The Gospel of Matthew
Chapter 20: Overview
Matthew at this point in his Gospel is following Mark closely. All the episodes in chapters 19 and 20 are also told in Mark chapter 10 except that Matthew has added the story about the vineyard, 20,1-16.
The vineyard story therefore opens this chapter and Jesus continues to speak with his disciples. As we saw when looking at chapter 19, the same saying occuring in both 19,30 and 20,16 indicates a bracket. We will keep in mind as well how the story of the workers and their employer in the vineyard develops the considerations of leaving everything to follow Jesus in 19,27-30.
The third prediction of Jesus' fate (20,17-19) then begins the second part of the chapter with the announcement of Jerusalem as his destination.
This is immediately followed by the request of the mother of the sons of Zebedee (20,20-28). We have seen a number of times that "then" as in verse 20 is a linking word. The episode is a development from the preceeding prediction.
Finally, we have (20,29-34) Matthew's adaptation of Mark's story of the healing of blind Bartimaeus (Mk 10,46-52). In 20,29, Jesus is in Jericho and he finally comes near Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives in 21,1.
The three pages for our reading are therefore:
- 19,30-20,16: parable of the vineyard
- 20,17-28: Jesus' fate and ambitious disciples
- 20,29-34: The blind men of Jericho
Both Matthew and Mark keep Jesus' journey to Jerusalem quite short. It is in the Gospel of Luke that the journey becomes a major feature.
With that in mind, we are ready to return to the main page and begin our read through the chapter.