The Gospel According to Matthew
Matthew 20: 1-16
INTRODUCTION: Happy New Year!!! The new year is a time for reflection and for dreaming, planning and looking forward. Even if you are one of those people who is apposed to New Years resolutions you can't help but be reflective. So in the spirit of the New Year, let's be reflective. Let's be reflective about Matthew. Where have we been in this book. What are some takeaways? As you focus on a new year, New Years resolutions, and plans for your life, how can you incorporate what you have discovered in Matthew into your personal life?
Question of the Day: Do you have a New Years Resolution? If yes what is it? ( You don't have to share if you don't want to.)
READ: Matthew 20: 1-16
The Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard
20 “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[a]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.”
So in verse one Jesus makes it clear what this is about. It hasn't always done that. Sometimes he makes those he is speaking to guess or ask questions to discover the meaning, but here he just speaks it right at the beginning. This is about the Kingdom of God.
In the spirit of reflection, how has Jesus taught throughout Matthew?
Why does He use stories or parables?
Remember that the scholars, or the ability to be a scholar was not available to everyone. It was only for the smart, the gifted, for those who showed great potential. So perhaps none of us would have the opportunity to study God's word. None of us may have had the opportunity to be taught by a Rabbi. We may be too average. Even Jesus' method of teaching debunked their system, their caste system was turned upside down, even in how he taught.
What is the first thing the land owner does?
Do you realize Jesus comes after you?
When we were in Ethiopia we used day laborers to help us with the mission project we were there to complete. Now we did not go out and find them, they came to us. They were there early in the morning, standing around waiting, hoping that we were going to hire them. We were there on a mission trip with 30 of us, ready and willing to work for free. So why did we hire day laborers? They needed the work! They wanted to work! Somehow looking into the face of an 80 plus year old woman, not begging for a hand out but hoping for work, dissolved our budget. So we worked together all day long. That 80 year old woman, walked up and down a very steep hill carrying concrete blocks ALL DAY LONG. From early in the morning until 5.
I'm sure there were day laborers in Jesus day who went to the fields, and looked for work too, but here in this story about the Kingdom of God, the owner of the vineyard went and found people. He also didn't stop going to get them even to the last hour of the day. So right off the bat this story Jesus is telling is not right. It is upside down.
1. Jesus makes even his teaching and his message for ALL!
2. Jesus came for us! Jesus comes for us!
3. Jesus keeps going out even to the last hour!
At the end of the day it is time to pay the day laborers and what does the land owner do?
Why does he tell them to pay them in reverse order?
The day laborers in Ethiopia would leave the second the money was in their hand. If the land owner had payed in the order of start time, the lesson wouldn't have been taught. Also it is once again turning everything upside down.
Why the grumbling?
Do we ever look to one side or the other and grumble to God about what we do or don't have?
Maybe it isn't possessions but talents. Maybe it isn't talents, but wisdom. Maybe it isn't wisdom, but joy. Maybe it isn't joy, but self control.
Do you ever look around our table and say, "I wish, I..." Does God ever seem to be unfair in his distribution of "blessings?"
Have you ever thought that if this is true and the one who starts working at the last moment or hour will still gain it all, then I will not start "work" until the last hour. After all it doesn't matter.
Have you ever thought that? Be honest.
Those people standing on the street, what was life like for them. Needing work, not finding work. I can imagine it wasn't peaceful, but stressful. If they were parents, what were they thinking about? Day labors are people who don't have steady work. People who have great need. Standing around hoping asking, begging, for work is not a stress free existence. Those who were in the fields all day, had the blessing of thinking about how at the end of the day they were going to be paid. They could buy food, they could return home and sleep good knowing they had been productive.
A life without Jesus is not a better life. A life without Jesus is not a free life. A life without Jesus is a life of bondage. It isn't just about the end result. It isn't just about the New Kingdom. It is about the entire life lived. It is about the time here on earth that we get to spend with him.
I just saw on facebook another article written by the former SDA pastor who has now gone two years without God. I did not read the article, but it just made me sad. I can't imagine a life without Jesus. Jesus wants to have a relationship with you. He wants this to be about spending the day with him right now. They pay, the kingdom will come, but with Him, that is right now.
1. Jesus makes even his teaching and his message for ALL!
2. Jesus came for us! Jesus comes for us!
3. Jesus keeps going out even to the last hour!
4. Jesus doesn't want us looking around at each other and comparing, but to keep our focus on Him.
5. Jesus wants us to spend time with Him NOW!
Now the last verse in this section, verse 16 is the same as the last verse in Chapter nineteen. It is a saying we tell our kids when they jump first in line at potluck. It is a verse that has been used over and over again. Is it about the line at potluck? I know at times it has been implied that if you are last then you get the real reward. The bigger reward. So be willing to be last. Is that what this verse is saying?
After studying this passage, what is it saying?
Perhaps:
Jesus so radically loves us that he makes it available to all!
No matter when you come into His field, His arms are open wide.
Stop looking around and remember how well He has treated you!
My favorite:
Time, brains, wisdom, none of that makes us better in His eyes. We are all His children, we are all beloved.
1. Jesus makes even his teaching and his message for ALL!
2. Jesus came for us! Jesus comes for us!
3. Jesus keeps going out even to the last hour!
4. Jesus doesn't want us looking around at each other and comparing, but to keep our focus on Him.
5. Jesus wants us to spend time with Him NOW!
6. WE ARE ALL HIS BELOVED!
Who am I? I am a worker in His vineyard. Because He so lovingly invited me come and work for Him. Who am I? A worker who will celebrate with each new worker who comes to the vineyard, and then on pay day, we will all together rejoice with our Master!
What is the first thing the land owner does?
Do you realize Jesus comes after you?
When we were in Ethiopia we used day laborers to help us with the mission project we were there to complete. Now we did not go out and find them, they came to us. They were there early in the morning, standing around waiting, hoping that we were going to hire them. We were there on a mission trip with 30 of us, ready and willing to work for free. So why did we hire day laborers? They needed the work! They wanted to work! Somehow looking into the face of an 80 plus year old woman, not begging for a hand out but hoping for work, dissolved our budget. So we worked together all day long. That 80 year old woman, walked up and down a very steep hill carrying concrete blocks ALL DAY LONG. From early in the morning until 5.
I'm sure there were day laborers in Jesus day who went to the fields, and looked for work too, but here in this story about the Kingdom of God, the owner of the vineyard went and found people. He also didn't stop going to get them even to the last hour of the day. So right off the bat this story Jesus is telling is not right. It is upside down.
1. Jesus makes even his teaching and his message for ALL!
2. Jesus came for us! Jesus comes for us!
3. Jesus keeps going out even to the last hour!
At the end of the day it is time to pay the day laborers and what does the land owner do?
Why does he tell them to pay them in reverse order?
The day laborers in Ethiopia would leave the second the money was in their hand. If the land owner had payed in the order of start time, the lesson wouldn't have been taught. Also it is once again turning everything upside down.
Why the grumbling?
Do we ever look to one side or the other and grumble to God about what we do or don't have?
Maybe it isn't possessions but talents. Maybe it isn't talents, but wisdom. Maybe it isn't wisdom, but joy. Maybe it isn't joy, but self control.
Do you ever look around our table and say, "I wish, I..." Does God ever seem to be unfair in his distribution of "blessings?"
Have you ever thought that if this is true and the one who starts working at the last moment or hour will still gain it all, then I will not start "work" until the last hour. After all it doesn't matter.
Have you ever thought that? Be honest.
Those people standing on the street, what was life like for them. Needing work, not finding work. I can imagine it wasn't peaceful, but stressful. If they were parents, what were they thinking about? Day labors are people who don't have steady work. People who have great need. Standing around hoping asking, begging, for work is not a stress free existence. Those who were in the fields all day, had the blessing of thinking about how at the end of the day they were going to be paid. They could buy food, they could return home and sleep good knowing they had been productive.
A life without Jesus is not a better life. A life without Jesus is not a free life. A life without Jesus is a life of bondage. It isn't just about the end result. It isn't just about the New Kingdom. It is about the entire life lived. It is about the time here on earth that we get to spend with him.
I just saw on facebook another article written by the former SDA pastor who has now gone two years without God. I did not read the article, but it just made me sad. I can't imagine a life without Jesus. Jesus wants to have a relationship with you. He wants this to be about spending the day with him right now. They pay, the kingdom will come, but with Him, that is right now.
1. Jesus makes even his teaching and his message for ALL!
2. Jesus came for us! Jesus comes for us!
3. Jesus keeps going out even to the last hour!
4. Jesus doesn't want us looking around at each other and comparing, but to keep our focus on Him.
5. Jesus wants us to spend time with Him NOW!
Now the last verse in this section, verse 16 is the same as the last verse in Chapter nineteen. It is a saying we tell our kids when they jump first in line at potluck. It is a verse that has been used over and over again. Is it about the line at potluck? I know at times it has been implied that if you are last then you get the real reward. The bigger reward. So be willing to be last. Is that what this verse is saying?
After studying this passage, what is it saying?
Perhaps:
Jesus so radically loves us that he makes it available to all!
No matter when you come into His field, His arms are open wide.
Stop looking around and remember how well He has treated you!
My favorite:
Time, brains, wisdom, none of that makes us better in His eyes. We are all His children, we are all beloved.
1. Jesus makes even his teaching and his message for ALL!
2. Jesus came for us! Jesus comes for us!
3. Jesus keeps going out even to the last hour!
4. Jesus doesn't want us looking around at each other and comparing, but to keep our focus on Him.
5. Jesus wants us to spend time with Him NOW!
6. WE ARE ALL HIS BELOVED!
Who am I? I am a worker in His vineyard. Because He so lovingly invited me come and work for Him. Who am I? A worker who will celebrate with each new worker who comes to the vineyard, and then on pay day, we will all together rejoice with our Master!
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