“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed with the workers on a denarius for the day, and sent them into his vineyard.[1]
3 “About nine in the morning he went out and saw others standing around in the marketplace with nothing to do.[2] 4 He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I’ll pay you whatever is fair.’ 5 So they went. He went out again about noon and about three in the afternoon and did the same thing.
6 “Then about five in the afternoon he went out and found still others standing around. He said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day with nothing to do?’ 7 They said, ‘Because nobody hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too.’
8 “When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, starting with the last ones hired and going back to the first.’ 9 The ones hired around five in the afternoon came, and each received a denarius. 10 So when the first ones came, they thought they would get more. But they also received a denarius each. 11 When they took it, they grumbled against the landowner. 12 ‘These last ones worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you’ve made them equal to us — we who carried the heavy load and the scorching heat all day.’
13 “But he answered one of them, ‘Friend, I’m not cheating you. Didn’t you agree with me on a denarius? 14 Take what’s yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. 15 Don’t I have the right to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you giving me the evil eye because I am generous?’[3]
16 “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”
17 As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside by themselves and said to them on the way, 18 “Look, we are going up to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death 19 and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked, flogged, and crucified — and on the third day he will be raised.”
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons. She knelt before him, wanting to ask something. 21 “What do you want?” he said to her. She said to him, “Say that these two sons of mine will sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom.”
22 Jesus answered, “You don’t know what you’re asking. Can you drink the cup I am about to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”[4] 23 He said to them, “You will drink my cup. But to sit at my right hand and my left — that is not mine to give. It belongs to those my Father has prepared it for.”
24 When the other ten heard this, they were angry with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones throw their weight around. 26 It won’t be that way among you. Whoever wants to become great among you will be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first among you will be your slave — 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[5]
29 As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. 30 Two blind men were sitting beside the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”[6] 31 The crowd warned them sharply to be quiet, but they shouted even louder, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”
32 Jesus stopped, called them over, and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” 33 They said to him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.” 34 Jesus was moved with compassion. He touched their eyes, and right away they could see. And they followed him.
Notes
Note 1. A denarius was the standard daily wage for an ordinary laborer in this period — enough to feed a family for a day. ↩
Note 2. The Greek counts hours from sunrise, not from midnight: the “third hour” is roughly 9 a.m., the “sixth” is noon, the “ninth” is 3 p.m., and the “eleventh” is about 5 p.m. We’ve translated these into clock time so the stages of the workday are clear. ↩
Note 3. The Greek reads literally, “Is your eye evil because I am good?” Across the ancient Mediterranean the “evil eye” named the hostile, envious look thought to bring harm. ↩
Note 4. In the Hebrew scriptures “the cup” is a stock image for a fate one is handed to drink down — often God’s judgment or a portion of suffering (as in Isaiah 51:17 and Jeremiah 25:15–16). ↩
Note 5. The Greek word behind “ransom,” lytron, was the price paid to set a captive or slave free. It belongs to the world of commerce and liberation — a payment that buys someone out of bondage. ↩
Note 6. “Son of David” was a charged title: it named the long-awaited descendant of King David whom many first-century Jews expected to rule Israel and reign forever. The promise it rests on is 2 Samuel 7:12-16. ↩