Matthewchapter 20
34 verses · BSBMatthew book hub →
Speaks with:Mark 10×9Matthew 22×4Luke 22×4Matthew 20×3Matthew 26×3Matthew 19×3
Summary
Chapter summary
Laborers in the vineyard. All receive a penny; the last first. Third passion prediction. Request of the mother of James and John, and the 'not so among you' teaching: 'the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.' Two blind men at Jericho healed.
Context
Gospel · Matthew — Matthew overview
- A. 1–16 Laborers Hired at the Eleventh Hour
- B. 17–19 Going Up to Jerusalem to Die
- C. 20–28 A Mother's Request; Greatness Is Service
- D. 29–34 Two Blind Men Cry Out at Jericho
The outline
A.Laborers Hired at the Eleventh Hourvv. 1 to 16
Read vv. 1 to 16 →B.Going Up to Jerusalem to Dievv. 17 to 19
Read vv. 17 to 19 →C.A Mother's Request; Greatness Is Servicevv. 20 to 28
Read vv. 20 to 28 →D.Two Blind Men Cry Out at Jerichovv. 29 to 34
Read vv. 29 to 34 →
The world behind this chapter
Matthew 20The history
The hiring square was a real institution. Men without land gathered in the marketplace before sunrise, and landowners came and picked crews for the day. Those still standing at five in the afternoon were the ones nobody had wanted — and a man who went home unhired had nothing to feed his household with that night.
The denarius was the standard day's wage for such work, and the Law required that a hired man be paid before sundown, because he lived on it. The urgency in the parable is the grape harvest, which has to come in fast before the rains, so an owner really would keep going back for more hands.
The mother's request for the two best seats assumes a royal court, where the places at a king's right and left were the two great offices of state. Jesus answers with a cup — a common Old Testament image for a portion assigned by God, often a portion of suffering.
The contrast he draws was visible everywhere. Rulers in the Greek and Roman world took titles like benefactor while taxing the people who honoured them, and client kings advertised their generosity on their coins. Jesus says his court runs the other way: whoever wants to be first must be a slave.
Jericho, where the chapter ends, was a wealthy town — Herod had a winter palace there, and the surrounding groves produced the costly balsam trade. It also sat on the main pilgrim road to Jerusalem, which is why beggars worked its roadside during festival season.
What it meant to them
The vineyard parable was aimed at exactly the resentment Matthew's mixed communities felt: latecomers receiving the same as those who had borne the day's heat. The owner has broken no contract. He has simply been generous, and generosity offends the man keeping score.
And the chapter states the purpose of the whole journey in one sentence: the Son of Man came to give his life as a ransom for many. To readers arguing about how a Messiah could be executed, that line said the cross was not the accident. It was the errand.
Sources cited
- Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Matthew 20. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.