M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The workers in the vineyard
20 “So you see,” Jesus continued, “the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2 He agreed with the workers to give them a dinar a day, and sent them off to his vineyard.
3 “He went out again in the middle of the morning, and saw some others standing in the market-place with nothing to do.
4 “ ‘You too can go to the vineyard,’ he said, ‘and I’ll give you what’s right.’ 5 So off they went.
“He went out again about midday, and then in the middle of the afternoon, and did the same. 6 Then, with only an hour of the day left, he went out and found other people standing there.
“ ‘Why are you standing here all day with nothing to do?’ he asked them.
7 “ ‘Because no one has hired us,’ they replied. “ ‘Well,’ he said, ‘you too can go into the vineyard.’
8 “When evening came, the vineyard-owner said to his servant, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay. Start with the last, and go on to the first.’
9 “So the ones who had worked for one hour came, and each of them received a dinar. 10 When the first ones came, they thought they would get something more; but they, too, each received a dinar.
11 “When they had been given it, they grumbled against the landowner. 12 ‘This lot who came in last,’ they said, ‘have only worked for one hour—and they’ve been put on a level with us! And we did all the hard work, all day, and in the heat as well!’
13 “ ‘My friend,’ he said to one of them, ‘I’m not doing you any wrong. You agreed with me on one dinar, didn’t you? 14 Take it! It’s yours! And be on your way. I want to give this fellow who came at the end the same as you. 15 Or are you suggesting that I’m not allowed to do what I like with my own money? Or are you giving me the evil eye because I’m good?’
16 “So those at the back will be at the front, and the front ones at the back.”
The cup he had to drink
17 Jesus was on his way up to Jerusalem. He took the twelve disciples aside in private, while they were on the road, and said to them, 18 “Look here. We’re going up to Jerusalem. The son of man will be handed over to the chief priests and the scribes, and they’re going to condemn him to death. 19 They will hand him over to the pagans, and they’re going to mock him, flog him and crucify him. And on the third day he will be raised.”
20 Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came up, with her sons, to Jesus. She bowed low in front of him and indicated that she had a special request to make.
21 “What d’you want?” he asked her.
“It’s about these two sons of mine,” she said to him. “Please say that, when you’re king, they may sit, one at your right hand and one at your left.”
22 “You don’t know what you’re asking for,” said Jesus. “Can you two drink the cup I’m going to drink?”
“Yes, we can,” they replied.
23 “Well,” said Jesus, “so you will drink my cup, then! But sitting at my right and left is not something I can grant. That’s up to my father to give to whoever he has in mind.”
24 When the other ten heard this they were annoyed with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them together.
“You know how it is with pagan rulers,” he said. “They lord it over their subjects. They get all high and mighty and let everybody know it. 26 But that’s not how it’s to be with you. If any of you wants to be great, he must be your servant. 27 If any of you wants to be first, he must be the slave of all. 28 That’s how it is with the son of man: he didn’t come to have servants obey him, but to be a servant—and to give his life as ‘a ransom for many.’ ”
The healing of two blind men
29 As they were going out of Jericho, a large crowd was following Jesus. 30 Just then two blind men were sitting by the wayside, and heard that Jesus was going by. “Have pity on us, Master, son of David!” they shouted.
31 The crowd scolded them and told them to be silent. But they shouted out all the more, “Have pity on us, Master, son of David!”
32 Jesus came to a stop. He called them. “What d’you want me to do for you?” he asked.
33 “Master,” they replied, “we want you to open our eyes.”
34 Jesus was very moved. He touched their eyes. At once they could see again, and they followed him.
Round the coast and out of the window
20 After the hue and cry had died down, Paul sent for the disciples. He encouraged them, said his farewells, and set off to go to Macedonia. 2 He went through those regions, encouraging them with many words and, arriving in Greece, 3 stayed there three months. He was intending to set sail for Syria, but the Jews made a plot against him, and he decided to return instead through Macedonia.
4 He was accompanied on this trip by Sopater, son of Pyrrhus of Beroea; by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica; by Gaius from Derbe; and Timothy, and Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. 5 They went on ahead and waited for us at Troas, 6 while we got on board ship at Philippi, after the days of Unleavened Bread, and joined them in Troas five days later. We stayed there for a week.
7 On the first day of the week we gathered to break bread. Paul was intending to leave the following morning. He was engaged in discussion with them, and he went on talking up to midnight. 8 There were several lamps burning in the upper room where we were gathered. 9 A young man named Eutychus was sitting by the window, and was overcome with a deep sleep as Paul went on and on. Once sleep had got the better of him, he fell down out of the third-story window, and was picked up dead.
10 Paul went down, stooped over him and picked him up.
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “There is life still in him.”
11 He went back upstairs, broke bread and ate with them, and continued speaking until dawn. Then he left. 12 They took up the young man alive and were very much comforted.
Paul the pastor looks back—and looks on
13 We went on ahead to the ship and set off for Assos, with the intention of picking Paul up there (he had decided that he would walk to that point). 14 When we arrived at Assos, we picked him up and went on to Mitylene, 15 and from there we sailed on the next day and arrived opposite Chios. The following day we got near to Samos, and the day after that we came to Miletus. 16 Paul had decided, you see, to pass by Ephesus, so that he wouldn’t have to spend more time in Asia. He was eager to get to Jerusalem, if he could, in time for the day of Pentecost.
17 From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus and called for the elders of the church, 18 and they came to him.
“You know very well,” he began, “how I have behaved with you all the time, since the first day I arrived in Asia. 19 I have served the Lord with all humility, with the tears and torments that came upon me because of the plots of the Jews. 20 You know that I kept back nothing that would have been helpful to you, preaching to you and teaching you both in public and from house to house. 21 I bore witness both to Jews and Greeks about repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus.
22 “And now, look, I am going to Jerusalem, bound by the spirit. I have no idea what’s going to happen to me there, 23 but only that the holy spirit testifies to me in city after city that captivity and trouble are in store for me. 24 But I don’t reckon my life at any value, so long as I can finish my course, and the ministry which I have received from the Lord Jesus, to bear witness to the gospel of God’s grace.
25 “So now,” he went on, “I have gone to and fro preaching the kingdom among you, but I know that none of you will ever see my face again. 26 Therefore I bear witness to you this very day that I am innocent of everyone’s blood, 27 since I did not shrink from declaring to you God’s entire plan.”
Watch out for yourselves, the flock and the wolves
28 “Watch out for yourselves,” Paul continued, “and for the whole flock, in which the holy spirit has appointed you as guardians, to feed the church of God, which he purchased with his very own blood. 29 I know that fierce wolves will come in after I am gone, and they won’t spare the flock. 30 Yes, even from among yourselves people will arise, saying things which will distort the truth, and they will draw the disciples away after them. 31 Therefore keep watch, and remember that for three years, night and day, I didn’t stop warning each of you, with tears.
32 “So now I commit you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and give you the inheritance among all those whom God has sanctified. 33 I never coveted anyone’s silver, or gold, or clothes. 34 You yourselves know that these very hands worked to serve my own needs and those of the people with me. 35 I showed you in all such matters that this is how we should work to help the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, as he put it, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
36 When he had said this, he knelt down with them all and prayed. 37 There was great lamentation among them all, and they fell on Paul’s neck and kissed him. 38 They were particularly sorry to hear the word he had spoken about never seeing his face again.
Then they brought him to the ship.
Scripture quotations from The New Testament for Everyone are copyright © Nicholas Thomas Wright 2011, 2018, 2019.