Matthew 20
The
Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
“For
the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the
morning to hire workers for his vineyard.
2 He agreed to pay them a denarius
for the day and sent them into his vineyard.
3 About nine in the morning he went out and saw others
standing in the marketplace doing nothing.
4 He told them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard, and
I will pay you whatever is right.’
5 So they went.
“He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and
did the same thing.
6 About five in the afternoon he went out and found still
others standing around. He asked them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day
long doing nothing?’
7 ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they answered.
He said to them, ‘You also go and work in my vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said
to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the
last ones hired and going on to the first.’
9 The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon
came and each received a denarius.
10 So when those came who were hired first, they expected
to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius.
11 When they received it, they began to
grumble against the landowner.
12 ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they
said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work
and the heat of the day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to
you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius?
14 Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was
hired last the same as I gave you.
15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own
money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
16 ‘So the last will be first, and the first will be last.’
JESUS Predicts His Death a Third
Time
17 Now JESUS was going up to Jerusalem. On the
way, HE took the Twelve aside and said to them,
18 ‘We are going up to Jerusalem, and THE SON OF MAN will
be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They
will condemn him to death
19 and will hand HIM over to the Gentiles to be mocked and
flogged and crucified. On the third day HE will be raised to
life!’
A Mother’s Request
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s
sons came to JESUS
with her sons and, kneeling
down, asked a favor of HIM.
21 ‘What is it you want?’ HE asked.
She said, ‘Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at YOUR
right and the other at YOUR left in YOUR kingdom.’
22 ‘You don’t know what you are asking,’ JESUS said to them. ‘Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?’
‘We can,’ they answered.
23 JESUS said
to them, ‘You
will indeed drink from MY cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for
me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by MY
FATHER.’
24 When the ten heard about this,
they were indignant with the two brothers.
25 JESUS
called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and
their high officials exercise authority over them.
26 Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great
among you must be your servant,
27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—
28 just as THE SON OF MAN did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give HIS life as a ransom for many.’
Two Blind Men Receive Sight
29 As JESUS and HIS disciples were leaving
Jericho, a large crowd followed HIM.
30 Two blind men were sitting by the
roadside, and when they heard that JESUS was going by, they shouted, ‘LORD, SON OF DAVID, have
mercy on us!’
31 The crowd rebuked them and told
them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, ‘LORD, SON OF DAVID, have mercy on us!’
32 JESUS
stopped and called them. ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ HE asked.
33 ‘LORD,’ they
answered, ‘we want our sight.’
34 JESUS had
compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their
sight and followed HIM.”
