Matthew 21:28-32 contains the parable of the two sons. Assumedly Jesus is talking to the chief priests and elders in the temple courts as this is the group he was talking to in the passage immediately preceding. I’ve always been confused about this parable. In translations I’ve read before it was very unclear to me which son Jesus was pointing to as doing the right thing.
In the parable, a father asks his first son to work in the vineyard. The son refuses, but later goes and works. The second son is asked to work in the vineyard and immediately agrees to do it, but ends up not ever going to the vineyard. Jesus asks, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” They answered, “the first.”
This is where the NIV seems to make this clear for me, though a Greek scholar may laugh. I quote the rest of the passage:
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”
It seems to me like Jesus was telling the chief priests they were wrong. He commends the tax collectors and prostitutes for believing right away. I’m thinking that those kinds of folks who had some serious behavior problems were much more likely to jump in and say “yes” to Jesus but then have problems following through, perhaps falling back into their bad behavior, than the other way around.
So what is Jesus saying here? Elsewhere we are told that God looks on the thoughts and intents of the heart and that He is much more concerned about this than anything that shows on the outside of a person. It would seem that God is more concerned with response and intent than behavior. That he would rather me respond and intend to obey even if I keep falling down and failing than to be rebellious and independent, even if in my behavior I do everything exactly as he asks.
The parable of the workers in the vineyard in Matthew 20 where the guys who worked just the last hour of the day got the same pay as those who worked all day long seems to jive with this. The accumulated work of a day or a lifetime (behavior) is not what is important, but rather the willingness to be on God’s agenda when he calls one to it.
This interpretation seems to me to line up with other scriptures where time and again Jesus says that what is in a man’s heart makes him clean or unclean, not external things. Behavior is important too, ref: the book of James, but it has not nearly the prominence that our traditional practice has given it. This is some pretty radical stuff. Dare I say, as radical as Jesus?
5 Comments:
really enjoyed this one Dan, even without pics of bikes or cars. Good thoughts to think about.
Were you at Monday's faculty meeting? I heard there was an interesting presentation.
Yes indeed. It was excellent and well received by the faculty. It will be interesting to see how the admin. responds, but I think things may have finally gotten pushed off center.
This parable brings back one of my stronger memories of our past. I still remember when my dad was teaching college/career class and he talked about this story and asked the question, and you, fresh from your first year at BGU said the second son - I thought you were crazy then. I'm not sure what you're saying now (I'm tired - I've been reading a lot of this blog this weekend), but it's not worth much discussion whatever your thoughts are. I agree with the James tie-in - I'll show you my faith by my works, not necessarily by what I say, alone. In any case, thanks for the memory. I'm now pretty far into 2006 and there's little personal stuff - lots about "End of the Spear" and bike riding - where's your heart? WHY were you riding in the mountains last Easter? Where's "Kate" - I enjoyed her comments.
I am tired - BJ, not BG
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