Section 124b
Parable of the landowner's sovereignty
Perea
| Matthew 20:1-16 |
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| 1“For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2After agreeing with the workers that they would each receive a denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. 3About the third hour he went out and saw others standing idle in the marketplace. 4He said to them, ‘You go into my vineyard as well, and I will give you whatever is right.’ 5So they went. He went out again about the sixth hour and the ninth hour and did likewise. 6About the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing idle and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here idle all day?’ 7They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go into my vineyard as well, and you will receive whatever is right.’ 8“When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his foreman, ‘Call the workers and pay them their wages, beginning with the last and going on to the first.’ 9When those who had been hired about the eleventh hour came, they each received a denarius. 10So when those who had been hired first came, they thought they would receive more, but they also each received a denarius. 11When they received it, they grumbled against the master of the house, 12saying, ‘These last men worked for one hour, and you have made them equal to us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong. Did you not agree with me to work for a denarius? 14Take what is yours and go. I wish to give to this last man just as I gave to you. 15Or is it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is mine? Are you envious because I am good?’ 16So the last will be first, and the first will be last. For many are called, but few are chosen.” |
Notes
Perea
Perea was the term used by the historian Flavius Josephus, and others, for a section of the territory east of The Jordan River, opposite Judea and Samaria. Although the word Perea is not found in the Scriptures, the area was mentioned frequently in the Gospels as the “land beyond the Jordan”. John the Baptist baptized in Perea, and was also martyred there at Herod’s fortress of Machaerus. Jesus Christ often visited Perea during His ministry, and had many followers from there, which at the time had a large Jewish population.
Jesus spent most of his final 3 months before Passion Week traveling around Perea, teaching in its towns and villages. Jesus had been in Jerusalem for the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22-39), and the Jews tried to stone him again. He escaped their grasp and went back across the Jordan into Perea for the final months before his crucifixion. During these months he taught his disciples about the cost of following him and he tried to prepare them for his coming death.
Today, most of Perea is in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.