Matthew 21:28-32
A. INTRODUCTION
1. Reminiscing
It used to be said that, as a child, you had to do what you were told. Indeed, your behaviour had to meet certain standards (like, being seen but not heard). Furthermore, your parents would give you jobs to do around the house, some of which, were your own special responsibilities. And woe betide you if you didn’t carry them out.
When I was a child, for example, it was expected that I would make a contribution to the household chores. I had to make my bed every day. I had to leave my bedroom tidy, and even vacuum it in my teenage years. I had to wash up when it was my turn (and it usually was my turn). And I had the special responsibility—which was mine alone—to bring the coal in and set the fire.
Now, I may not have always been happy to do those tasks. In fact, sometimes I may have put up some resistance—especially if it meant I had to stop doing something more enjoyable to carry them out. But the expectation was that I would do as I was told.
But then, in those days there was a sense that you didn’t think too much about it. Because those tasks and responsibilities were just part of the accepted way of life.
However, even when I was a child, the world was changing. Because there were other children at school who did nothing to help their parents around the home. In fact, their parents didn’t expect them to give them any help at all.
2. New Testament Times
Now, of course, when you come from a background like that, it may be surprising to discover a story in which Jesus describes two sons, and where both showed defiance to their father.
And it’s even more surprising because, in New Testament times, children were expected to take on a major role in the household. And not only around the house, but in regard to earning the family’s income too. As a consequence, a situation described by Jesus of two rebellious sons in the one family, although not impossible, would have been highly unusual. However, it was a story told by Jesus to a make a particular point.
B. THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS
1. Background
And the background to the story places Jesus in the Temple. And he was there teaching the people about the Kingdom of God. And as he taught, he was approached by some chief priests and elders, and they asked him in no uncertain terms just who he thought he was, and what he thought he was doing (21:23-27).
Now, already Jesus had noted publicly the failure of the religious leaders in terms of religious and moral sincerity. And he had also noted their failure to consider the warnings of both John the Baptist, and himself.
So the background to his story wasn’t really a description of any old family relationship. The story was designed, to point the finger in regard to the relationship of the religious leaders with their fellow man and to God.
2. The Parable (28-30)
And so the story begins with Jesus asking his audience to put on their thinking caps.
And he began the story by describing a vineyard owner and his two sons—with the vineyard owner requesting his sons to play their full part in the life of the family and the family business.
Indeed, he approached the first son (the eldest) and told him to go to the vineyard. Now he didn’t tell him what he wanted him to do there, he didn’t need to—that would have been plain to any son in that situation. However, most uncharacteristically for any son in first century Palestine, the son gave an unqualified refusal. However, later, after he’d thought better about it, he changed his mind, and went anyway.
But after getting the initial refusal from his eldest son, the father approached the second son. And the second son knew his duty, and readily agreed to go. However, uncharacteristically again, despite saying he would go, he changed his mind too and didn’t go.
3. The Question (31a)
And that is the end of the story—short, sweet and to the point. However, what was the point? Well Jesus concluded by asking his listeners to answer a question: Which of the two sons did what the father wanted? (31a). It was a question to which there could be only one answer—the first son. And the story’s message? What counts is not the promise but the performance. It doesn’t matter whether we say we agree to do something or not, it’s the actual doing of it that is important.
4. The Application (31b-32)
Now, whether the chief priests and the elders realised that the story was about them we’re not told. But lest they were left in any doubt Jesus interpreted the story for them. This wasn’t just a story of a man and his two sons; this was a story about God and his people.
The wicked people of the age—the tax collectors and prostitutes, all those who had cut themselves off from religious observances, the rejects of the world who often lived up to the worst their detractors expected of them—these were the people represented by the eldest son. These were the kind of people who would initially resist the message of the Kingdom of God. However, these were also the people who would be more likely to repent, to change their minds, and to end up doing exactly as their Father God wanted them to do.
On the other hand, the respectable people, which included the chief priests and elders—those of the more conventional mode who caused no scandals and who indeed were part of the religious establishment, and people through outward motions of religious observances—could easily respond with a yes to the message of the kingdom. These were the ones represented by the second son. However, equally, they were the ones, Jesus said, who were more likely to fail to respond to the demand for wholehearted repentance, and who would fail to give complete dedication to the service of God.
And lest the chief priests and elders still misunderstand, Jesus pointed explicitly to the reactions of people regarding the ministry of John the Baptist. Now, John’s message of repentance was not hidden, it was open to all. He may have conducted his ministry in the wilderness, but he had not hidden himself away. His message had been widely proclaimed. But yet those who would have seemed to have been the most resistant to his message—the outcasts, and those considered not respectable—had ended up believing and being followers. And yet those who should have naturally been more open, because of their existing religious beliefs with all their expectations and prophecies, had rejected his message utterly.
5. Summary
So, the mystery of the parable is solved. It’s not about normal household relationships at all. This story is about God, and about his creation. It’s about the observation by Jesus that the outcasts in society find it easier to respond to God than the respectable, and even the traditional leaders of religious faith.
This story, then, was a slap in the face to the chief priest and elders. And you can imagine the shock on their faces. However, it is also a slap we would do well to note of, lest we fall into the same trap too. Because the parable tells us much about having a proper relationship with God too.
C. IMPLICATIONS
1. Those Likely To say No!
When Jesus talked about the first son—and linked him to the outcasts of his society—he was not only describing the ‘rejected’ of the day, but any one of a number of people, who were adept at putting up barriers between themselves and God.
In today’s terms, therefore, this could include people who prefer the ways of the world; people who wish to pursue a more exciting lifestyle and not be bothered with the spiritual dimension; people who want to put themselves first and who often have little time for others; people who are happy, providing their own rights are satisfied and too bad about the rights of others.
It could mean people who blame God for the things that have gone wrong in their lives—when tragedy has struck, and there has been no apparent divine intervention to stop it.
It could mean people who think they are too bad, too rotten—where the things that they’ve done seem unforgivable, and that nothing, not even God, could rescue them from what they have done.
Or it could mean people who simply don’t want to be faced with religion and godly ways. That their faith decision is a decision for the future, for when they become more elderly, or should become terminally ill. A decision to be put off until after they’ve lived their lives. And has no relevance for today.
To these people, and this is not an exhaustive list by any means, there are a number of different barriers that can be put up between themselves and God. And as a consequence, they have answered Jesus’s invitation to share the kingdom with a resounding no!
And yet, these are the kind of people that Jesus was describing who are like the eldest son, who given an opportunity to repent may indeed change their minds and become members of God’s fold.
2. Those Likely to Say Yes!
Similarly, when Jesus talked about the second son, and likened him to the respectable leaders of the day, he was effectively not just describing the chief priests and the elders of his own day (although it was to them that the parable was addressed), but to anyone who at any time has claimed to have faith, but in reality whose faith was, and is, in lip service only, and has no real depth at all.
In today’s terms this could mean people who claim to have faith but continue to put obstacles in other people’s way. You have to do this… You have to do that… These are the kind of people who change faith into works.
It can mean people who claim to have an affiliation with the church. Well, they say they do. But when it comes to getting their hands dirty, when it’s time to share about God or helping others they are nowhere to be seen (after all, religion is a private matter, isn’t it?).
It can mean people who can talk the talk. In fact people who can talk religious gobbledy-gook until the cows come home. But they cannot back it up with the love and compassion for God and their fellow man.
And it can mean people who say they really believe but you never see them. Because, somehow, they’ve always got something more important to do, and always find ways to avoid their God given responsibilities.
To these people, and again it is not an exhaustive list, to all these people who have made a profession of faith Jesus has likened them to the second son, who when asked to go and work instantly said ‘yes’. However, in reality, words were all that they were, because they weren’t backed up with action at all.
Of course Jesus indicated it wasn’t too late for these kind of people either. Everyone has the opportunity to change. But he did warn that, indeed, it would be far harder for these people to change than for the first group who had made no profession of faith to start with.
3. Summary
Of course, as you’ve probably realised there’s a whole category of people who are not mentioned in the parable—and they were the people who genuinely had faith. But then, for Jesus, they weren’t a problem, so they didn’t get a mention.
The real problem, for Jesus, was those who professed faith but never went any further with it. Because they may get the words right, but they obviously don’t really know what those words mean, because they don’t put the words into practice.
They know who to look for in a Messiah, but they refuse to acknowledge the truth before their eyes. They know the importance of loving God, but yet they tie themselves up in knots regarding the legalism of it all. And they know that they are to love their neighbours as themselves, but they only practice that by redefining ‘neighbour’ so they only have to care for those that suit them.
On the other hand the outcasts, the sinners of the world, have none of those barriers. Only the barrier of coming to grips with the kind of life that they lead. And Jesus can enable them to take away those barriers. Which means that the outcasts are so much free-er to accept him and the Christian way of life, than those who proclaim to be religiously devout.
D. CONCLUSION
Now over the years family life has undoubtedly changed. And it has changed considerably since even I was a child. However, the Parable of the Two Sons illustrates the importance of family life. But not just in terms of earthly relationships, but in terms of our relationship with God our father.
Now, some of us are good at following directions, others not so good. But today’s parable illustrates the importance of being obedient to God, to make our ‘Yes’ mean ‘Yes’, and to make sure that even in our hesitations that our actions speak louder than our words.
Posted: 1st March 2023
© 2023, Brian A Curtis
www.brianacurtis.com.au
