The Corrupt And Despised In Heaven

Background to passage, Matthew 21:28-32: after the confrontation about Jesus’s authority and John the Baptist, Jesus tells a series of three parables. They have a common thread, the failure, indictment, and judgement of the Jewish leaders. This is the first - The Two Sons.

Opening illustration: When Bernie Moreno, a Republican businessman, ran for a Senate seat in Ohio in 2022, he described his views as “absolute pro-life, no exceptions.”

“Life begins at conception” and “abortion is the murder of an innocent baby,” he said on social media.

He has since softened his position. In March, he said he supported a 15-week national abortion ban. But his spokeswoman also says abortion “should be primarily decided at the state level,”that he backs “reasonable exceptions” and that he has maintained those positions throughout the 2024 election cycle.

In 2022, David McCormick, a Republican businessman running for Senate in Pennsylvania, touted his staunch commitment to opposing abortion. Asked at a Republican primary debate that April if he would support exceptions to abortion bans if Roe v. Wade was overturned, he said he believed in exceptions in the “very rare instances” when a woman’s life was at risk.

Now, as he makes his second bid for the Senate, he has urged Americans to “find common ground.” Language saying “life begins at conception” has disappeared from his website, which now notes that abortion is legal in the state until 24 weeks — the federal standard under Roe. And a campaign spokesman told CNN in April that Mr. McCormick “inadvertently left out” exceptions for rape and incest from his debate answer two years earlier.

Five years ago, when state Sen. Richard Briggs co-sponsored legislation that would codify some of the country's most austere abortion restrictions in Tennessee – it seemed to him like little more than political theater.

"The truth was I thought it would never come to be," he says.

But three years later it did come to be. The Tennessee state law was triggered after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the federal right to abortion. The state law established strict abortion bans and potential criminal penalties for doctors who violate them.

Now Briggs is fighting an uphill battle to undo some of the legislation he helped to put into place. It's a battle that some experts say could be instructive for the rest of the country.

1) Who’s Who (v. 28-30)

Matthew 21:28–30 ESV

28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’

29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went.

30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go.

1) Who’s Who (v. 28-30)

Explanation: The man: God the Father. First son: tax collectors and prostitutes. Second son: religious elite, those given charge to tend to Israel (the Vineyard).

So, the first son originally said he would not go, just as the immoral and ungodly told God, knowing his moral standards, internally or externally. Later, they heard John the Baptist, recognized him as a prophet, heeded his words, repented and believed.

The second son originally said he would go, just as the moral and religious people had told God, knowing his word, then they didn’t go. Later they heard John preach, didn’t heed his words, didn’t repent and believe. They claimed to be looking and longing for the Messiah, but then chose not to hear to prophet who goes before and pointed him out. Willful unbelief.

Luke 10:13 ESV

13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

Illustration: Story of John’s wife asking him, “what did you tell that preacher about me?” Story of the visit to the small church and the pastor who had been praying and thinking about what to preach, but just didn’t hear from the Lord...

Application: We must come to corporate worship with the expectation to encounter God in a couple of ways. First, that our hearts will be turned toward him as we make much of him in song. We also pray and address him personally. We hear the word in a couple of parts of the service, but especially during the declaration of the word, we should expect God to speak. We should come open and humble to have him convict us of sin, encourage us in unbelief or distress, welcome us as a Father, and respond accordingly. When we hear the word, do not respond in faith and repentance, we are no better than the religious leaders. Willful unbelief and