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Humble Hero
answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went.
Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and
said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of
his father?”
This abrupt question threw His hearers off guard. They im-
mediately answered, “The first.” Looking intently at them, Jesus
responded in stern and solemn tones: “Assuredly, I say to you that
tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you.
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not
believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when
you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”
The priests and rulers had no alternative but to give a correct
answer to Christ’s question, and so He got their opinion in favor of
the first son, who represented the tax collectors. When John came,
preaching repentance and baptism, the tax collectors received his
message and were baptized.
The second son represented the leading men of the Jewish na-
tion who would not acknowledge that John came from God. They
“rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized
by him.”
Luke 7:30
. Like the second son, the priests and rulers
professed obedience, but acted disobedience.
The priests and rulers remained silent. But Christ said, “Hear
another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vine-
yard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a
tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far coun-
try. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the
vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers
took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again
he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to
them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will
respect my son.’ But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said
among themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize
his inheritance.’ So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard
and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes,
what will he do to those vinedressers?”
The priests and rulers answered, “He will destroy those wicked
men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will
render to him the fruits in their seasons.” The speakers now saw that