Temple Cleansed Again
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who witnessed the words and deeds of Jesus in the temple from that
time enshrined Him in their hearts as a prophet of God. But as the
popular feeling turned in His favor, the hatred of the priests toward
Jesus increased. The wisdom by which He escaped the snares set
for His feet, being a new evidence of His divinity, added fuel to their
wrath.
In His contest with the rabbis, it was not Christ’s purpose to humil-
iate His opponents. He was not glad to see them in a hard place. He
had an important lesson to teach. He had mortified His enemies by al-
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lowing them to be entangled in the net they had spread for Him. Their
acknowledged ignorance in regard to the character of John’s baptism
gave Him an opportunity to speak, and He improved the opportunity
by presenting before them their real position, adding another warning
to the many already given.
“What think ye?” He said. “A certain man had two sons; and he
came to the first, and said, Son, go work today in my vineyard. He
answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and
said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his
father?”
This abrupt question threw His hearers off their guard. They had
followed the parable closely, and now immediately answered, “The
first.” Fixing His steady eye upon them, Jesus responded in stern and
solemn tones: “Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the
harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto
you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the
publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it,
repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.”
The priests and rulers could not but give a correct answer to Christ’s
question, and thus He obtained their opinion in favor of the first son.
This son represented the publicans, those who were despised and hated
by the Pharisees. The publicans had been grossly immoral. They had
indeed been transgressors of the law of God, showing in their lives an
absolute resistance to His requirements. They had been unthankful
and unholy; when told to go and work in the Lord’s vineyard, they
had given a contemptuous refusal. But when John came, preaching
repentance and baptism, the publicans received his message and were
baptized.