by Mr. Titus Menezes
Mt. 21:28-32
This parable follows after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem and cleansing of the temple. The chief priests and the elders question His authority. Jesus does not give a reply but He wants to open their eyes to a higher truth and makes use of a few parables.
One such is the parable of the two sons. Jesus made use of parables – small stories to communicate a message. He makes a comparison between sinners like prostitutes and tax collectors and self-righteous, chosen people of God.
Matthew 21:28-31 - "What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first."
Jesus begins this parable with a rather unusual question? What do you think? He is referring to someone who can think. He is not referring to the animal kingdom but to humans who have the ability to think. Jesus too expects each one of us to be a thinking people.
A man had two sons. Jesus is referring to a family. There exists a man who is the father of two sons. And when we refer to a family or father and sons we are talking of a relationship.
Who does Jesus say are the sons of God?
John 1:12ff - But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.
Romans 8:14 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
He went to the first and said - It is the father who is speaking to the son not the other way round.
'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' Can you see the tenderness and love in this verse. Son! He is not addressing as hey you, as a servant but as his very own.
Go – do we come across this word anywhere in the bible?
Mk 16:15 - And he said to them, "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation.
The go of the gospel. The man tells his son go and work. He does not say go and play or do anything else. He gives the son specific instruction to work and to work in the vineyard. Some other bible translations mention it as my vineyard.
A vineyard is a reference to God’s kingdom or territory and we find its mention many times. Mt 20:1 - For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. The vineyard is a place where you can experience kingdom values. The vineyard is the place where fruits are produced. The father is telling the son to do something; some action is required of the son. God is giving you an opportunity to be in His kingdom here on earth, in this life.
He tells him to go to the vineyard today. Not tomorrow, not next week or a year later, he tells him to go to the vineyard today. Can we see the urgency in the man’s statement?
I liked something that was shared at the CCR festival. He was referring to the harvest. If you don't go at the right time for the harvest, the harvest will not be there. It will be lost and the second thing is you will not be there. You will not have anything to eat and you will die of starvation.
Lets look at the first son’s response. He answered, 'I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. Can you see the arrogance, disobedience in the son’s response! The son is talking of his own will. My will be done. Why should I listen to you? But later he changed his mind and went.
Changed his mind – we have heard that phrase so often. Repentance! Repentance was followed by action. He spoke wrongly but did rightly. This man entered the vineyard, the Kingdom of God!
The father went to the second and said the same;
The father went out and repeated the same invitation to the second son. Two sons in the same house, could he not have sent out a single request – common both of you get to work. No! Instead he goes and makes a personal request, an individual request.
God does the same. He is not sending out by the lot but he comes to each one of us and makes a personal request. And he answered, 'I go, sir'; but he did not go
What polite, sweet words! See the reply I go sir, its not I will go sir. My will does not have a say. The Greek word for sir is kyrie which means Lord. We sing the kyrie.
But he did not go to the vineyard. He remained outside the vineyard. It was mere lip service. Today we live in such a world – the gift of gab, the man who speaks loudest, sweet words is the winner.
This is what we all have perfected. Here I am Lord but send my neighbour. Yes I will serve you but first let me settle all the issues and then I will come.
Which of the two did the will of his father?"
The obvious answer the first. But look at it a little more closely and you will see both brought dishonour to their father, the first one by his words and the second one by his actions.
A more correct response would be I go sir and he went. And this is what we see in Jesus who responded positively to the Father’s call – not My will but Yours be done.
How do we connect this parable to our theme verse for this year 2 Pt 1:10 on calling and election?
The father called his sons to go to work and we had two different responses. One just heard it and did nothing of it while the other though he spoke otherwise went to the vineyard. A clear example of hearers and doers!
Mt 7:24ff - "Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man.
The lord is telling that those who hear the words of mine and act on it are wise and they have built their house on solid rock. Whereas the one who hears and does not act on them is a foolish man who built his house on sand.
In my last talk I had shown you the building of a wall – a brick structure of the seven virtues and this passage also talks of building. Mt 7:21 - "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.
When you hear the call there has to be action. Your God experience is your calling. There are so many who have not had this experience which you have had. The emphasis is on action. The calling has to lead to action. That's the difference between calling and election. In election you are acting out the purpose for what you have been called.
In the parable the man asked the sons to go and work in the vineyard. Friends the growth happens in the vineyard. The fruits are produced in the vineyard. So when you are in the vineyard i.e. when you are in action not only are you experiencing the Kingdom of Heaven but also producing heavenly fruit. This is when your spiritual growth happens. In the calling you remain at the infancy stage but when you walk and work in the Spirit, growth and maturity happens.
Friends many of us have a misplaced understanding that we are living godly lives by not sinning or breaking the commandments. By not sinning you are not doing anything good, you only stopped doing bad. You need to do good.
The other day, our son was asking us – if we do good things, we have holy pictures in our house… will all good things happen to such people… what he was talking about is the externals… sometimes we are like kids… we pay attention to saying prayers, going for novenas, doing holy, holy things…
Hebrews 5:12-14 - For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic elements of the oracles of God.
You ought to be teachers – I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations, see the emphasis on playing out your role. Those who are infants are unskilled. We know infants are unskilled, we know that if we do not work we will have no skills. If by sitting we could get skills, life would be so much easier.
But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties have been trained by practice. Again the emphasis is on action. So if you are not doing any work for the Lord then you are a mere thumb suck.
Jas 1:22-24 - But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like.
Strong words – a hearer is only deceiving, misleading himself. Its like hearing someone tell you a recipe but if you don't practice it, you have forgotten it. It remains there and you don’t really know how to prepare it… If you think by only hearing you will grow then you are deceiving yourself.
What is the difference between people outside this hall and people inside here? We have had a close encounter with God or atleast so I believe unless you come here for other reasons. But what is the output? It's the same – no action.
When the Lord began calling me to work for Him, I was looking at my self, my sins, my failings and weakness and I was telling the Lord wait Lord first let me clean myself completely then I will come but by the day I saw myself even more unworthy than before and I was thinking when will it stop?
Today I see myself even more unworthy than before – the light of the Lord showing the chinks in my armour. But He is not a God who condemns for He has plans for our welfare. The more you are closer to the light and in the mirror, have you noticed you see more of the flaws in your skin?
Why then is that we are unable to work for the Lord / stagnancy?
Jas 1:21 - welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
I felt the problem is here – the word itself has not been planted in the soul. The word has not touched your life. The parable of the four soils – the soil is anything but fertile for only the fertile soil produced fruits. And that is what we saw in the seven virtues - Faith > goodness > knowledge > self-control > endurance > godliness >mutual affection > agape love in 2 Pt 1.
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet. The word has to create a burning desire to do the Lord’s work. If you ever thought that by listening or hearing you will produce fruits, you are deceiving yourselves. It is only when you are in action for the Lord that your faith in the Lord will grow faster.
Jas 2:17ff - So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith and I have works." Show me your faith apart from your works, and I by my works will show you my faith.
Peter tells the same things – support your faith with the seven virtues. Faith cannot stand on its own for long. It will crash.
Ask this simple question to yourselves before you hit bed.
- What have I done for the Lord in all these years?
- Have I discerned the will of God for me?
By your works show your faith. The fruits come and come in abundance when working in vineyard of the Lord. You will experience providence, you experience protection, you will experience blessing. Amen