23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” 24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” 27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.” Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 28 “What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’ 29 “‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. 30 “Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” “The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 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. (Matthew 21:23-32 NIV)
If you have ever said NO, or WAIT to God. It's okay. Even if you said YES and followed it up with NO action. It's okay, too.
My healing continues and it's been a different sort of journey. My first cataract was on my weak eye, so removig the cataract on that eye left me with a fully working eye. This surgery was on my strong eye, so the weak eye is doing what it can and the right eye needs to continue healing and I will need glasses to get everything in focus.
At my last appointment I found mysef behind a sweet lady that was patient but clearly frustrated. Finally, the clerk told her she was there a week early. The dear lady not knowing to show embarrassment or anger, left and the kind clerk said it happened all the time. I said, "I have a friend, who packed and flew from Texas to Nashville for a long-awaited convention. Upon arrival at the host hotel he waited patiently while many on staff looked for his room reservation. Finally, a manager came an told him that he was a year early for his convention. And I still think of a morning in a previous chiurch where my secretary said an irate church member wanted to see me. I opend my door and a usually very sweet elderly member asked, "Brother, what did you do?" Great question. I did a lot of things and had to answer for most, but I did not register the question. She continued, "There's nobody here! Sunday school rooms are empty, there are no cars in the parking lot! Are we going to have church today or not?" I felt sad immediately. I said very calmly, "Sister, today is Monday. Church was yesterday." I'm headed there as may be many of us, but we smile and love.
Jesus has just ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey to the sound of hosannas, turned over the tables in the temple, cursed a fig tree, and healed the blind and the lame in the temple courts — and it's only Tuesday. The chief priests and elders are, to put it mildly, not having a great week. So they come to Him with what they clearly believe is an unanswerable question: "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" It's the kind of question designed less to get information and more to put someone on the defensive — the ancient equivalent of "who do you think you are?" And Jesus, because He is Jesus, answers their question with a question of His own, which is both brilliant and must have been enormously satisfying to watch.
"John's baptism — where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?" And the chief priests and elders huddle. We can almost picture them — the most powerful religious figures in Jerusalem, whispering among themselves, doing the political calculation in real time. If we say from heaven, He'll ask why we didn't believe him. If we say of human origin, the crowd will turn on us because they all thought John was a prophet. And so they land on what is simultaneously the most politically safe and the most intellectually embarrassing answer available to them: "We don't know." The men who have just challenged Jesus's authority on the grounds that they are the authorized interpreters of God's will have just publicly admitted that they cannot discern whether John the Baptist was sent by God or not. Jesus, with what must have been considerable restraint, simply says: then neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things. Checkmate, and they walked into it themselves.
But Jesus doesn't leave it there, because He never just wins an argument and moves on. He tells them a parable, and this one is pointed enough that by the end of it they will realize they've just rendered a verdict against themselves — which is becoming something of a pattern in Matthew's Gospel. A man has two sons. He goes to the first and says, go work in the vineyard today. The first son says no — flat out, directly, without apology. And then later he changes his mind and goes. The father goes to the second son with the same request. The second son says yes, absolutely, consider it done, I'm on my way — and then doesn't go. Jesus asks the obvious question: which one did what the father wanted? And they answer correctly: the first one. Yes, Jesus says. And the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.
That would have landed like a thunderclap. The tax collectors and the prostitutes — the people who had said no to God with their entire lives, who had visibly, publicly, professionally walked away from everything the religious establishment stood for — are ahead of you. Not instead of you. Ahead of you. The door is still open. But the people who said no with their lives and then turned around when John came preaching repentance are further through it than the people who said yes with their lips and then stood in the temple courts demanding to see Jesus's credentials.
The parable is not really about two sons. It's about two kinds of religious life — the life that performs the right answers and produces no fruit, and the life that starts from the wrong place but genuinely turns when it hears the invitation. John came in the way of righteousness, Jesus says, and the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him. The chief priests and elders saw it happen and still didn't turn. There is a sobering word in that for anyone who has been around religion long enough to be very comfortable saying the right things — because the comfort of the correct answer can become, over time, a substitute for the actual turning that the correct answer is supposed to produce.
But here is the joy in this passage, and there is real joy in it: the first son changed his mind and went. He said no and then went anyway. Which means that the no you said at some earlier point in your life — the period of walking away, the season of doing things you're not proud of, the years when the vineyard was the last place you wanted to be — none of that disqualifies you from the going. The father in the parable does not receive the first son with a lengthy lecture about his earlier refusal. He receives him because he went. The Spirit who was poured out at Pentecost on tax collectors and fishermen and people with complicated histories is still being poured out on people with complicated histories. The vineyard is still open. The invitation is still going out. And changed minds are exactly what the Father has been hoping for all along.
PRAYER: Loving Lord, turn our yes from a word we say into a life we live, and give us the humility to keep turning toward You whenever we find ourselves walking in the wrong direction. This we pray in Christ Jesus' strong name, amen.
Have a great and blessed day in the Lord! OUR CALL TO ACTION: Identify one area of your life where you've been saying yes with your words but no with your actions, and take one concrete step today toward actually going into the vineyard.
I love you and I thank God for you! You matter to God, and you matter to me!
Let's win the world with full, unconditional love for all people.
Pastor Eradio Valverde, Jr.
