3.06 The Two Sons

VI. THE TWO SONS.

Matthew 21:28 - Matthew 21:32. The leaders of the Jews brought upon them selves the rebuke contained in this parable. THE PARABLES OF JESUS 117 When Jesus had entered the Temple, and was teaching there, they came to Him, and refer ring to His words and actions of the last few days, they asked Him: “By what authority doest thou these things? and who hath given thee this authority?” Instead of returning a direct reply to their question, He answered, I, too, will ask you one word, which if ye tell me, I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? From heaven or from men?” This was a plain, straightforward question, and it called for a plain answer. Those to whom it was addressed saw at once that they could not answer it without prejudice to them selves. If they said, “ from heaven,” the retort was obvious: “ Why, then, did ye not believe him?” while fear of the people, who regarded John as a prophet, held them back from asserting the human origin of his baptism.

Accordingly, they preferred to forgo an answer to their own question to risking an answer to that of Jesus, and they were thus obliged, though reluctantly, to confess their ignorance of the matter. Jesus then rejoined, “ Neither do I tell you by what authority I do 118 THE PARABLES OF JESUS these things.” Not content, however, with putting them to silence, He would lead them on by means of a parable to pronounce their own condemnation. He therefore went on, “ What think ye? A certain man had two sons, and he came to the first, and said, Song of Solomon 1:1-17 go work to-day in the vineyard. He answered: I will not; but afterwards he changed his mind and went.” The father, apparently unaware of this change of purpose, “ came to the second, and gave him the same command. He answered: Yes, sir; but he went not. Which of the two did the will of his father?” The Jewish leaders could give only one reply to this question, “ The first.” They had virtually judged themselves, and now Jesus will point the moral of the parable as follows: “ Verily I say unto you, the publicans and the harlots go before you into the kingdom of heaven. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publi-

1 The Greek word rendered “ son “ really means “ child,” and is here a term of affection. The father of the Prodigal so addresses his elder son, and Abraham the rich man in Hades. THE PARABLES OF JESUS 119 cans and the harlots believed him. Nay, even when ye saw that they believed him, ye remained obstinate in your unbelief.” The son who refused to work and afterwards repented of his disobedience, was a figure of the publicans and harlots, who at first refused obedience to the Law of God, and afterwards repented; while the son who professed obedience without practising it fitly represented the high-priests, Scribes, and elders, who, though foremost in their professions of strict obedience to even the minutest demands of the Law, came short of the despised publicans and harlots in their fulfilment of it, once these latter had heard and obeyed the call to repentance. The parable, though called forth by a certain set of circumstances, has no merely local or temporary significance. As long as humanity endures, both classes, the proud, self-righteous leaders of the Jewish people on the one hand, and the publicans and sinners, whose consciousness of guilt urged them on to seek relief, on the other, will always have their repre sentatives. Those who belong to the latter class are in no danger of deceiving themselves or 120 THE PARABLES OF JESUS others: the disorders of their lives effectually prevent this; while those of the former class, through ignorance of their maladies, feel no desire of a cure. Their very freedom from the grosser forms of sin, and the esteem which others testify for them, lull them into a feeling of false security, and stifle any suspicions or misgivings concerning themselves that may arise in their minds. The Scriptures, which the learned among the Jews boasted of knowing so thoroughly, could have taught them the lesson which they so much needed, distrust of themselves; and well for them would it have been if they had made their own the sentiments of the Psalmist which dictated that prayer which we, too, ought to have often on our lips: “ Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be with me any way which leadeth to sorrow: and lead me in the way everlasting”

(Psalms 138:23/.). THE PARABLES OF JESUS 121 TAGS: [Parables]