A Story About Workers^(A)

20 “[^LFor] The kingdom of heaven is like a ·person who owned some land [landowner; householder]. One morning, he went out very early to hire some people to work in his vineyard. ² The man agreed to pay the workers ·one coin [^La denarius; ^Ctypical pay for a day laborer] for working that day. Then he sent them into the vineyard to work. ³ About ·nine o’clock [^Lthe third hour] the man went to the marketplace and saw some other people standing there, doing nothing. ⁴ So he said to them, ‘If you go and work in my vineyard, I will pay you ·what your work is worth [^Lwhatever is right].’ ⁵ So they went to work in the vineyard. The man went out again about ·twelve o’clock and three o’clock [^Lthe sixth and ninth hour] and did the same thing. ⁶ About ·five o’clock [^Lthe eleventh hour] the man went to the marketplace again and saw others standing there. He asked them, ‘Why did you stand here all day doing nothing?’ ⁷ They answered, ‘No one ·gave us a job [hired us].’ The man said to them, ‘Then you can go and work in my vineyard.’

⁸ “·At the end of the day [When evening came], the owner of the vineyard said to the ·boss of all the workers [foreman; supervisor; steward], ‘Call the workers and pay them [^Ltheir wage]. Start with the last people I hired and end with those I hired first.’

⁹ “When the workers who were hired at ·five o’clock [^Lthe eleventh hour] came to get their pay, each received ·one coin [^La denarius; v. 2]. ¹⁰ When the workers who were hired first came to get their pay, they ·thought [expected; assumed] they would be paid more than the others. But each one of them also received ·one coin [^La denarius]. ¹¹ When they got their coin, they ·complained to [grumbled at; protested to] the ·man who owned the land [landowner; householder]. ¹² They said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you ·paid them the same as you paid [^Lmade them equal to] us who ·worked hard all day in the hot sun [^Lbore the burden and heat of the day].’ ¹³ But the man who owned the vineyard said to one of those workers, ‘Friend, I am ·being fair [^Lnot being unfair] to you. ·You agreed [Did you not agree…?] to work for ·one coin [^La denarius; v. 2]. ¹⁴ So take ·your pay [^Lwhat is yours] and go. I ·want [choose] to give the man who was hired last the same pay that I gave you. ¹⁵ ·I can [^LDon’t I have the right to…?] do what I want with ·my own money [^Lwhat is mine]. Are you jealous because I am ·good to those people [generous; ^Lgood]?’

¹⁶ “So those who are last now will someday be first, and those who are first now will someday be last.”

Jesus Talks About His Own Death^(B)

¹⁷ While Jesus was going [^Lup] to Jerusalem [^Ctravelers go “up” to Jerusalem because it is built on a hill and because it is God’s holy city], he took his twelve followers aside privately and [as they walked; ^Lon the way] said to them, ¹⁸ “Look, we are going [^Lup] to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be ·turned over [betrayed; delivered over; see 17:22] to the ·leading [^Tchief] priests and the ·teachers of the law [scribes], and they will ·say that he must die [condemn him to death]. ¹⁹ They will turn the Son of Man over to the Gentiles [^Cthe Roman authorities] to ·laugh at [mock] him and ·beat him with whips [scourge/flog him] and crucify him. But on the third day, he will be raised to life again.”

A Mother Asks Jesus a Favor^(C)

²⁰ Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee [^CJames and John] came to Jesus with her sons. She ·bowed [knelt] before him and asked ·him to do something for her [a favor of him].

²¹ Jesus asked, “What do you want?”

She said, “·Promise [Grant; Declare; ^LSay] that one of my sons will sit at your right ·side [hand] and the other will sit at your left side in your kingdom [^Cthe positions of highest authority beside the king].”

²² But Jesus said, “You don’t understand what you are asking. ·Can you [Are you able to] drink the cup [^Csymbolizing suffering, and perhaps God’s judgment experienced by Jesus on the cross; Jer. 25:15–29] that I am about to drink?”

The sons answered, “Yes, we ·can [are able].”

²³ Jesus said to them, “You will drink from my cup. But ·I cannot choose [it is not for me to grant/say] who will sit at my right or my left; those places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.”

²⁴ When the other ten ·followers [disciples] heard this, they were ·angry [indignant] with the two brothers.

²⁵ Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the ·Gentiles [nations] love to ·show their power [lord it] over the people. And their ·important leaders [high officials; ^Lgreat ones] love to ·use [exert] their authority [^Lover them]. ²⁶ But it ·should not be [must not be; is not to be] that way among you. [Instead, ^LBut] Whoever wants to become great among you must ·serve the rest of you like a servant [^Lbe your servant]. ²⁷ Whoever wants to become first among you must ·serve all of you like a slave [^Lbe slave of all]. ²⁸ In the same way, the Son of Man did not come to be served. He came to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many people [Is. 53:12; John 11:49–50].”

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men^(D)

²⁹ When ·Jesus and his followers [^Lthey] were leaving Jericho, a ·great many people [large crowd] followed him. ³⁰ [^LAnd look/^Tbehold] Two blind men sitting by the road heard that Jesus was going by, so they shouted, “Lord, Son of David [^Ca title for the Messiah, a descendant of King David; 2 Sam. 7:11–16], ·have mercy [take pity] on us!”

³¹ The people ·warned [rebuked; scolded] the blind men to be quiet, but they shouted even more, “Lord, Son of David, ·have mercy [take pity] on us!”

³² Jesus stopped and said to the blind men, “What do you want me to do for you?”

³³ They answered, “Lord, ·we want to see [^Llet our eyes be opened].”

³⁴ Jesus felt ·sorry [compassion] for the blind men and touched their eyes, and at once they could see. Then they followed Jesus.