But
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, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said to him, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
Matthew 21:28-32
Matthew 21 [24.] Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?”
They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.” They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.
Matthew 21 [28.] But 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, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind, and went. He came to the second, and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but he didn’t go. Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly I tell you that the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn’t believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn’t even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
Matthew 21 [33.] “Hear another parable. There was a man who was a master of a household, who planted a vineyard, set a hedge about it, dug a wine press in it, built a tower, leased it out to farmers, and went into another country. When the season for the fruit came near, he sent his servants to the farmers, to receive his fruit. The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they treated them the same way. But afterward he sent to them his son, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the farmers, when they saw the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him, and seize his inheritance.’ So they took him, and threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When therefore the lord of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those farmers?”
Meaning:
The chief priests and elders had refused to say whether John’s baptism was from heaven or from men, and Jesus had declined to tell them by what authority he acted (Matthew 21:23-27). He continues speaking to the same leaders with the first of three parables, all aimed at them. This one, found only in Matthew, carries on the subject of John the Baptizer.
- “But what do you think?”
Jesus draws his hearers into the story and makes them judges. A father asks his two sons to work in his vineyard. Respect for parents was a great duty in Israel, and in public a son would be expected to answer politely.
- “I will not,” but afterward he changed his mind
The first son is rude and refuses openly. Yet later he regrets it and goes to work. The word for “changed his mind” speaks of regret leading to a change of action. He pictures those who at first rejected God’s will but afterwards turned back to him.
- “I go, sir,” but he didn’t go
The second son gives the perfect answer and calls his father “sir,” but he never goes. He pictures people who say the right things to God but do not obey. Jesus had warned, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). Isaiah had described a people who honored God with their lips while their hearts were far from him (Isaiah 29:13).
- “The tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering into God’s Kingdom before you”
The leaders gave the right answer, “The first,” and so judged themselves. Jesus then applied the parable. Tax collectors worked for Rome and often cheated their own people; prostitutes were outcasts. Both had said “no” to God by the way they lived. Yet when John preached, they came to him. Luke records that “Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, ‘Teacher, what must we do?’” (Luke 3:12).
The religious leaders, who seemed to say “yes” to God by their devotion, refused John’s call. Luke sums it up: “the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God, not being baptized by him themselves” (Luke 7:29-30).
- “John came to you in the way of righteousness”
John lived a righteous life and called others to it. He demanded, “produce fruit worthy of repentance!” (Matthew 3:8). The leaders could not fault his message; they simply did not believe him. Even when they saw sinners transformed, “you didn’t even repent afterward.” The changed lives of outcasts should have moved them, but their pride kept them out.
The Significance of Matthew 21:28-32
- Doing, not only saying
God is looking for obedience, not polite words. James writes, “But be doers of the word, and not only hearers” (James 1:22).
- It is never too late to change
The first son’s “no” was not the end of his story. Anyone who has refused God can still turn back and obey.
- Beware of religious self-confidence
Those who think they are already right with God may be the slowest to repent. Humility opens the door that pride keeps shut.
Cross-References:
Matthew 7:21: "but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Obedience, not words, marks the true child.
Luke 3:12: "Tax collectors also came to be baptized," Sinners who responded to John.
Luke 7:30: "But the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God," Leaders who refused him.
Conclusion: In the parable of the two sons, one refused his father but later changed his mind and went to work, while the other promised to go but never did. The leaders agreed that the first did the father’s will, and Jesus applied it to them: tax collectors and prostitutes believed John and were entering God’s Kingdom, while the leaders who seemed devout refused to repent. The passage teaches that God values obedience over words, and that repentance is always open to those who turn back.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible