Matthew Henry

His disciples said to Him, “If this is the case between a man and his wife, it is better not to marry.”

“If they may not be allowed to put away their wives when they please, they will have no wives at all; though, from the beginning, when no divorce was allowed, God said, It is not good for man to be alone, and blessed them, pronounced…”

Just then a man came up to Jesus and inquired, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to obtain eternal life?”

“We must be doing, and doing that which is good. The blood of Christ is the only purchase of eternal life (he merited it for us), but obedience to Christ is the appointed way to it, Heb. v. 9 . [4.]”

“Why do you ask Me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”

“But he would seem to find that faith in what he said, when he called him good Master, which the gentleman perhaps was not conscious to himself of; he intended no more than to own and honour him as a good man, but Christ would…”

“Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, honor your father and mother, and love your…

“Because he would teach him, and us all, that moral honesty is a necessary branch of true Christianity, and to be minded accordingly.”

“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”

“Or into life, that spiritual life which is the beginning and earnest of eternal life. He desired to know how he might have eternal life; Christ tells him how he might enter into it; we have it by the merit of Christ, a mystery which…”

‘You also go into my vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went.

“There is hope for old sinners; for if, in sincerity, they turn to God, they shall doubtless be accepted; true repentance is never too late.”

About the eleventh hour he went out and found still others standing around. ‘Why have you been standing here all day long doing nothing?’ he asked.

“Choose ye this day whom ye will serve. Secondly, Till we are hired into the service of God, we are standing all the day idle; a sinful state, though a state of drudgery to Satan, may really be called a state of idleness; sinners are…”

The workers who were hired about the eleventh hour came and each received a denarius. So when the original workers came, they assumed they would receive more.

“Those whom Christ fed miraculously, though of different sizes, men, women, and children, did all eat, and were filled.”

On receiving their pay, they began to grumble against the landowner.

“The Gentiles, who are newly called in, have as much of the privileges of the kingdom of the Messiah as the Jews have, who have so long been labouring in the vineyard of the Old-Testament church, under the yoke of the ceremonial law, in expectation…”

But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I am not being unfair to you. Did you not agree with me on one denarius? Take your pay and go.

“Because it is free grace, that is given to those that have it, boasting is for ever excluded; and because it is free grace, that is withheld from those that have it not, murmuring is for ever excluded.”

Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

“Abstulit, sed et dedit--He hath taken away; but he originally gave. It is not for such depending creatures as we are to quarrel with our Sovereign.”

“Look, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes.

“Christ suffered from the malice both of Jews and Gentiles, because he was to suffer for the salvation both of Jews and Gentiles; both had a hand in his death, because he was to reconcile both by his cross, Eph. ii.”

Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and knelt down to make a request of Him. “What do you want?” He inquired.

“Peter and they were his favourites; John was the disciple whom Jesus loved; yet none were so often reproved as they; whom Christ loves best he reproves most, Rev. iii.”

“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.

“Christ's answer is very mild; they were overtaken in the fault of ambition, but Christ restored them with the spirit of meekness. How he reproved the ignorance and error of their petition; (1.)”

“You do not know what you are asking,” Jesus replied. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?” “We can,” the brothers answered.

“It is but a baptism; if dipped, that is the worst of it, not drowned; perplexed, but not in despair. Baptism is an ordinance by which we join ourselves to the Lord in covenant and communion; and so is suffering for Christ, Ezek. xx.”

“You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant.

“He took the cup, offered himself to the baptism, and it was accepted. (2.) He leaves them in the dark about the degrees of their glory.”

The crowds that went ahead of Him and those that followed were shouting: “Hosanna to the Son of David!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”

“It was foretold concerning this Son of David, that all nations shall call him blessed ( Ps. lxxii. 17 ); these here began, and all true believers in all ages concur in it, and call him blessed; it is the genuine language of faith.”

Then Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there.

“They sold beasts for sacrifice, for the convenience of those that could more easily bring their money with them than their beast; and they changed money for those that wanted the half shekel, which was their yearly poll, or redemption-money; or, upon the bills of…”

The blind and the lame came to Him at the temple, and He healed them.

“Christ's healing was a real answer to that question, Who is this ? His works testified of him more than the hosannas; and his healing in the temple was the fulfilling of the promise, that the glory of the latter house should be greater than…”

Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. “May you never bear fruit again!” He said.

“How soon did their fig-tree wither away, after they said, His blood be on us, and our children! And the Lord was righteous in it. See the power of Christ; the former is wrapped up in the figure, but this more fully discoursed of;”

Once again, Jesus spoke to them in parables:

“The King is God, a great King, King of kings. Here is a marriage made for his son, Christ is the Bridegroom, the church is the bride; the gospel-day is the day of his espousals, Cant. iii.”

Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner.

“When the prophets of the Old Testament prevailed not, nor John the Baptist, nor Christ himself, who told them the entertainment was almost ready ( the kingdom of God was at hand ), the apostles and ministers of the gospel were sent after Christ's resurrection…”

Again, he sent other servants and said, ‘Tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner.

“Oxen and fatlings are killed for this feast; no niceties, but substantial food; enough, and enough of the best. The day of a feast is a day of slaughter, or sacrifice, Jam. v. 5 .”

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

“Note, Persecution of Christ's faithful ministers fills the measure of guilt more than any thing. Filling Jerusalem with innocent blood was that sin of Manasseh which the Lord would not pardon, 2 Kings xxiv. What was the ruin itself, that was coming;”

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.

“The case of hypocrites, who are in the church, but not of it, who have a name to live, but are not alive indeed, is represented by the guest that had not on a wedding garment; one of the bad that were gathered in.”