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that time, and it would seem that they would have been satisfied with this had it not been
for the graciousness shown to the last comers.
God keeps His promise to those who serve Him. He is the sole judge of what each
labourer ought to receive. No one receives less than had been promised and some receive
more, though in man's eyes this seems to be unfair. At the time of payment only those
with whom an agreement had been made and kept found fault. If they had been paid and
sent away there would have been no grumbling. The master was the sole judge of what
the work of the others was worth to him. As the day wore on, time was precious and
their labour became more and more valuable, and possibly they worked harder because of
this. At the end of the day they received the same pay (a denarius) as the early workers
and this cause these people to grumble, but the master's reply to them was:
"I want to give the man who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don't I have the
right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am
generous? So the last will be first and the first will be last" (20: 14-16, N.I.V.).
This reminds one of the argument of the apostle Paul in Rom. 9: 18-21, where the
natural mind questions the fairness of God's dealings. In spite of all our feelings, we can
be sure of one thing--the absolute rightness and fairness of a righteous and holy God. If
we adopt the false system of "measuring ourselves by ourselves", and adopting human
standards of reckoning, we shall always have problems with the ways of God. God is not
only a God of fairness and justice, but He is generous too and knows not only the amount
of work done, but the difficulties and problems of each worker behind the scenes, and His
verdict allows for this.
In verse 17, on His way to Jerusalem, the Lord Jesus takes the Twelve aside and again
makes an effort to get them to understand the fact of the cross and resurrection that lay
ahead. This was the fourth time He had referred to it:
"Now as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside and said
to them, `We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief
priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn Him to death and will turn Him
over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified. On the third day He will be
raised to life!'."
Then follows the account of the mother of Zebedee's sons, who in her ambition for
her children wanted them to have the best places in the Kingdom. This is a repetition of
the same spirit shown by the disciples earlier.
She asked the Lord:
"Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right (hand) and the other at
your left in your kingdom" (20: 21, N.I.V.).
They had already been promised that they would eventually sit on thrones and rule the
tribes of Israel, but this apparently was not enough. They still had not realized that the
sufferings and death which the Messiah had predicted for Himself were the road to the