One of Jesus\u2019 shortest parables has always stuck out to me \u2014 even haunted me. Just these few verses make me examine myself to see who I really am as a Christian, and often, I don\u2019t like what I see.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, \u2018Son, go and work in\u00a0the vineyard today.\u2019 And he answered, \u2018I will not,\u2019 but afterward he\u00a0changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, \u2018I go, sir,\u2019 but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?\u201d\u00a0They said, \u201cThe first\u201d (Matthew 21:28-31).<\/p>\n
This passage didn\u2019t bother me until I understood it more fully. Which son did the will of the father? The one who went, the first one. What each son said is irrelevant to the command. The first said he wouldn\u2019t go but did, in fact, do the will of the father. The second one said he would but didn\u2019t go after all.<\/p>\n
It also stands out that both sons clearly knew the will of the father: \u201cGo and work in the vineyard today.\u201d Each gave a verbal response, and each did the opposite of what he said.<\/p>\n
But that\u2019s not what haunts me. It\u2019s who Jesus was talking to and what they thought of themselves.<\/p>\n
Jesus was speaking to the \u201cchief priests and elders\u201d of Israel (v. 23). They asked Jesus by what authority He was doing the things He was doing: the miracles, the teachings, the signs and wonders. Jesus set them up to either acknowledge the only place His authority could come from (God) or declare Jesus\u2019 works were from human authority (blasphemy). The religious leaders were not willing to do either. Jesus then shared the parable of the two sons.<\/p>\n
What terrifies me the most is that the religious leaders were Jews who were committed to keeping the letter of the law: resting on the Sabbath, not eating unclean meat, tithing even the smallest seeds (23:23). What diligence! They should have been saved and loved by God for these practices, right?<\/p>\n
Yet in both Matthew 21 and 23, Jesus rebuked the religious leaders. The rest of His teaching in Matthew 21 reads \u201cTruly, I say to you,\u00a0the tax collectors and\u00a0the prostitutes go into\u00a0the kingdom of God before you\u201d (v. 31). And in Matthew 23, Jesus warned, \u201cWoe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For\u00a0you tithe mint and dill and\u00a0cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law:\u00a0justice and mercy and faithfulness.\u00a0These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others\u201d (v. 23). How much more weighty are justice, mercy, and faithfulness than the smallest seeds of harvest?<\/p>\n
The implication of the two sons in Matthew 21 is that the chief priests, elders, and those like them are the second son who says he will do the father\u2019s will but doesn\u2019t. Ironically, the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter the kingdom before these religious folk. The reason? The leaders didn\u2019t believe John the Baptist\u2019s message of righteousness, but tax collectors and prostitutes did (v. 32).<\/p>\n
That should have been a sign of the power of God, that the traitors and the despised of that day were turning to God. Jesus said the unmentionables believed God\u2019s message, and because of that faith, they would enter the kingdom before the religious folks. They were like the first son, who said he would not obey God\u2019s call but then did. People like this have nothing to lose, nothing that gets in the way of living a life sacrificed to God. There is no pride to break down. They are already reviled by most, so becoming a Christian just gives them a good purpose for which to be reviled.<\/p>\n
This is what haunts me. Am I the first son, who did the will of the father, or am I the second, who just said he would but didn\u2019t? Do I have more in common with the religious leaders who counted a tithe of the smallest seeds but didn\u2019t have time for the weightier matters of justice, mercy, and faithfulness? These Pharisees kept distinctive doctrines that are dear to us in the Church of God (Seventh Day), but Jesus rebuked the religious leaders as unfaithful, unmerciful, and unjust.<\/p>\n
Ouch! I might excuse myself and say, \u201cBut I believe in Jesus, so I\u2019m better than they.\u201d But what do I believe about Jesus? Do I believe He died and saved me, that He was resurrected? Yes! But do I believe Him when He says all authority has been given to Him, so go and make disciples, baptize them, teach them all I have commanded (Matthew 28:18-20)? Does this move me to a changed life, to work in the vineyard today?<\/p>\n
Working for God means more than being comfortably religious, since Jesus didn\u2019t deem that enough for the priests and elders of His day. It means we actually have to go and sweat out in the sun, working in the harvest today<\/em>. We must carry out the weightier matters of the law, as well as all the rest we know to be true (our distinctives).<\/p>\n The good news is God gives us all we need to accomplish His command to go work in the vineyard today. This relieves me. I don\u2019t have to be haunted. I can be the faithful son who hears the call of the Father and replies, \u201cI will go.\u201d<\/p>\n By the power and grace of God, I go.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" One of Jesus\u2019 shortest parables has always stuck out to me \u2014 even haunted me. Just these few verses make me examine myself to see who I really am as a Christian, and often, I don\u2019t like what I see. \u201cWhat do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1570,"featured_media":28748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sync_status":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","castos_file_data":"","podmotor_file_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[37,2107],"tags":[2273,2272,722,2275,107,233,826,2274,1975,1013,652,187,252,2276],"yoast_head":"\n