Matthew 21:28 “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ 29 And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. 30 And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.”
What do you think? That’s what Jesus’s wants to know. I think there are two unmentioned words missing here; obedience and submission. Those two missing words have become the unusual twist I needed to ponder more about this parable. At first glance neither son’s response to the father would be called obedient or submissive. The first son’s response to what his father asks is “I will not.” He did not want to be obedient! The father seems to have accepted the son’s “I will not” and moves on to the second son. The second son’s response is to please the father, “I go sir!” They both end up changing their minds and flip-flopping to do exactly the opposite of what they said. That is the point in my pondering where Jesus interrupted my neat little devotion about this parable with an interesting observation: this parable is about that flip-flopping not which son was more obedient and submissive.
Our human process of life is exactly like those two sons. It’s built of uneven flip-flopping between our words and our behavior. God has designed a life of faith through belief in Jesus that will change our minds and offer us a dependable “way of righteousness” that can make us reliable in our obedience and trustworthy in our submission…at first glance.
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