Confrontational Parable Number 1
What do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "Son, go, work today in my vineyard." He answered and said, "I will not," but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, "I go sir," but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? Matt. 21:28-31, NKJV.
We have reached the final days of Jesus' life. And the Gospels indicate that He is on a collision course with the Jewish leadership. First came the triumphal entry, then the cleansing of the Temple, and finally the argument over His authority. Those events, which feature His Messianic role, reveal the growing rift between the Jewish leaders and the masses of the people, with the leaders rejecting Jesus and the latter group repeatedly demonstrating enthusiasm for Him.
Next we find Jesus teaching and dialoguing in the Temple courts. In the process, He presents several confrontational parables, all aimed at the Jewish leaders.
The initial parable is that of a father (God) and two sons. The first (who represents the tax collectors, prostitutes, and other outcasts) verbally refuses to labor in the father's vineyard but repents and works anyway. The second son (who represents the Jewish leaders) verbally agrees to obey but doesn't put his words into practice.
Jesus, using an excellent teaching technique, involves His audience in arriving at the parable's lesson. The answer is obvious. All through Matthew's Gospel it is not those who say "Lord, Lord" who enter the kingdom, but those who obey (see Matt. 7:21).
For Jesus, righteousness is not passive acceptance but active obedience. Faith is belief that acts. That is not salvation by works but rather the fact that love to God and other people flows naturally from the heart of a person who has met Jesus.
Thus His words stand against the so-called gospel of emotional revivalism that looks for mere verbal acceptance rather than a transformed life. Likewise, this parable puts the lid on the falsehood that suggests that believing certain doctrinal truths is the way of salvation. And again, the parable strikes at the heart of those forms of Christian assurance that tend to equate salvation with accepting Jesus at the point of justification. Jesus' teaching on assurance of salvation is based on both accepting Him and living the Christlike life.
And with that conclusion we have our marching orders for today and every day.
What do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "Son, go, work today in my vineyard." He answered and said, "I will not," but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, "I go sir," but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father? Matt. 21:28-31, NKJV.
We have reached the final days of Jesus' life. And the Gospels indicate that He is on a collision course with the Jewish leadership. First came the triumphal entry, then the cleansing of the Temple, and finally the argument over His authority. Those events, which feature His Messianic role, reveal the growing rift between the Jewish leaders and the masses of the people, with the leaders rejecting Jesus and the latter group repeatedly demonstrating enthusiasm for Him.
Next we find Jesus teaching and dialoguing in the Temple courts. In the process, He presents several confrontational parables, all aimed at the Jewish leaders.
The initial parable is that of a father (God) and two sons. The first (who represents the tax collectors, prostitutes, and other outcasts) verbally refuses to labor in the father's vineyard but repents and works anyway. The second son (who represents the Jewish leaders) verbally agrees to obey but doesn't put his words into practice.
Jesus, using an excellent teaching technique, involves His audience in arriving at the parable's lesson. The answer is obvious. All through Matthew's Gospel it is not those who say "Lord, Lord" who enter the kingdom, but those who obey (see Matt. 7:21).
For Jesus, righteousness is not passive acceptance but active obedience. Faith is belief that acts. That is not salvation by works but rather the fact that love to God and other people flows naturally from the heart of a person who has met Jesus.
Thus His words stand against the so-called gospel of emotional revivalism that looks for mere verbal acceptance rather than a transformed life. Likewise, this parable puts the lid on the falsehood that suggests that believing certain doctrinal truths is the way of salvation. And again, the parable strikes at the heart of those forms of Christian assurance that tend to equate salvation with accepting Jesus at the point of justification. Jesus' teaching on assurance of salvation is based on both accepting Him and living the Christlike life.
And with that conclusion we have our marching orders for today and every day.
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