a prophecy fulfilled

34Jesus always used stories and illustrations like these when speaking to the crowds. In fact, he never spoke to them without using such parables. 35This fulfilled the prophecy that said,

"I will speak to you in parables.
I will explain mysteries hidden since the creation of the world."

you may be wondering why i have been stuck on writing about the parables of Jesus the last few posts, but i like how He took an everyday situation and used to teach. i see that being done in some ministers lately. like rob bell, and alistair begg, among others. are there any others that come to mind?

Story of the Vineyard Workers

1"For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of an estate who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. 2He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.

3"At nine o'clock in the morning he was passing 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. 5At noon and again around three o'clock he did the same thing. 6At five o'clock that evening he was in town again and saw some more people standing around. He asked them, 'Why haven't you been working today?'

7"They replied, 'Because no one hired us.' "The owner of the estate told them, 'Then go on 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. 10When those hired earlier came to get their pay, they assumed they would receive more. But they, too, were paid a day's wage. 11When they received their pay, they protested, 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 scorching 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 it and go. I wanted to pay this last worker the same as you. 15Is it against the law for me to do what I want with my money? Should you be angry because I am kind?'

this is one of the parables i recently used while teaching the youth group at the church i am a member of. i used the niv version and it used the term denari. i am partial to the nlt myself and it does not use the term denari, it uses a daily wage in its stead. none of them knew what denari meant, or what value it had.

did you know that its value was 25 silver coins? i then asked them if they knew of anyone who was betrayed for about that same amount. does that amount sound familiar to you? maybe if i said 30 pieces of silver you would have better chance of answering the question, huh?

do you think that this parable can be used for bedside conversions?