Matt 21:28-32
“Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you.” (NASB)
Jesus told many parables throughout his time on earth. He veiled the truth in stories. His stories were such that the established religious leaders continually choked on the content, unable to swallow their true meaning. Even his disciples struggled to understand them, many times requiring an explanation. In the parable of the two sons, Jesus describes a father who asked his two sons to go and work in his vineyard. The first son says no, feels stung by guilt and go out and works. The second son immediately says he will work, and then does not. Jesus asks the Pharisees, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” They answer correctly (show them what they’ve won) that the first son did his father’s will.
I find it interesting that in spite of his initial refusal of his father’s request, the first son, likely convicted with guilt goes and works. Anyone who has experienced salvation by grace through faith can immediately relate. Before conversion, each person is like the first son in that we have each rejected our Father’s will. Also, the text references tax collectors and prostitutes; both represent the vilest of sinners of the day. Our sin, that which separates each one of us from the Father, makes us no different than these sinners.
In the end, the parable pointed to the pseudo-spirituality of the Pharisees. O the sting the Pharisees felt as they realized Jesus was likening them to the second of the sons! As learned men, I am sure they understood the depth of Jesus’ statement; indicting them of professing obedience only. Are we like the Pharisees in that we know the right answers, but we don’t believe? Are we like the second son, who seemed on the outside willing to do his fathers will, yet his insincerity showed through in the end? The danger for all who desire eternal life is that we profess and know the truth, without believing it. Romans 10:9, we all know it, requires not only that we confess with the mouth, but also that we believe with the heart. The Pharisees knew the truth both from the Law they studied and Jesus whom they questioned, but they chose the way of unbelief.
As an aside, I think I have always tried to excuse the unbelief of the Scribes and Pharisee’s based on the fact that they did not have the completed work of Christ on the cross and in the tomb or the completed, revealed canon of scripture. Any hope I have of excusing their unbelief due to their circumstances falls apart though when I look at our culture of Christianity today. While we live in a country where we have religious freedom and an almost unlimited supply of information, likely now more than ever I believe the church to be full of Pharisees. For in the end, the failure of the Pharisee was not lack of information, it was a lack of faith.
