Gift from Creator Tells the Good Story 20
20
To help them to better understand what he was saying, Creator Sets Free (Jesus) told them another story about Creator’s good road.
WORKERS IN A VINEYARD
1“Creator’s good road from above is like this tribal member who managed a large vineyard. He went out early in the morning to find people to harvest the grapes. 2After they agreed with him on the amount for a full day’s pay, he sent them to work.
3“A few hours later he went to the trading post and saw people there doing nothing.
4“He told them, ‘If you will join the workers in my field, I will pay you well.’
5“So they went to work. Then, about midday, and again at midafternoon, he went out and found others and did the same. 6Finally, when the day was nearly done, he found a few more people doing nothing.
“‘Why are you not working?’ he asked them.
7“‘No one has hired us,’ they answered. He agreed to pay them fairly and sent them to work.
8“At the end of the day, the headman said to his manager, ‘Bring the workers in from the field and pay them, beginning from last to first.’
9“He paid the workers hired at the end of the day a full day’s wage. 10When the workers who were hired at the start of the day were paid, they expected to receive more but were paid the same amount.
11“‘We have worked all day in the scorching heat,’ they complained to the manager. 12‘Why should we be paid the same as the ones who worked only one hour?’
13“‘I am not being unfair with you, my friend,’ he said to one of them. ‘Did we not agree on the amount of a full day’s wages? 14Take your pay and go in peace. If I want to pay these men the same, what is that to you? 15Am I not permitted to be generous with what is mine? Or are you jealous because I have done a good thing?’”
Creator Sets Free (Jesus) let his followers think about the story for a moment.
16“That is why I told you before,” he reminded them, “the last will be first and the first will be last.”
A SOLEMN REMINDER
17As they journeyed on toward the Village of Peace (Jerusalem), he stopped on the way and gathered his followers around him.
18“We are on our way up to the Village of Peace (Jerusalem),” he reminded them. “There the True Human Being will be handed over to the head holy men and scroll keepers, who will put him to death. 19They will condemn him to death and hand him over to the People of Iron (Romans).#20:19 Lit. Gentiles They will treat him shamefully, whip him with cords of braided cowhide, and kill him by nailing him to a tree-pole —the cross.
“But remember,” he added, “on the third day he will defeat death and live again.”
THE GOOD ROAD IS ABOUT SERVING OTHERS
20The mother of He Takes Over (James)and He Shows Goodwill (John), the sons of Gift of Creator (Zebedee), came to Creator Sets Free (Jesus), along with her sons, and humbled herself before him to make a request.
21“What do you want from me?” he asked.
“Promise me,” she said, “that my two sons will have an honored place when your good road comes—one on your right hand, the other on your left.”
22“You do not know what you are asking,” he said to her.
He turned to her sons and asked them, “Can you drink the cup of suffering that I will drink, or endure my purification ceremony?”#20:22 Baptism
“We are able!” they answered.
23“Yes, you will drink from my cup of suffering,” he said to them, “but the place of honor on my right and left hand is not mine to give. My Father will give this honor to the ones he has chosen.”
24When the other ten message bearers heard this, they began to look down on the two brothers.
25So Creator Sets Free (Jesus) called them together and said, “Other nations, like the People of Iron (Romans), have rulers. They like to show their power over people and push them around. 26But this will not be the way of the ones who walk with me. The ones among you who would be great must humble themselves and serve all the others. 27And the ones who want to be first must become the household slave of all. 28In the same way, the True Human Being did not come to be served by others, but to offer his life in the place of many lives, to set them free.”
TWO BLIND MEN SEE AGAIN
The road to Village of Peace (Jerusalem) took them through Moon Village (Jericho).
29As they walked out from Moon Village (Jericho), a large crowd of people trailed after them. 30Not far from the village there were two blind men sitting on the side of the road.
When the blind men heard that Creator Sets Free (Jesus) was passing by, they cried out to him, “Honored One! Descendant of Much Loved One (David), have pity on us!”
31The people in the crowd scolded them and said, “Be quiet!”
That only made them cry out louder, “Honored One! Descendant of Much Loved One (David), have pity on us!”
32Creator Sets Free (Jesus) stopped walking and called out to them, “What do you want from me?”
33“Honored One,” they said, “open our eyes, that we may see.”
34He felt pity for them, so he touched their eyes, and right then their eyes were opened and they could see! So they went with him down the road.
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Gift from Creator Tells the Good Story 20: FNVNT
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