Regardless of our ‘doctrinal viewpoint,’ serious, informed thinking would transform encounters between Creationists and scientists, for example; would ensure greater civility between spokespersons of differing faith perspectives. Remember the recent tiff concerning Franklin Graham and the National Day of Prayer? (Among my most admired thinkers is Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias, whose radio broadcasts entitled “Let My People Think!” are deeply thought-provoking, incisively intelligent, reflecting his broad knowledge and wide reading, his masterful and objective synthesis of the two.)
But back to the issue on Jesus’ mind on this Tuesday of Passion Week....“A man had two sons, and he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And [the son] answered, ‘I will not’; but afterward he repented and went. And the father] went to the second and said the same; and [the second son] answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”
Before we consider the answer the religious leaders gave, might I inject that neither son did the will of his father ideally, that is, immediately, actually, and willingly. That is how our Father expects His children to obey! (Though I must also admit that neither asked those parent-infuriating questions: “Why?” Or “Are you gonna make [my brother] go?”
How would you answer Jesus’ question? “The first son?” Well, he did finally go...after repenting. But it is troubling that he apparently didn’t bother to seek his father out, share that repentance, apologize, and ask forgiveness for a rebellious attitude. Also, we do not know what made him ‘repent’ and go work. Was it genuine remorse? Or maybe just fear of repercussions from refusal to go? We aren’t told whether he was lazy, busy, tired, either...just that he initially refused to obey.
Nor are we told why the second son said he’d go, then didn’t. Was he just getting his dad ‘off his back’? Did he decide to “let [his brother] do it”? Did a better ‘offer’ come along?
Anyway, the religious leaders could answer Jesus this time, seemingly without discussion or delay: “The first.” They were correct, of course, but still their answer nailed them, for their own behavior mirrored that of the second son!
Jesus wasted no time affirming that their answer was correct, but was applicable only to others. And what ‘others’ it was! “Truly I say to you, the tax collectors [despised traitors for the Roman IRS?] and the harlots [prostitutes? hookers?] go into the kingdom of God before you.” He is referring to their response to John the Baptist: “For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the harlots [did]; and even when you saw it, you did not afterward repent and believe....”
Once again Jesus squarely confronts ‘an inconvenient truth’: It is not what we say that is the real measure of our standing with God; it is what we do. It is not ‘talk,’ but ‘walk.’ And our choices, inescapably, reveal our attitude....When it comes to entering the Kingdom of God, attitude can cause us to be ‘left behind’ those we hypocritically judge and self-righteously condemn as not nearly as ‘religious’ or ‘active in church’ as we are.
Have a good week!
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