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1“The kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out at dawn to hire laborers for his vineyard.
2After agreeing with them for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard.
3Going out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace,
4and he said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just.’[#: although the wage is not stipulated as in the case of those first hired, it will be fair.]
5So they went off. [And] he went out again around noon, and around three o’clock, and did likewise.
6Going out about five o’clock, he found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why do you stand here idle all day?’
7They answered, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into my vineyard.’
8When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Summon the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and ending with the first.’[#: this element of the parable has no other purpose than to show how knew what were given (Mt 20:12).; #Lv 19:13; Dt 24:15.]
9When those who had started about five o’clock came, each received the usual daily wage.
10So when the first came, they thought that they would receive more, but each of them also got the usual wage.
11And on receiving it they grumbled against the landowner,
12saying, ‘These last ones worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who bore the day’s burden and the heat.’
13He said to one of them in reply, ‘My friend, I am not cheating you. Did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage?[#: literally, “I am not treating you unjustly.”]
14Take what is yours and go. What if I wish to give this last one the same as you?[#The owner’s conduct involves no violation of justice (Mt 20:4, 13), and that all the workers receive the same wage is due only to his generosity to the latest arrivals; the resentment of the first comes from envy.]
15[Or] am I not free to do as I wish with my own money? Are you envious because I am generous?’
16Thus, the last will be first, and the first will be last.”[#See note on Mt 19:30.]
The Third Prediction of the Passion.
17As Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve [disciples] aside by themselves, and said to them on the way,[#16:21; 17:22–23; Mk 10:32–34; Lk 18:31–33.]
18“Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they will condemn him to death,
19and hand him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
The Request of James and John.
20Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something.[#Mk 10:35–45.; #The reason for Matthew’s making the petitioner (cf. Mk 10:35) is not clear. Possibly he intends an allusion to Bathsheba’s seeking the kingdom for Solomon; see 1 Kgs 1:11–21. : see note on Mt 16:28.]
21He said to her, “What do you wish?” She answered him, “Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom.”
22Jesus said in reply, “You do not know what you are asking. Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?” They said to him, “We can.”[#: the Greek verbs are plural and, with the rest of the verse, indicate that the answer is addressed not to the woman but to her sons. : see note on Mk 10:38–40. Matthew omits the Marcan “or be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized” (Mk 10:38).]
23He replied, “My cup you will indeed drink, but to sit at my right and at my left [, this] is not mine to give but is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father.”
24When the ten heard this, they became indignant at the two brothers.[#Lk 22:25–27.]
25But Jesus summoned them and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and the great ones make their authority over them felt.
26But it shall not be so among you. Rather, whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant;
27whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.[#Mk 9:35.]
28Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[#26:28; Is 53:12; Rom 5:6; 1 Tm 2:6.; #: this noun, which occurs in the New Testament only here and in the Marcan parallel (Mk 10:45), does not necessarily express the idea of liberation by payment of some price. The cognate verb is used frequently in the LXX of God’s liberating Israel from Egypt or from Babylonia after the Exile; see Ex 6:6; 15:13; Ps 77:16 (76 LXX); Is 43:1; 44:22. The liberation brought by Jesus’ death will be ; cf. Is 53:12. does not mean that some are excluded, but is a Semitism designating the collectivity who benefit from the service of the one, and is equivalent to “all.” While there are few verbal contacts between this saying and the fourth Servant Song (Is 52:13–53:12), the ideas of that passage are reflected here.]
The Healing of Two Blind Men.
29As they left Jericho, a great crowd followed him.[#Mk 10:46–52; Lk 18:35–43.]
30Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “[Lord,] Son of David, have pity on us!”[#9:27.; #: some important textual witnesses omit this, but that may be because copyists assimilated this verse to Mt 9:27. : see note on Mt 9:27.]
31The crowd warned them to be silent, but they called out all the more, “Lord, Son of David, have pity on us!”
32Jesus stopped and called them and said, “What do you want me to do for you?”
33They answered him, “Lord, let our eyes be opened.”
34Moved with pity, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight, and followed him.