and Luke. The people might have failed, but, surely, there were some differences surely those that were honoured and valued were not so depraved! Henceforth, too, He forbids the disciples to proclaim Him as the Messiah. Peter answers, "Of strangers." The people whose hearts are yielded to him will be recognized as his children no matter their rank or riches by worldly standards. At that time Jesus answered, "I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them unto babes. Therein is greatness. Here is the agreement made with the labourers (Matthew 20:1-7; Matthew 20:1-7); and here it will be asked, as usual. He is not going to lower Himself to a human measure. He healed, and bore its burden on His heart before God, as truly as He took it away from men. It is tragic that in church circles there is also that endeavor many times to exercise lordship and dominion over people.One of the weird doctrines of the seventies was the shepherding doctrine, where so many men sought to establish themselves as the lords over the flock of God and causing people to submit to their authority. to forget His ancient people. Is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with my own things? "There arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch, that the ship was covered with the waves; but he was asleep." And Jesus tells him, "Look no one has left anything, but what in this life he get a hundredfold, and in the life to come, eternal life"( Matthew 19:29 ). Get the BEST VALUE in digital Bible study as you prepare for Easter. It is evident that the bodily presence of the Messiah is the very essence of the former scene, as it ought to be in dealing with the leper, who is a kind of type of what Israel should have been in seeking cleansing at His hands. "Of whom do the kings of the earth take custom? To the proud inhabitant of Jerusalem, both one and the other were but a choice and change within a land of darkness. The men who were standing in the market-place were not street-corner idlers, lazing away their time. Now as they went out of Jericho, a great multitude followed Him. So we have a farther scene. last will be on the same footing as the first, and the first as the last, those who esteem themselves last shall be first, and those who esteem themselves first shall be last, . Or is your eye evil because I am good?. It was precisely because He was Himself untouchable by sickness and infirmity, that He was free so to take up each consequence of sin thus. Then they remembered, oh, yeah, He said He was going to rise on the third day. (v) These two blind men were grateful. Many a man in this world, who has earned great rewards, will have a very low place in the Kingdom because rewards were his sole thought. Next, we behold Him meeting the centurion after another manner altogether. This as yet draws out wonder, at least from the witnessing multitudes, that God had given such power unto men. A man who wanted to work came there first thing in the morning, carrying his tools, and waited until someone hired him. So He is telling the disciples this was going to happen. And, look you, two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and, when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted out, "Lord, have pity on us, you Son of David!" It was true that He was made of woman, and made under the law; but He was Jehovah Himself, that lowly Nazarene. 1. 20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons.
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