It isn’t fair, it doesn’t make sense. Jesus isn’t fair and he’s better than sense.
The rich young ruler
Luke 18: 18-30
The parable of the workers in the vineyard
Matthew 20:1-16
Jesus speaks of the crucifixion
Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 10:32-34, Luke 18:31-34
The ambition of James and John
Matthew 20:20-28. Mark 10:35-45
Two blind men are healed
Matthew 20:29-34
Blind Bartimaeus is healed
Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43
No one can say that Jesus didn’t warn his disciples what was coming, They just didn’t listen. He told them in words of one syllable that he as going to Jerusalem to die, and that three days later he would rise, but they didn’t take it in. their minds were reeling with too many other things. Things like the extraordinary parable of God’s generosity that is the Workers in the Vineyard. Even today when I preach on this people come up to me afterwards and say “That is totally wrong.” My answer is usually “Who said God has to be fair?”
James and John (or their mother) display some ruthless ambition - wanting to climb the corporate tree and get the best seats in the boardroom. Jesus acts just as ruthlessly in explaining that they’ve just demoted themselves to the bottom of the pile, because his system of preferment works backwards. “The son of man came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Then follows the healing of a blind man (or two men in Matthew’s version) which is the gospel in miniature. Someone who was stuck,. humanly speaking, unable to make any progress in life, is set free to follow Jesus on the way. He goes from zero to, well, not hero, but disciple in the blink of his newly working eyes. And in a stroke he outdoes his unflattering name - Bartimaeus means Son of Filth, but he is set free to be a disciple and to acquire his true worth in God’s eyes.
The rich young ruler
Luke 18: 18-30
The parable of the workers in the vineyard
Matthew 20:1-16
Jesus speaks of the crucifixion
Matthew 20:17-19, Mark 10:32-34, Luke 18:31-34
The ambition of James and John
Matthew 20:20-28. Mark 10:35-45
Two blind men are healed
Matthew 20:29-34
Blind Bartimaeus is healed
Mark 10:46-52, Luke 18:35-43
No one can say that Jesus didn’t warn his disciples what was coming, They just didn’t listen. He told them in words of one syllable that he as going to Jerusalem to die, and that three days later he would rise, but they didn’t take it in. their minds were reeling with too many other things. Things like the extraordinary parable of God’s generosity that is the Workers in the Vineyard. Even today when I preach on this people come up to me afterwards and say “That is totally wrong.” My answer is usually “Who said God has to be fair?”
James and John (or their mother) display some ruthless ambition - wanting to climb the corporate tree and get the best seats in the boardroom. Jesus acts just as ruthlessly in explaining that they’ve just demoted themselves to the bottom of the pile, because his system of preferment works backwards. “The son of man came to serve, not to be served, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)
Then follows the healing of a blind man (or two men in Matthew’s version) which is the gospel in miniature. Someone who was stuck,. humanly speaking, unable to make any progress in life, is set free to follow Jesus on the way. He goes from zero to, well, not hero, but disciple in the blink of his newly working eyes. And in a stroke he outdoes his unflattering name - Bartimaeus means Son of Filth, but he is set free to be a disciple and to acquire his true worth in God’s eyes.
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