Matthew 21, 28-32.
Immediately preceding today’s gospel Jesus has entered Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple. The chief priests and elders are incensed at his behaviour and require an explanation for it and his authority for doing it. Today’s parable is part of his answer.
This parable, found only in Matthew, is part of a trilogy of parables (21,18-22,14) dealing with Jesus’ rejection by the Jewish religious leaders. For Matthew the man in the parable represents God and the two sons represent the two main categories of Jewish people at the time of Jesus: the “righteous” Jews who say “Yes” to God’s will in the Law, (the religious leaders especially), but do nothing about its demands in their day to day lives; and the sinners (and Gentiles) who initially say “No” to the Law, but later respond to John the Baptist’s and Jesus’ preaching.
The vineyard would normally represents Israel, (Is 5,1-7), but for Matthew, here, it refers to the “kingdom of God,” as in 21,43, “ the kingdom of God will be taken from you” –
The word “repent”, (“to think better of it”), occurring in v 29, implies to regret something or change one’s heart or one’s attitude to something. Later in v32 it implies a change of heart in one’s relationship with God. In inviting the audience to give a judgement on which of the two sons did the father’s will Jesus is really asking them to pass judgement on themselves. He then tells his audience that tax collectors and sinners, represented in the story by the son who said “No,” will enter the kingdom of God instead of them. The righteous listeners, the Pharisee etc, represented by the son who said “Yes,” will be excluded from the kingdom. They rejected John the Baptist who preached and practised obedience to God’s will, and Jesus who did likewise. Tax collectors and sinners responded and became fit candidates for the kingdom.
Like the son who said “No” but later repented and did his masters will, they had the wisdom to see their mistakes, the humility to honestly admit them, and the grace and courage to correct them. The church’s calendar is full of saints who initially said “no” to God but thought better of it later e.g. St Augustine, St Patrick, St Francis of Assisi, St Ignatius of Loyola, St Margaret of Cortona to mention but a few.
The parable highlights the contrast between saying and doing in religion. The Pharisees weren’t evil people, but were self-righteous, smug, complacent, and judgmental legalists, puffed up with their knowledge of the law which they used as an instrument of oppression to keep down the poor, uneducated sinners. Jesus came to lift up sinners, to save, heal, free and encourage them. The Pharisees and professional religious of Jesus’ day were incapable of listening to him, incapable of changing their minds, their hearts, or their lives.
Which of the two sons are you like? What is the purpose of your life?
We find the Lord’s vineyard in our parish, our work, our recreation, in our contact with people. What kind of work do you do in that vineyard? What kind of fruit does your vineyard produce? Could it do with some pruning?
Fr Geoff O’Grady