UST by section MAT 20:1

⌂ ← MAT 20:1–20:34 → ║ ═ ©

The Gospel of Matthew 20

20 In fact, here is what God’s heavenly kingdom is like: a man who managed a household left his house in the morning to go to the town’s open area. He wanted to hire people to take care of his grape vines. 2 He found some people who agreed to work that day for one coin. Then, he told them to take care of his grape vines. 3 At about nine o’clock in the morning, the man arrived in the town’s open area again. He noticed more people there who wanted to work. 4 He told them, ‘Join the other people who are taking care of my grape vines. I will pay you a fair wage.’ 5 They agreed to do so. At about noon and at about three o’clock in the afternoon, the man again arrived in the town’s open area. He said the same thing to the people he found there, and they too agreed to take care of his grape vines. 6 At about five o’clock in the afternoon, the man again arrived in the town’s open area. He noticed that there were still people there who wanted to work. He asked them, ‘Why have you been here waiting all day to work?’ 7 They replied, ‘We are waiting here because nobody has hired us.’ Then the man said, ‘Join the other people who are taking care of my grape vines.’ They agreed to do so.

8 When it was evening, the man who managed the household spoke to the man who supervised the workers. He said, ‘Tell the people who worked today to come here. Starting with the people that I hired latest in the day and ending with the people that I hired earliest in the day, pay them what they earned.’ 9 Then the people who started working at about five o’clock in the afternoon came forward. The supervisor paid one coin to each of them. 10 Then the people who started working first came forward. They expected that the supervisor would pay them more than that. However, he paid one coin to each of them also. 11 After these workers took their money, they complained about how the man who managed the household was behaving. 12 They said to him, ‘These people who started working last worked for just one hour. However, you are treating them as if they worked as much as we have! We worked the most and during the hottest parts of the day.’ 13 The man who managed the household spoke to one of the workers who was complaining, ‘My friend, I am not treating you unfairly. You agreed to take care of my grape vines for one coin. 14 I want to pay those who started working last as much as I pay you who started working first. So, take what I have paid you and go home. 15 Our law allows me to do what I like with what I own. You should not be jealous because I am being generous!’ 16 Similarly, people who are unimportant right now will become important. People who are important right now will become unimportant.”

17 Sometime later, Jesus was walking toward the city of Jerusalem. He had his 12 apprentices come with him. No one else was with them. While they were walking, he told them, 18 “We are walking toward the city of Jerusalem! There, somebody will help the ruling priests and the teachers of the Jewish law arrest me, the Son of Man. They will decide that I am guilty and that someone should kill me. 19 They will bring me to the non-Jewish authorities. Those people will make fun of me, beat me, and kill me by nailing me to a cross. Then, during the third day after I died, God will make me alive again.”

20 After that, Zebedee’s wife came to Jesus with her two sons, James and John. She knelt before Jesus and asked him to do something for her. 21 Jesus replied, “What do you want me to do for you?” She said, “Please promise me that, when you rule, you will greatly honor my two sons by having one of them sit at your right side and the other one sit at your left side.” 22 Then Jesus responded by speaking to her two sons, “You do not realize what you have actually requested. Are you willing to suffer as I will soon suffer?” Her two sons, James and John, replied, “Yes, we are willing to suffer.” 23 Then Jesus said to them, “You will certainly suffer as I will soon suffer. However I am not the one who chooses whom to honor by having them sit at my right side and at my left side. Rather, God my Father has already chosen who will sit in those places.”

24 When the ten other apprentices learned what James and John had requested, they were very upset with them. 25 So, Jesus told his apprentices to come to him. He said to them, “You understand that the people who govern the non-Jews dominate them. Further, important people among them control everyone else. 26 You must not behave like that. Rather, when one of you wants to be important, that person must serve the others. 27 Likewise, when one of you wants to be most important, that person must work for the others. 28 You should be like me, the Son of Man. I am here to serve other people. I am not here so that other people will serve me. Indeed, I am going to die in order to free many people from their sins.”

29 After that, Jesus and his apprentices left the city of Jericho, which they had been visiting. A large group of people went with them. 30 Now two men who were blind were sitting down next to the path! Someone told them, “Jesus is walking by.” So, they were shouting, “Our Lord, you who are a descendant of King David, please help us!” 31 Some people from the large group of people scolded them to keep them quiet. However, the men who were blind yelled even louder, “Our Lord, you who are a descendant of King David, please help us!” 32 Then, Jesus stopped walking. He spoke to the two men who were blind. He asked, “How would you like me to help you?” 33 They replied, “Our Lord, we want to be able to see!” 34 Jesus pitied them. He touched their eyes. As soon as he did that, they could see. Then, they went with Jesus as his apprentices.

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