Question: Why did Jesus teach the parable of the impulsive negative speaker who later became a obedient son, but a well thought and learned religious talker who became a disobedient son (Matt 21:28-32)?
Answer: Greetings to you in Jesus wonderful name!
Let us hear the Parable of Jesus first and then discuss the context to know the perspective that Jesus wanted to convey,
Matt 21:28-32 — "28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."
Jesus want us to think, before we can really understand this above Parable of Jesus.
The context setting of this parable was when Jesus came in to the temple at Jerusalem and was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people confronted Him to question Jesus about his authority whether it was from heaven or people. Jesus answered saying where did the authority of John the Baptist come from? The critical minded jealous chief priests and the elders of the people, did not want to answer Jesus because both the yes or no can both land them in quagmire. So Jesus answered these deceivers saying likewise He will also not answer them. What a wisdom from Jesus (Matt 21:23-27)!
Then from this dead lock for the religious minded zealots, where the wisdom of humans was completely outwitted by Divine wisdom of Jesus, Jesus begins to explain to these religious minded pitiful leaders this following parable of the obedient and disobedient son. In fact, was this a truth which Jesus spoke to reveal about the rotten religious life within them who were critical about faith towards God because of fearing humans over whom they practiced authority taught by men (Isa 29:13)? The truth is, they were neither fearing God, nor were loving people which is the royal commandment from God that fulfills all other commandments demand, but rather these religious minded people loved themselves so much and the money they had, they had not even an iota of thought of reverence for God or respect for their fellow humans (Rom 13:8-10; Jam 2:8; Luke 16:14; Matt 23:14; Mark 12:40).
As I have always told, Jesus parables are earthly stories told by him to reveal heavenly realities which is truth to our hearts and souls.
A Question Well Answered
"28...A Father has two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to Him, “The first.”"
Most of the religious leaders were people of great intellectual capability, but with little or no spiritual ability because they never believed Jesus or were born again but rather were very critical enough to confront Him as they saw Him as a competitor to their own authority and existence (John 11:50). In the above story, both were sons of the Father in heaven. But the talker son gave lip service to God the Father, but never really obeyed from his heart or took the Father's command seriously (Matt 15:8). The physical sons of the Heavenly Father was the Jewish people whom He chose for Himself among all the world through Father Abraham (Deut 7:6-11; John 8:39), but when He came to them through their own law of Moses which predicted that He will come (Deut 18:15; Acts 3:22), they rejected him and the world which He made by His own words did not know him to receive His coming (John 1:1-2, 3-4, 5, 10-11).
The son who was very emotionally attached with the Father of the house, when his father said to him, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard,’ he impulsively said to him ‘I will not,’ but when he thought about the love of his Father towards him personally, immediately he regretted it and went to obey his Father's command. Yes when the call for repentance was preached by Jesus, all the sinners and those impulsive sinning sons of the Heavenly Father who walked in sinful rebellion against God responded to God's call to be saved and to serve Him with a drawing near to him and His Presence (Luke 15:1; Matt 9:9-13; Eph 2:8-10; Jam 4:8). We are not saved to go to heaven, we are saved so that we can serve him on earth to save other souls and live for His Glory, for which we receive eternal reward which stays with us forever (John 21:15-17; Matt 28:18-20; Matt 6:19-21). So we may not have planned to work in this vineyard of the garden of God, which is the church of the whole earth and the world in its lost state that needs salvation desperately (Isa 5:1; John 15:5; 3:16), but the call of God to live in holiness and produce fruit for the Glory of God is not optional but rather it is a command for every son of His who serves Him (Heb 12:14). Are we ready to hear the voice of God through the spoken word of God which comes to us through the Holy Spirit when we obey God and meditate on it (John 14:26; Jos 1:8)?
Are you living by the Law like a Jew, or are you living by grace through the Lord Jesus Christ like those sinners who repented and lived for the Glory of God? If you live by the law as the lying son who agrees to obey but does not, you will die in your sins (John 8:23-24; Rom 7:10; Gal 3:21). But if you live like the repentant son who did not want to initially obey the laws of God to serve Him, but then did a about-turn by the grace of God through believing Jesus, you will live life as a overcomer over sin by faith and will be made as a saint through salvation by the righteousness of Jesus Christ who has become your righteousness (1 Cor 1:2, 30; Rom 4:5-6; 1 John 5:4-5).
The disobedient sons of God were the Gentile nations around the world that said no to God initially, but later when the good news of Jesus Christ was preached to them, they all repented of their sins and accepted the will of God for their lives to be saved and to serve God the Father in Heaven through serving people around them in love (Rom 11:25; Acts 28:28; 1 John 3:10). Thus God has visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name (Acts 15:13-17).
Among the two sons, the one who did the will of the Father, did the will of God for his life to be eternally rewarded. What is the will of the Father for every human? Jesus himself clearly revealed that the will of the Father is, that all who see the Son of God spiritually in Jesus should believe in Him to have the assurance of everlasting life to be raised up at the last day (John 3:16; 10:27-30). And the Heavenly Father who sent Jesus in to this world to save sinners, have given the souls of believers in to Jesus' safe hands, of all whom the Father expects to lose not even one, and that all should be raised up at the last day of resurrection to live the eternal life for the Glory of God forever in eternity with him in heaven (John 6:39-40). Hallelujah!
Even though Jesus through telling a story was making the unbelieving religious Jewish minds to understand the perspective of heaven, through his thought provoking questions he asked, he always drove home the conviction of the Holy Spirit to reveal the sins in the hearers heart who did not believe Him (John 16:8). So in the above parable we see that those who answered Jesus, did answer right, but deep within their heart they were wrong in their unbelief as they did not answer the spiritual call of God by faith in Jesus Christ.
All Have Sinned And Have Fallen Short, But Have You Repented To Receive Salvation Faith Through Jesus Christ Is The Crux Of The Whole Matter?
"31....Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.""
To the Jewish religious minds, the tax collectors were the worst of the worst sinners in male gender category, because they were betraying the Law of Moses and were working for the Romans who have enslaved them (Deut 23:19). And the harlots were the worst of the worst sinners in the female gender category, who have been told by God to be restricted outside of His Presence because it increases wickedness in the country (Lev 19:29; Deut 23:18).
Jesus clearly portrayed these impulsive sinners who were considered as hopeless by the world, once they repent of their sins will immediately enter in to the Kingdom of God because salvation is a gift given by God and it is cannot be earned as God is no debtor to anyone (Rom 4:4; 6:23; 9:30). Many of these tax collectors and worst sinners justified and declared God as righteous by taking the baptism of John humbly which was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3; 7:28-29; Matt 3:1, 2-3, 6). But those religious minded talker who say that they will always choose to keep the Law, especially the Jew who keep the Law of Moses and in general all religious people who believe that good work saves them (Rom 9:31; 11:35), these were not able to fulfill the will of God in believing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, and therefore they all ended up in hell fire without hope for eternity as they are already condemned to live in darkness which they loved it, as their deeds were evil (John 3:15-16, 17-18, 19-20, 21).
When John the Baptist came to the nation of Israel from the desert as a voice crying in the wilderness of the world saying, 'You prepare the way of the Lord through repentance...', many of these religious talkers went to see what is happening, but after seeing through their biased hardened heart which made them see the revival of repentance as a circus show, these religious Pharisees and Lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves by not taking baptism from John because of their pride (Luke 7:30). These religious people from the view point of God were like children in their spiritual understanding as they rejected the fiery ministry of John the Baptist because of their pride, hence they also were not able to believe the ministry and words of Jesus Christ the Son of God as they believed and trusted in themselves, and therefore derided Jesus Christ for speaking the truth which pricked their conscience (1 Cor 14:20; Luke 16:14-17; 18:9-14).
So it is more important to be humble enough to receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior like the son who was not willing to obey the Father initially with his mind but later regretted to serve Him with his heart through believing Jesus Christ to be saved from sin and to serve God for eternity ahead. It is totally dangerous to be like the son who accepted the Father's instruction religiously to serve Him, but then did not really do his will to serve him with his heart by obeying his commandments to believe the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though mental acceptance of religious laws and rituals can take us only to a certain distance, it cannot make us do the will of God for our lives and to enter heaven to be with God forever. Religion makes us proud and takes us away from God and His will, while personal relationship with God makes us understand our true condition of sinful depravity of our own heart and His unconditional love for us, and therefore makes us humble ourselves to move towards God and do His will willingly for the Glory of God!
Let us do a sincere soul searching to know our real spiritual condition, no matter how long we have been part of the Church, to understand whether we really have the salvation faith within us to be able to enter heaven and be with God in heaven? For that to happen we need to live with a good conscience now, so that we can be able to live a God glorifying life as a testimony to the faith we have within (2 Cor 13:5-6; 1 Time 1:19; Acts 24:16; Titus 3:8). Or else have we sung those beautiful songs as lies towards God and have read the Bible as a religious routine in our lives to make ourselves be accepted by God? Or in other words, in order to become saved and enter heaven, have we worked ourselves in earning salvation through our good works which cannot really save us? Only the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ can save us from sin, and the good news as always is, God gives it freely to us with an assurance when we accept humbly the Lord Jesus and call on His name (Rom 10:13). And also he rewards our work done with a right motive to glorify God and serve Him after we are saved, this we will receive when we enter in to heaven to see God and be with Him for eternity ahead (1 Cor 3:11-15; Rev 22:12; 21:3-7). Hallelujah!
Much Blessings....
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