Jesus Brings the Truth to Light—Part 2
Matthew 21:28-32
Assumptions. We all have them. We all make them. In fact, we live our lives assuming that our assumptions about people and situations are accurate. It takes something strikingly different to make us stop and look at things from a different perspective.
Jesus is the master of getting people to do that. His parables, which are scattered through the gospels like large, loose diamonds on the forest floor, use the familiar to engage people in His story, and, once He has their interest, He leads them to a knew conclusion about what they had assumed they knew.
Our passage today is just one more example of that. There is such irony in this conversation as Matthew records it for us.
In our last study of this escalating confrontation of Jesus with the religious leaders in the temple, we saw Jesus lay the ground rules for how this conversation was going to go. He was bringing things into the light, and the truth was going to be glaringly obvious by the time He was finished.
The chief priests and the elders of the people asked Him, “by what authority” He did these things. He answered them with a question. We saw that they fell into the trap and refused to answer. So, He did likewise.
But, He doesn’t leave things like that. He moves right into teaching mode and tells a parable. And here is the irony: these men who insisted on knowing where He got His authority, and assuming that He really had none, submitted to His leading by remaining and allowing Him to engage them in His this little lesson.
By what authority? No one was saying it, but it was inherent in His personality and character. Why else would they remain engaged if there wasn’t something in Him that drew them to Him, even if they assumed that He was their enemy?
Now, I don’t know about you, but I get very uncomfortable when my assumptions are exposed and shown to be wrong. And, when they are shown to be glaringly wrong, I have a tendency to struggle against the light even harder. How about you?
I love Jesus’ opening: “But what do you think?” I really need to learn from this. One minute He stands in open revolt to their assumed authority over Him, the next He is leading them down the garden path to an important truth, and they are following Him!
There they stand, still engaged, still in conversation, and allowing Him to teach them. What is really amazing about this is that, once they realize what has happened, still they remain! We will see next time that they are gong to stick around as the lessons get harder and cut deeper with ever passing moment, but they won’t be able to tear themselves away.
Now let’s look at this parable. It really is quite simple in its structure and its meaning. This is part of the beauty of Jesus’ approach to teaching people—even His sworn enemies. (I really need to learn from this!)
This parable of the two sons could not be clearer. It is directed specifically at the religious leaders in their formalism and their over-devotion to the temple. I say over-devotion because they were more devoted to the temple then to the people who came to worship God there.
We have to be careful when we sit this far away from this type of teaching from Jesus, too. It is easy to sit here, look back at those men, and think that what Jesus is saying to them doesn’t apply to us. If you have been here very long at all, or if you have studied the Scriptures very much yourself, you know that these teachings almost always have present-day implications.
Two sons; two different reactions; two different hearts; two different results. The first sin is all over the father’s request. “Oh, you bet, Dad. I’ll get to it right away.” But, he doesn’t do it, does he? What’s that about? His obedience is merely a formality. It’s verbal; not practical. It is actually non-existent. His verbal, “I will,” is a stop-gap to put his father off.
We do that sometimes, too, you know? We read a Scripture or hear a message, and we say, “Man, I really need to take this to heart.” But we don’t. We walk away from that reading time or that Sunday school class or that evening service and we get caught up in our activities and forget we made a commitment to do something about what God revealed to us, what He told us we needed to address.
It is not that we are insincere or that we intend to be disobedient. Our intentions are good at the outset. But, are good intentions enough? You know the old adage, “The road to hell is paved with good intentions”? There is great truth in some of those old sayings. Faith without obedience is a dead faith—it is not really faith at all.
How about the other son? His response? “I will not.” He refused—at least, he did initially. But he thought about it. His initial reaction was one of rejection and rebellion. (You have no idea how timely a message this is for me.) It wasn’t long, however, before he realized that what his father asked of him was what he needed to do. So, he did it.
But, before he did what was asked of him, what did he do? He repented. That is the amazing thing about our rebellious hearts and ways—God always seems to give us time to repent. Over and over and over, He waits for us to see the truth and to repent and respond in obedience. (Man, I really need to get this!)
Remember when Jesus told Phillip, “He that has seen Me has seen the Father? (John 14:9)” Jesus is standing before His enemies—and they have made no secret of how they view this “usurper”—never relenting in trying to get them to see the truth and to repent. That is exactly how the Father is with us.
I am certain that you can look at situations in your relationship with God and see where this has been true for you. God has shown you repeatedly that something needs to change. You’ve said, “Oh, yes; I will do it!” And then you have walked away, either forgetting to or deciding not to obey. What did God do about it?
Did He knock you down, beat you up, shame you in front of everyone? No, not unless you were willfully disobedient for a long time. And, even then, you experienced a gentleness in the humbling, a tenderness in the spanking, a warmth in the humiliation. And you knew that it was all because He loves you and desires you to change more than He wants anything else. Remember: Your holiness is more important to Him than anything else in your existence.
That is where Jesus stands in this encounter. He is attempting to get these men to realize their hypocrisy, to understand their prideful disobedience and to repent. He wants then to learn the lesson before it is too late.
And, for many of them, it already is too late. Their hearts are hard and closed, and they are no longer teachable. Pray that we do not get to that point ourselves.
These men had become formal in their religion, but there was no passion for God. Their passion was for their ritual and their appearance; for their image and for their self-aggrandizement. They had lost sight of what being in God’s house was really to be about. We best be careful, lest we fall into that way of formal religiosity ourselves.
Now the other son. Open rebellion at first. Repentance and obedience follow. Jesus poses the question, “Which of the two did the will of his father? (verse 31)”
Well, the answer is obvious; “The latter.” Now, I need to note here that some older versions of this text transpose the two brothers and have the religious leaders choosing the disobedient son instead of the obedient son. And, there are other English translations that switch the order of the brothers in the story.
The latter difference is based on which of the Greek texts was used to create the modern translation. The New King James and many others use a text that is older as far as how long we have had it, while the NASB and a few others use a Greek text that is older in years, yet newer as far as how long we have had it available.
The former difference I mentioned is based on an old Jewish parable where God is said to have offered a field (the Torah) to all of the nations of the world. Only Israel is willing to take up the task. And, even though they eventually stopped cultivating the field and allowed it to lie fallow, God allowed them to keep possession of it because they had been the only one who had been willing to take up the task in the first place.
Now, we know from many of the teachings in the New Testament, and even some of the warnings in the Old Testament, that God was going to bring the Gentiles into the family. The Israelites were only to be the vehicle for salvation to come to the world.
An example of this is in the very next parable in this section. We will study that next time, but for now, we need to know that Jesus will warn them that the field that was originally given to them is going to be given to others.
So, these wise and learned men see the obvious answer and give it. Everyone can see that the son who repented and became obedient was the son that did the will of his father.
Jesus immediately uses their response as a springboard to launch into the lesson of the parable: "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterward so as to believe him. (Matthew 21:31b-32)”
It is often true that those who did not grow up in the church are stronger in their conversion than those who did grow up in the church. The reason for that is that those of us who were non-Christian most of our lives can often be awakened to a stark realization of our desperate need for a Savior, while those who have grown up in the church and gotten comfortable with their religious experience sometimes are impervious to the Gospel.
The first results in a life devoted to the Gospel, the other to a life that has grown over-familiar and cold to the Gospel. The only hope for those caught up in their religious experiences is to be confronted with the truth that every one of us needs the Gospel each and every day of our lives. None of us has made it, no matter how long we have walked with the Lord.
The only time we will have “made it”, is the day we stand before Jesus Christ and hear the words, “Well done, good and faithful servant...enter into the joy of your Master.”
The radically religious were not obedient to the heart of God; they were obedient to their rituals and their rules. The irreligious, the commoners—those who were unfamiliar with what to say and do; those unfamiliar with how to walk and when to stand; those ignorant of all the rules of religious observation—they were the ones who were open to hearing the Gospel and being convicted of their sin and repenting.
We must be careful; lest we fall prey to the prideful assurance that our ritual and routine mean that we are being obedient. Many will say in that day, “Lord, we did all of this stuff in your name.” But, His response is going to be, “Go away; you and I were never intimate with one another—it was all show with you.”
We must remain always-teachable if we are to hope to avoid falling into the trap of the religious. If not, there is much risk of us becoming like the chief priests and the elders.
We may also find great hope, knowing from this parable that just because we have been rebellious and disobedient, that does not mean that we are lost. All it means is that we need to hear the message, repent of our sin, and be claimed by Christ as His own.
Let’s pray.
