12. They said, ‘Those people were hired last and worked only one hour. But you paid them the same as you paid us. And we worked hard all day in the hot sun.’
13. But the man who owned the vineyard said to one of those workers, ‘Friend, I am being fair to you. You agreed to work for one silver coin.
14. So take your pay and go. I want to give the man who was hired last the same pay that I gave you.
15. I can do what I want with my own money. Are you jealous because I am good to those people?’
16. “So those who are last now will someday be first. And those who are first now will someday be last.”
17. Jesus was going to Jerusalem. His 12 followers were with him. While they were on the way, Jesus gathered the followers together and spoke to them privately. He said to them,
18. “We are going to Jerusalem. The Son of Man will be turned over to the leading priests and the teachers of the law. They will say that he must die.
19. They will give the Son of Man to the non-Jewish people. They will laugh at him and beat him with whips, and then they will kill him on a cross. But on the third day after his death, he will be raised to life again.”
20. Then the wife of Zebedee came to Jesus. Her sons were with her. The mother bowed before Jesus and asked him to do something for her.
21. Jesus asked, “What do you want?”She said, “Promise that one of my sons will sit at your right side in your kingdom. And promise that the other son will sit at your left side.”
22. But Jesus said, “You don’t understand what you are asking. Can you accept the kind of suffering that I must suffer?”The sons answered, “Yes, we can!”
23. Jesus said to them, “Truly you will suffer the same things that I will suffer. But I cannot choose who will sit at my right side or my left side. Those places belong to those for whom my Father has prepared them.”
24. The other ten followers heard this and were angry with the two brothers.
25. Jesus called all the followers together. He said, “You know that the rulers of the non-Jewish people love to show their power over the people. And their important leaders love to use all their authority.