Jesus said to the chief priests and
elders of the people: "What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came
to the first and said, 'Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.' He said in
reply, 'I will not, 'but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to
the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, 'Yes, sir, 'but did not go. Which of the two did his father's
will?" They answered, "The first." Jesus said to them,
"Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the
kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you
did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you
saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”
Matthew 21:28-32
Today’s Gospel continues last week’s
theme that those who expect to be last will be first and vice versa.
Jesus is speaking to the chief priests
and elders – those who were certain they would be first in line to get into the
kingdom. Jesus overturns their expectations
and tells them the tax collectors – the hated accomplices of the Roman occupiers
- and the prostitutes, would get in first! We’re ok with the poor, the meek and the sick
getting in ahead of the rich, the arrogant and the healthy, but it requires great
deal of mental adjustment to believe the immoral will get in ahead of the
moral. But, of course, this is the
message of the Prodigal Son. The
Prodigal Son was demonstrably the less moral of the two brothers, and yet he was
singled out for most of God’s attention. Last week, there was no question the vineyard
workers who started at the break of dawn were the moral superiors of those who started
five minutes before the work was over, and yet they all got the same wage. The elder brother and the harder workers
objected, but the God figure always answers the same way - He is doing us no harm by doling out His
attention equally.
We inevitably look for the moral lesson and
we will find it whether it is there or not. Th parable of the vineyard workers is most often interpreted as a warning that you must repent before the final whistle blows or face punishment. Today's story is often interpreted as a warning to have a correct belief system or face punishment. But we cannot be commanded or threatened to genuinely believe something we are not otherwise inclined to believe. What distinguished the tax collectors and prostitutes from the priests was that they believed John (not believed in John) and were thus open to the comfort found there.
