This Sunday we’ll be reading Matthew 19:27-20:16 – which includes a parable that is unique to Matthew’s gospel. It is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard.

In chapter 19, after witnessing what happened with the rich young ruler, Pete asks the question that is basically “after sacrificing all we had to follow you, what’s in it for us?”. Jesus does promise a reward to him, but where is it centered, according to the first part of v28? Given that context, what do you think the first/last dynamic is intended to teach us?

In chapter 20 Jesus tells a story about a rich landowner who hires day laborers to pick grapes during the vineyard’s harvest. The story is unsettling in it’s economic implications – but what about it’s spiritual ones? What reason does the landowner give for paying everyone the same amount? What do you believe that is teaching us about our pursuit of spiritual and eternal rewards and the actual source of it?

In v12, what is the chief complaint about the identical pay-stubs everyone had? What does this tell us about the self-perception of the complainers? In v 15 when it says “Or do you begrudge my generosity?”, it literally is asking “why do you give my generosity the evil eye?” Many, if not most, translations read a variation on “Should you be jealous because I am kind to others”. What are the complainers be envious of? They received what they agreed on as a wage. Justice was done…but something else was added – what? It’s interesting that they aren’t jealous of the money the short-timers received, they’re jealous of the landowners right to judge by his own standards. This really makes me think of something we’ll expound on in the teaching.

I find this whole story to be fascinating…hope you can join us on Sunday!