Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should repay all that he owed.

“And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors--more than jailers; denoting the severity of the treatment which he thought such a case demanded. till he should pay all that was due unto him.”

When Jesus had finished saying these things, He left Galilee and went into the region of Judea beyond the Jordan.

“And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee--This marks a very solemn period in our Lord's public ministry.”

Large crowds followed Him, and He healed them there.

“And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there--Mark says further (Mr 10:1), that "as He was wont, He taught them there." What we now have on the subject of divorce is some of that teaching.”

Then some Pharisees came and tested Him by asking, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason?”

“Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?--Two rival schools (as we saw on Mt 5:31) were divided on this question--a delicate one, as DE WETTE pertinently remarks, in the dominions of Herod Antipas.”

Jesus replied, “Moses permitted you to divorce your wives because of your hardness of heart; but it was not this way from the beginning.

“He saith unto them, Moses--as a civil lawgiver. because of--or "having respect to." the hardness of your hearts--looking to your low moral state, and your inability to endure the strictness of the original law.”

“Not everyone can accept this word,” He replied, “but only those to whom it has been given.

“But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given--that is, "That the unmarried state is better, is a saying not for everyone, and indeed only for such as it is divinely intended for."”

So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more. But each of them also received a denarius.

“But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more--This is that calculating, mercenary spirit which had peeped out--though perhaps very slightly--in Peter's question (Mt 19:27), and which this parable was designed once for all to put down among the servants of…”

So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

“But that cannot be the meaning of it here; the "called" being emphatically distinguished from the "chosen." It can only mean here the "invited."”

But if we say, ‘From men,’ we are afraid of the people, for they all regard John as a prophet.”

“But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people--rather, "the multitude." In Luke (Lu 20:6) it is, "all the people will stone us"--"stone us to death." for all hold John as a prophet--Crooked, cringing hypocrites!”

So they answered, “We do not know.” And Jesus replied, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

“And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell--Evidently their difficulty was, how to answer, so as neither to shake their determination to reject the claims of Christ nor damage their reputation with the people.”

‘I will not,’ he replied. But later he changed his mind and went.

“He answered and said, I will not--TRENCH notices the rudeness of this answer, and the total absence of any attempt to excuse such disobedience, both characteristic; representing careless, reckless sinners resisting God to His face.”

Then the man went to the second son and told him the same thing. ‘I will, sir,’ he said. But he did not go.

“And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir--"I, sir." The emphatic "I," here, denotes the self-righteous complacency which says, "God, I thank thee that I am not as other men" (Lu 18:11).”

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and take his inheritance.’

“This is the heir--Sublime expression this of the great truth, that God's inheritance was destined for, and in due time is to come into the possession of, His own Son in our nature (Heb 1:2).”

Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard returns, what will he do to those tenants?”

“When the lord therefore of the vineyard cometh--This represents "the settling time," which, in the case of the Jewish ecclesiastics, was that judicial trial of the nation and its leaders which issued in the destruction of their whole state.”

“He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,” they replied, “and will rent out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the fruit at…

“But if it was given, as the two other Evangelists agree in representing it, by our Lord Himself, and the explicitness of the answer would seem to favor that supposition, then we can better explain the exclamation of the Pharisees which followed it, in Luke's…”

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: ‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

“Did ye never read in the scriptures-- (Ps 118:22, 23). The stone which the builders rejected, &c.--A bright Messianic prophecy, which reappears in various forms (Isa 28:16, &c.), and was made glorious use of by Peter before the Sanhedrim (Ac 4:11).”

He who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”

“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder--The Kingdom of God is here a Temple, in the erection of which a certain stone, rejected as unsuitable by the spiritual builders, is…”

Although they wanted to arrest Him, they were afraid of the crowds, because the people regarded Him as a prophet.

“But when they sought to lay hands on him--which Luke (Lu 20:19) says they did "the same hour," hardly able to restrain their rage. they feared the multitude--rather, "the multitudes."”

“The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.

“The last was a parable of the Old Testament history; and Christ is rather the last and greatest of the line of its prophets and teachers than the founder of a new kingdom.”

The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.

“Jerusalem, once "the city of the Great King" (Ps 48:2), and even up almost to this time (Mt 5:35); but now it is "their city"--just as our Lord, a day or two after this, said of the temple, where God had so long dwelt, "Behold…”

So the servants went out into the streets and gathered everyone they could find, both evil and good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.

“So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good--that is, without making any distinction between open sinners and the morally correct. The Gospel call fetched in Jews, Samaritans, and outlying heathen alike.”

So practice and observe everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.

“It is remarked by WEBSTER and WILKINSON that the warning to beware of the scribes is given by Mark and Luke (Mr 12:38; Lu 20:46) without any qualification: the charge to respect and obey them being reported by Matthew alone, indicating for whom this Gospel…”

All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

“But all their works they do for to be seen of men--Whatever good they do, or zeal they show, has but one motive--human applause.”

the greetings in the marketplaces, and the title of ‘Rabbi’ by which they are addressed.

“And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi--It is the spirit rather than the letter of this that must be pressed; though the violation of the letter, springing from spiritual pride, has done incalculable evil in the Church of Christ.”

And do not call anyone on earth your father, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.

“And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven, &c.--To construe these injunctions into a condemnation of every title by which Church rulers may be distinguished from the flock which they rule, is virtually to condemn…”