Reading: Matthew 21.28-32
Dr Harry Cooper the TV vet has a wide range of expertise. I haven't seen him dealing with fish yet - our only kind of pet at the moment! And he doesn't seem to make surprise visits to North Queensland.
Apart from the physical problems that may need treatment or surgery, he often seems to have to apply a deal of animal psychology. A recent case was the dog that had been chasing his tail incessantly for three months - since being left at a boarding kennel for a week while the family went on holiday. On the same programme was the dog who fought its owner for the hose - but was afraid of the spray bottle. "What this dog needs," said Dr Harry, "is a bit of obedience training."
Obedience training! We regard it as essential for dogs, but have become soft on it for people!
Again and again, Jesus emphasised the importance of "hearing" and "heeding." The Greek word for "hear" - akouo, from which we get all the "acoustic" words - often implies both "hear" and "heed".
In Sunday School we used to sing the chorus,
That song is based on Jesus parable of the wise and foolish builders (Mt. 7.24-27). The parable comes at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus' words are "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock… But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand…"
Hear and heed. Don't just admire the Sermon on the Mount. Don't just enjoy the parables of Jesus. The whole purpose of listening is to put into practice. We haven't been paying attention if we don't put it into practice.
Another well-known parable is about the sower and the four different types of soil on which the seed was sown (13.3-9). Jesus ends that parable with the words, "He who has ears, let him hear."
Later, when Jesus explains this parable to his disciples, he makes it clear that those who "hear the message" are meant to "produce a crop." Again it is a matter of hearing and heeding.
In today's reading, Jesus is in the temple courts in Jerusalem. The "chief priests and elders of the people" have been challenging his authority to teach. This is part of the opposition that hardens to the point where they finally engineer his death.
The parable of the two sons is quite simple. The location could have been the Burdekin and the task changing the irrigation.
Both are asked, "Son, go and work today in the vineyard." One refuses to go, but later changes his mind and goes. The other says he will do it, but doesn't.
Now comes the key question - "Which of the two did what his father wanted?" (21.31)
The issue isn't about which one answered his father politely, which one dressed conservatively or which one listened to the right kind of music (and turned the volume down!), but quite simply, "Which one did what his father wanted?" How easy it is to get distracted from that simple basic question!
The answer was obvious - "The first." Disappointing as his verbal attitude had been and encouraging the words of his brother, it was the first one who did what he was asked to do.
Remember, this parable continues the conversation with "the chief priests and elders of the people" - with their questions about who gave Jesus authority to cleanse the Temple of the selling and money-changing that had been going on there. Children were shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" (v. 15) The blind and the lame were coming to him to be healed (v. 14). The chief priests and teachers of the law were "indignant."
But then comes the application of the parable - "I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him" (vv. 31-32).
So - who was doing the will of God? Those who repented of their sin and believed in Jesus. Notably - but not exclusively - this was the tax collectors and the prostitutes. The tax collectors - hated as traitors to Israel and as extortioners. The prostitutes - not the world's "oldest profession" as some foolishly try to tell us today, but selling their bodies for the immoral satisfaction of human lust.
Sometimes we are told that God has a preference for the "marginalised." This is nonsense! God has love for all people and compassion on all who are victims of human injustice. In recent times the argument has been used by those seeking to promote the cause of the homosexual within the life of the church. Human sin is never "just" - whether committed by the rich or the poor, by the socially acceptable or those whom society has tended to reject. Jesus didn't come so that he could "affirm" the tax collectors and prostitutes of his day. He came to call them to repentance - along with the rest of the populace.
It turned out that people like Matthew, Zacchaeus, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well and the woman caught in adultery had much more sensitive consciences in the presence of Jesus than anyone gave them credit for. They had repented and believed. They received the grace of God. They were forgiven and welcomed into God's kingdom.
On the other hand, the religious leaders of the day, who regarded themselves as custodians of God's law and models of righteousness, were missing out - not because of their social status or moral achievements, but because of their refusal to repent of their sins and believe the preaching of John the Baptist.
"The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you." Unthinkable, stinging words, and yet - the door is open. It is still possible, even for the chief priests and elders, to repent and believe and enter.
Luke records that various groups came to John the Baptist to be baptised. He insisted that they were to "produce fruit in keeping with repentance" (Lk. 3.8). The crowd were told, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same" (v. 11). The tax collectors were told, "Don't collect any more than you are required to" (v. 13). Some soldiers were told, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely - be content with your pay" (v. 14). Their behaviour within their lifestyle was to be different.
But there were other people whose lifestyle had to change completely. With the woman caught in adultery, it was not only that Jesus didn't condemn her - she was told, "Go now and leave your life of sin" (Jn 8.11). So Paul could write, "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God" (1 Cor. 6.9-11).
Jesus said, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent"(Jn 6.29). Repentance and faith are always the beginning point of the work of God in our lives. God desires a relationship with us. Within that relationship he will lead us forward into new paths of willing obedience.
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