Jesus continues his final journey through Perea and Jericho, heading towards Jerusalem, which he enters in the following chapter.

[1] Anglican theologian E. H. Plumptre argues that the division of the chapters at this point is "singularly unfortunate, as separating the parable both from the events which gave occasion to it and from the teaching which it illustrates.

It is not too much to say that we can scarcely understand it at all unless we connect it with the history of the young ruler who had great possessions, and the claims which the disciples had made for themselves when they contrasted their readiness with his reluctance".

[2] Lutheran Pietist Johann Bengel argues, likewise, that a link is to be made with Peter's enquiry in Matthew 19:27: "See, we have left all and followed You.

[6]Bengel notes that the landowner deals with the first group of labourers by legal contract, promising to pay an agreed sum, and with the others "more by mere liberality".

[4] There are three typical readings of this verse: Et ascendens Jesus Jerosolymam, assumpsit duodecim discipulos secreto, et ait illis:[14]And Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart, and said to them:[15]18 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify.

[18]The mother of Zebedee's sons, James and John, is known to have been Salome, "as we learn by comparing Matthew 27:56 with Mark 15:40".