Streetlights New Testament - Flipbook - Page 11
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Nothing to Bring to the Table
HOW DO YOU APPROACH GOD? As weird as it may sound, it can actually be
extremely hard for us to come to God with a childlike attitude. Maybe we don’t come to
Him because we feel we are too messed up to have a ticket to His table. Or maybe we are
trying to earn His respect and love by our own efforts, so instead of coming with open,
receptive hands like children, we ask what we must do to gain His love and be part of His
family. But God shows us in Matthew 19:13-15 that, just like small, vulnerable children,
we bring nothing to the table and can’t earn His love or His Kingdom. Our world teaches,
“You better earn your place!” But Jesus tells us the total opposite. In this simple, little
story, we find a big, eternal truth: God gives His Kingdom to those who lower themselves
and admit they are children in need, not to those who pridefully try to earn His favor. So
let the children (not the self-sufficient adults) come to Him!
T
agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent
them out to work.
3“At nine o’clock in the morning he was pass
ing through the marketplace and saw some
people standing around doing nothing. 4So he
hired them, telling them he would pay them
whatever was right at the end of the day. 5 So
they went to work in the vineyard. At noon and
again at three o’clock he did the same thing.
6“At five o’clock that afternoon he was in
town again and saw some more people stand
ing around. He asked them, ‘Why haven’t you
been working today?’
7 “They replied, ‘Because no one hired us.’
“The landowner told them, ‘Then go out and
join the others in my vineyard.’
8 “That evening he told the foreman to call
the workers in and pay them, beginning with
the last workers first. 9When those hired at five
o’clock were paid, each received a full day’s
wage. 10 When those hired first came to get
their pay, they assumed they would receive
more. But they, too, were paid a day’s wage.
11 When they received their pay, they protested
to the owner, 12‘Those people worked only one
hour, and yet you’ve paid them just as much as
you paid us who worked all day in the scorch
ing heat.’
13 “He answered one of them, ‘Friend, I
haven’t been unfair! Didn’t you agree to work
all day for the usual wage? 14Take your money
and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the
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HINK
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same as you. 15Is it against the law for me to do
what I want with my money? Should you be
jealous because I am kind to others?’
16 “So those who are last now will be first
then, and those who are first will be last.”
Jesus Again Predicts His Death
17As J
esus was going up to Jerusalem, he
took the twelve disciples aside privately and
told them what was going to happen to him.
18 “Listen,” he said, “we’re going up to Jerusa
lem, where the Son of Man will be betrayed
to the leading priests and the teachers of reli
gious law. They will sentence him to die. 19Then
they will hand him over to the Romans to be
mocked, flogged with a whip, and crucified.
But on the third day he will be raised from the
dead.”
Jesus Teaches about Serving Others
20 Then the mother of James and John, the sons
of Zebedee, came to Jesus with her sons. She
knelt respectfully to ask a favor. 21“What is your
request?” he asked.
She replied, “In your Kingdom, please let my
two sons sit in places of honor next to you, one
on your right and the other on your left.”
22 But Jesus answered by saying to them,
“You don’t know what you are asking! Are you
able to drink from the bitter cup of suffering I
am about to drink?”
“Oh yes,” they replied, “we are able!”
