Chapter 20

¹For the Kingdom of Heaven is like an employer who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. ²He agreed with the laborers to pay them a dollar a day, and sent them to his vineyard. ³He went out about nine o’clock and saw others standing in the bazaar with nothing to do. ⁴And he said to them, ‘You go to my vineyard, too, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. ⁵He went out again about twelve and about three, and did the same. ⁶About five he went out and found others standing about and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing about here all day doing nothing?’ ⁷They said to him, ‘Because nobody has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go to my vineyard, too.’ ⁸When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the laborers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’ ⁹When those who were hired about five o’clock came they received a dollar apiece. ¹⁰And when those who were hired first came they expected to get more, but they too got a dollar apiece. ¹¹And when they received it they grumbled at their employer, ¹²and said, ‘These men who were hired last worked only one hour, and you have put them on the same footing with us who have done the heavy work of the day and have stood the midday heat.’ ¹³But he answered one of them, ‘My friend, I am doing you no injustice. Did you not agree with me on a dollar? ¹⁴Take what belongs to you and go. I wish to give the last man hired as much as I give you. ¹⁵Have I no right to do what I please with what is mine? Or do you begrudge my generosity?’ ¹⁶So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

¹⁷When Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, he took the Twelve off by themselves, and said to them as they were on the way,

¹⁸“We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the high priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death, ¹⁹and hand him over to the heathen to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”

²⁰Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came up to him with her sons, bowing low, to ask a favor of him. ²¹He said to her,

“What do you want?”

She said to him,

“Give orders that these two sons of mine sit one at your right and one at your left, when you are king!”

²²But Jesus answered,

“You do not know what you are asking for! Can you drink what I am going to drink?”

They answered,

“Yes, we can.”

²³He said to them,

“Then what I drink you shall drink, but as for sitting at my right or my left, that is not mine to give, but belongs to those for whom it is destined by my Father.”

²⁴When the other ten heard of this, they were very indignant at the two brothers. ²⁵But Jesus called them to him and said,

“You know that the rulers of the heathen lord it over them, and their great men tyrannize over them. ²⁶It is not to be so among you, but whoever wants to be great among you must be your servant, ²⁷and whoever wants to hold the first place among you must be your slave, ²⁸just as the Son of Man has come not to be waited on, but to wait on other people, and to give his life to ransom many others.”

²⁹As they were going out of Jericho, a great crowd followed him. ³⁰And two blind men sitting by the roadside, hearing that it was Jesus who was passing, called out,

“You Son of David! Take pity on us, sir!”

³¹The crowd told them to be still, but they called all the louder,

“You Son of David! Take pity on us, sir!”

³²And Jesus stopped and called them, and said,

“What do you want me to do for you?”

³³They said to him,

“Sir, have our eyes opened!”

³⁴And Jesus took pity on them and touched their eyes, and they immediately regained their sight, and followed him.