SolLuna, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

12/1
Matt. 21:23-32

When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?"

And they argued with one another, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, 'Of human origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet."

So they answered Jesus, "We do not know."

And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."

"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ’son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, 'I will not' but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him."

The chief priests nd elders were looking for a good argument. To be more specific, they were setting a trap for Jesus so that they could "win" a public argument and score points in the court of public opinion.

Jesus tested them and found them calculating and insincere in their inquiries. They are not asking questions in order to seek, learn, and know. They were positioning themselves.

Moreover, he suggests that they were all talk.

They were interested in disputing matters of faith with no concern for applying them. That is what he illustrates in the brief parable, They are the sons who say they will go work in the vineyard, but never do. Tax collectors and prostitutes, on the other hand, had been coming to Jesus fo some time without any theological presuppositions or arguments. They were hungry for truth they could put into immediate practice.

They were the sons who initially refused to go, but then, changed their minds and believed. The word for this mind change is "repentance."

Repentance is what happens in the lives of those who desire to seek, learn, know, and follow.

Jesus did not come to earth to prove his authority, argue his philosophy, or accumulate points on a scoreboard. he came to change lives and systems through the reign of God and the redemptive reality of the cross. His Advent is an announcement, not an argument.

Those who followed Jesus and those who follow him today, are seekers who have been sought by the one who came to seek and to save those who are lost.