A landowner pays a full day’s wage to men who worked one hour, a third and most explicit prediction of the cross falls on ears too fixed on an earthly throne to hear it, a mother asks for the two best seats in the kingdom for her sons, and two blind beggars by a roadside see, in one sentence, further than anyone else in the chapter.
A study in Matthew 20 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 26 min read
So The Last Shall Be First, And The First Last
This site’s own study of Matthew 19 left off with Peter’s own bookkeeping question — what do we get for what we gave up? — and the parable that opens chapter 20 is Christ’s direct answer, addressed to that exact spirit in all twelve of them.
“For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny a day, he sent them into his vineyard.”
Matthew 20:1-2
“Lest the disciples should lose sight of the principles of the gospel, Christ related to them a parable illustrating the manner in which God deals with His servants, and the spirit in which He desires them to labor for Him. … It was the custom for men seeking employment to wait in the market places, and thither the employers went to find servants. The man in the parable is represented as going out at different hours to engage workmen. Those who are hired at the earliest hours agree to work for a stated sum; those hired later leave their wages to the discretion of the householder.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 396
Four more times the householder returns to the marketplace — the third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hour — each time hiring whoever is still standing idle, with no agreement on wages beyond his own promise to do what is right.
“And he went out about the third hour, and saw others standing idle in the marketplace, And said unto them; Go ye also into the vineyard, and whatsoever is right I will give you. And they went their way. Again he went out about the sixth and ninth hour, and did likewise. And about the eleventh hour he went out, and found others standing idle, and saith unto them, Why stand ye here all the day idle? They say unto him, Because no man hath hired us. He saith unto them, Go ye also into the vineyard; and whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.”
Matthew 20:3-7
The eleventh hour left barely one hour of daylight before quitting time. What those last laborers receive at day’s end has nothing to do with the length of their work and everything to do with the character of the one paying them.
“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. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny.”
Matthew 20:8-10
“In the parable the first laborers agreed to work for a stipulated sum, and they received the amount specified, nothing more. Those later hired believed the master’s promise, ‘Whatsoever is right, that shall ye receive.’ They showed their confidence in him by asking no question in regard to wages. They trusted to his justice and equity. They were rewarded, not according to the amount of their labor, but according to the generosity of his purpose.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 397
The first laborers, who bargained for a fixed wage and received exactly what they bargained for, are the ones left complaining; the ones who simply trusted the householder’s own character walk away amazed at his generosity.
“And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, 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. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.”
Matthew 20:11-16
“The first laborers of the parable represent those who, because of their services, claim preference above others. They take up their work in a self-gratulatory spirit, and do not bring into it self-denial and sacrifice. They may have professed to serve God all their lives; they may have been foremost in enduring hardship, privation, and trial, and they therefore think themselves entitled to a large reward. They think more of the reward than of the privilege of being servants of Christ.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 399
“The first and the last are to be sharers in the great, eternal reward, and the first should gladly welcome the last. He who grudges the reward to another forgets that he himself is saved by grace alone. The parable of the laborers rebukes all jealousy and suspicion.”
Ellen G. White · Christ’s Object Lessons, p. 402
Not one laborer in the parable is shorted a single penny. The only thing that goes wrong is comparison — measuring a gift against someone else’s gift instead of simply receiving it.
The Son Of Man Shall Be Betrayed Unto The Chief Priests
“And Jesus going up to Jerusalem took the twelve disciples apart in the way, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify him: and the third day he shall rise again.”
Matthew 20:17-19
This is the third and most detailed of the passion predictions this Gospel records — betrayal, formal condemnation, delivery to Gentile hands, mockery, scourging, crucifixion, resurrection, named in order, days in advance.
“Again Christ called the twelve about Him, and with greater definiteness than ever before, He opened to them His betrayal and sufferings. ‘Behold,’ He said, ‘we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on: and they shall scourge Him, and put Him to death: and the third day He shall rise again.’ And they understood none of these things: and this saying was hid from them, neither knew they the things which were spoken.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 547
Three times now Jesus has told them plainly, and three times the words have not landed — not from dullness, but from an expectation too strong to let the words mean what they said.
“In the light of these thoughts, His words in regard to betrayal, persecution, and death seemed vague and shadowy. Whatever difficulties might intervene, they believed that the kingdom was soon to be established.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 547
Every promise of thrones and glory they had already received from His own lips was true; the disciples simply had the timeline wrong, and what happens next in this very chapter shows exactly how wrong.
To Give His Life A Ransom For Many
“Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 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.”
Matthew 20:20-21
“Their hearts seemed linked with His, and in the ardor of their love they longed to be nearest to Him in His kingdom. At every possible opportunity, John took his place next the Saviour, and James longed to be honored with as close connection with Him. Their mother was a follower of Christ, and had ministered to Him freely of her substance. With a mother’s love and ambition for her sons, she coveted for them the most honored place in the new kingdom. For this she encouraged them to make request.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 548
Mark’s own account of this scene names James and John themselves as the ones asking; Matthew has their mother speaking for them, which is likely no contradiction at all — a family request, voiced together, with a mother’s ambition for her sons behind every word of it.
“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. 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.”
Matthew 20:22-23
“Jesus bears tenderly with them, not rebuking their selfishness in seeking preference above their brethren. He reads their hearts, He knows the depth of their attachment to Him. Their love is not a mere human affection; though defiled by the earthliness of its human channel, it is an outflowing from the fountain of His own redeeming love. He will not rebuke, but deepen and purify.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 548
James would be the first apostle martyred; John would outlive every one of the Twelve, enduring decades of exile and persecution — both men did, in the end, drink the cup they promised to drink, though never in the way either of them imagined when they made the promise. The other ten react exactly as their own recent argument in Matthew 18 would predict.
“And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. 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. But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant: Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
Matthew 20:24-28
“Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles. He called men, not to authority, but to service, the strong to bear the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed their possessor under the greater obligation to serve his fellows. … Among His disciples Christ was in every sense a caretaker, a burden bearer. He shared their poverty, He practiced self-denial on their account, He went before them to smooth the more difficult places, and soon He would consummate His work on earth by laying down His life.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 550
“A ransom for many” is as close as this Gospel comes, this early, to stating outright what the cross is actually for — not merely an execution Jesus submits to, but a price He pays, on purpose, to buy back what was lost. Every other kingdom in history runs on the many serving the one at the top; this one runs on exactly the reverse.
Thou Son Of David, Have Mercy On Us
“And as they departed from Jericho, a great multitude followed him. 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. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace: but they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou Son of David.”
Matthew 20:29-31
“Son of David” was the title Israel had for its promised Messiah, and these two men, who could not see Jesus at all, name Him more accurately from the roadside than the crowd walking beside Him in plain sight.
“When Jesus revealed His divinity by His mighty miracles, when He healed the sick and raised the dead, the people had inquired among themselves, ‘Is not this the Son of David?’ The Syrophoenician woman, blind Bartimaeus, and many others had cried to Him for help, ‘Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou Son of David.’”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 608
White groups this cry with the Canaanite woman’s own from this site’s study of Matthew 15 — two outsiders, a Gentile mother and a pair of blind beggars, both refusing to be silenced, both recognizing exactly who was passing by. The crowd tries to quiet them; Jesus does the opposite.
“And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened. So Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.”
Matthew 20:32-34
The chapter that opened with a parable about a generous householder and moved through a mother’s request for the best seats in the kingdom closes with two men who asked for nothing but sight, and received it, and followed Him — the same posture Jesus has been describing to His disciples in every scene since the vineyard gate first opened at dawn.
