Transcript
I wanted to do a Bible study from the gospel of Matthew, and Matthew, 21, on the
Monday of Holy Week. There's great stress and tension in Jerusalem, and it's
because of Palm Sunday, really, and the tremendous outpouring of public
affection has created a great stress among people who are really worried about
what's going to happen. And Jesus comes into the city on the Monday of Holy Week,
and he goes to a Solomon's Portico, and he decides to tell a parable to those
who are there, and it's one of the shortest of the parables of our Lord. And here it
is. He says in this in this parable, 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. And the father went to the second son and said
the same, son, would you go work in the vineyard today? And he answered, I go, sir, but he did
not go. Now that has to be one of the short parables of Jesus. You know, vineyard for a
Jewish listener would refer to the kingdom of God. They saw themselves as the vineyard
of the Lord and his planting. Josephus tells that carved on the wall of the great temple
was a grapevine symbolizing the vineyard as God's people. So with that sort of symbolism,
that lies behind this parable. This is a short parable. Jesus sometimes tells parables
where he will say a parable and leave it as is, nothing else. Sometimes he will set up a
parable. And sometimes he will be in response to a question like a lawyer's question, sets
up the parable of the Good Samaritan when the lawyer asks the question and he tells parable.
Sometimes Jesus will tell a parable and then have a sentence like he who has ears to hear
let him hear. Sometimes he'll interpret a parable. That's rarer. And sometimes he'll
dialogue with his listeners after a parable and ask them what they think. And that's
what we have in this case. So after he tells this very short parable, he says, which of
the two did the will of the father? And they said the first. They got the right answer.
By the way, that's true in all the parables. The lawyer got the right answer too about
who showed mercy among the man to the man who fell among thieves in the parable of the
Good Samaritan. So they got the right answer. Now following that, Jesus sometimes will make
a further statement. And in this case, he does. This next statement is very salty. And yet
there's hope hidden in this salty statement. Here's the answer. The next thing that Jesus
says. So they said the first. And then Jesus said to them, Amen. I tell you, the tax collectors
and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God. And now you can see that that vineyard
in his mind referred to the kingdom of God are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you.
For John the Baptist came to you in the way of righteousness. That's our Lord's interpretation
of John's ministry calling people to the way of righteousness and pointing out Messiah.
Came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him. Now notice three times
he's going to use the word believe, which gives you a clue to what he intends in this parable.
You did not believe him. The tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even
when you saw it, which probably is referring to John's pointing out the Messiah, Jesus Christ
himself. And when you saw the fulfillment of John's prophecy, maybe our Lord hears you
freeing himself. We aren't really sure. But he says, even when you saw it, you did not change
your minds and believe him. And that's the end of that interesting interchange between Jesus
and those people that are out in front of him. I want to try to analyze the parable. First of all,
as a parable. I always try to look at and see a parable in terms of the story that's there.
And what makes the story work? This is a very short story, but it works. It's a short story that
has a lot of emotional impact, has a lot of explosive impact. What makes this parable work? Notice
it's a two-story parable. Some of our Lord's best parables are two-story parables, told side by side.
He built his life on the rock, built a life on the sand. That's a two-story parable. Or the
most famous, the story of the two brothers, the one brother, the second brother, that's the
famous one, the parable, the prodigal son, which should probably really be called the
prodigal father, because it's the luxurious father. That's a parable, but yet it has two sons,
two stories. And the two stories are told side by side. And that's what you have in this parable,
two stories told side by side. And what makes the dynamic of the parable is that each
boy in the parable has a flaw. There are two flawed boys that are in this story.
And the first son, too quickly, opposes his father's will as if his father's will were against him.
Father says, we're Jewish family. We're all doing our work today. And I'd like to go
and work over in the vineyard here. And he says, I will not. And so he's flawed. He's a big
problem at breakfast because everybody's trying to get the jobs all lined up for the day. And he says,
I will not. Maybe he's saying more. Jesus makes it very spare. He may have said more things. I'm
sick and tired of this vineyard. I've got to do a few things with my friends for a change. I don't
know what else he might have said. But the story kind of brings all that out in your head. I will
not. He's impudent. This boy is defiant. But the big thing is he sees his father's will and our
Lord calls us the will of the father. He sees it as against him. And so he says, I will not. But
later on, he changes his mind. And so he does go into the vineyard. I would describe this boy as
a big problem at breakfast, but he's a joy at supper. By the time you get to supper, you're
pretty happy about this guy. Now, the second son, and notice in the parables that Jesus tells that
are two story parables, the second story is always more complicated than the first. The parable of
the elder brother and the younger brother of the prodigal son. The second son is much more complicated
than the first son. And really is maybe the most important part of the parable. But here also,
the second son is more complicated. Because when the father says to the first son,
will you go work in the vineyard, he says, I will not. Okay, now he goes over to the second son.
He says, would you go work in the vineyard? And this boy is, he says, I go, sir, the word here is
Lord. I go Lord. He uses the strong word. I go, kyrios. I go Lord. I go, sir. Wow.
He's a joy at breakfast, unlike his brother. In fact, this kind of kid probably would pour it
on a little bit, because Jesus just puts it spiraling. I go, sir, but you know, he's a kind of kid
would say, thanks for that suggestion, dad. I was thinking, that's the kind of guy. I was thinking
this morning during quiet time. I can't wait. He's probably religious too. I can't wait to go
to work. I'm not like others. He's probably a little self-righteous too. That don't care that much
about the family. I know we're working together so that we build the college fund up so that we can
all go to college afterward. I know. That's why we're going to vineyard. Unlike others, I care about
this family. Thanks, dad. You made my day. And I mean, notice, that's I'm getting that out of. I go,
sir. Wow. This boy is a joy at breakfast. You know, the other boy has caused everybody to have,
of you know, upset stomach. This boy says, mother, put a stake on for me because I'm going to get a
real sweat up today and go out there and work. Thanks, mom. And so he gets a huge breakfast.
There's only one problem. For whatever reasons, by the way, notice, in our Lord's Parable,
he shows no interest in the reasons. For whatever reasons, he doesn't go to the vineyard.
Maybe he didn't think it through well enough. He made it, he's too impulsive to say yes.
The other boy was too impulsive to say no. Maybe this boy is too impulsive to say yes.
But for whatever reasons, he doesn't go to the vineyard. And so this boy is a big problem at supper.
But a joy at breakfast. Unfortunately for him, this is a supper parable, not a breakfast parable.
But that's the story. Okay, now think about the story. There's your parable.
Fill with all of that emotional content for any Jewish listener, any young man or a young woman
who is in a family and any father or mother that's in a family. They would immediately
understand this story. What is Jesus teaching in this parable? And what's his implication for a youth
pastor, this parable? I want to make just three reflections quickly. The first reflection I'd like
to make is this. The parable shows like all the parables. Jesus' parables are accurate.
They're psychologically accurate and there's an accuracy in the parables of Christ
and that show his understanding of human nature. Notice in this parable, our Lord shows
that he is not surprised by strong and negative reactions that would emerge in your heart or mind
to his claim to be king. What Bonhoeffer describes as the kingdom of God theology is the
kingly reign of Christ. This kingly reign of Christ or the claim of the kingly reign of the will of
God for your life. In the parable, he shows that he's not surprised that you might have strong
reactions against that. Notice it doesn't bother him. He doesn't seem to be outraged at the
resistance of this first son. He shows that he expects it. After all, the stakes are huge.
So I think that's in the parable. I think he shows his understanding of that. He also shows
his understanding that some people maybe too hastily say yes, maybe too hastily even effusively
say I go Lord. Remember in the end of the Sermon the Mount, he says not everyone who says Lord
Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those that do the will of the Father. So he knows that
there are people who are religious perhaps, but maybe religious in a way to keep God away from them,
to hold God off by flattering him. Who knows? But notice the parable alerts you to that. That he's
aware of that. I've often thought in this parable, there's always a tragic thread and a comic thread
in every one of the parables. There's a sense of the humor in each parable and also tragedy in
each parable. And the tragic thread in this parable is that the second son, the more complicated one,
misses the chance to get in the vineyard, but he misses the chance to really meet his father.
If he had said no like the first son did, they would be a morbid engagement with his father.
Instead by saying I go Sir, quickly saying Lord to the Father, but not really engaging the Father.
So that's another tragic thread. There's a tragic thread in this parable that he misses out.
And sometimes the rebellious kid gets to know the family better than the so-called compliant kid,
who's really compliant on the outside, but not on the inside.
All right, let me make a second reflection on this parable that I think is very significant for
our ministries. I think this parable helps us understand the freedom journey from hearing
and Carol helped us understand Shema to hear. It's the great obedience word of the Old Testament.
It's to hear the Lord. But there's a notice, this parable shows that there's a journey from
hearing to doing. Those who hear my word and do it, the end of the sermon in the mount is that
parable that our Lord tells about building on the sound or the rock, hearing to doing. Those who
hear my word and do it. And there's a journey. There is a, I call it a lag time, and this parable
preserves that. There's a lag time between what you hear and when you go, and it's preserved by our
Lord. This is a freedom parable. He shows, remember when our Lord says he, who has ears to hear,
let him hear, that's preserving the lag time. In the book of Revelation, we have one of the most
beautiful sentences spoken to the Laodicean church. Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and supple with him, or supple with
her, and they with me. But notice, the lag time is preserved there. In that beautiful, we often think
of that as an evangelistic sentence. It is. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. No, not, behold,
I'm coming through the door with you like it or not. I'm at the door. He hears and opens the door.
There's a lag time, and this parable preserves the lag time. The time between when you discover a
great truth, and when I like to make Karl Barth describes the assurance of the Holy Spirit in my
life, he says in his dogmatic outline that the assurance of the Holy Spirit happens this way,
that when I hear this goodness about God, and I'm able to say that it's also for me,
that God's love is also for me. But there's a lag time between hearing about the grace of God,
discovering the grace of God, and knowing that it's also for me. And Jesus in this parable
preserves that lag time. And I believe we should preserve it too. We need to preserve that.
We need to, people are on a journey, and there's a journey from hearing, discovering a truth,
from the preaching of God, of the Word of God, from a Bible study you do in leading young
men and women to discover the gospel, discover a great truth, discover a great ethical implication.
There's a lag time from hearing it to doing it, and we have to preserve it. And in a sense,
you can't shortcut it. I came up with a sentence that just hit me with regard to this parable.
I said to myself, it's better to finally believe what at first you could not say,
than to say at first what you do not believe. And in youth ministry, I think it's very important
to preserve that. To get somebody to say something early on because of group pressure that they
don't yet really believe, that's not a game. It's better to finally, finally believe what at first
you could not say, than to say at first what you do not believe. That's in this parable. The first
boy at first says, I don't want to go. But later on, he changed his mind. And you know the word for
repent means literally to change your mind. He changed his mind and he did go to the vineyard.
And the confirmation comes in the vineyard. And that's where his decision is confirmed.
Now I want to make one last comment. The parable it seems to me also shows that this lag time
actually is in favor of the gospel. It's in favor of us. Because the gospel wears well,
it wears well over the long haul. It makes sense. And that's why I titled today's
exposition first and second thoughts. I really have to give credit to C.S. Lewis for that. I have
to give credit to C.S. Lewis for an awful lot in my ministry. He's been a great influence on me.
And he wrote a book called Miracles. And in his chapter on the Grand Miracle, which is his case
for Jesus Christ, he ends that chapter with this amazing statement. He says, the doctrine of the
incarnation, the coming of Christ, works into our minds differently than other world views like
and he mentions four other world views, pessimism, optimism, materialism, and pessimism and pantheism.
These other world views, they sort of immediately make sense. But he says the gospel doesn't
make sense that way. It works into our minds quite differently. It digs beneath the surface.
It works through the rest of our knowledge by unexpected channels. It harmonizes best with our
deepest apprehensions and our second thoughts. In union with these, it undermines our superficial
opinions. It has little to say to the man who's still certain that everything is going to the dogs,
the pessimist, or the man who is certain that everything is getting better and better, the
optimist. Why do I need a redeemer? When we started our prayer confession today, that would not
make sense to the optimist who says, man, I'm getting better and better. I don't need to confess my
sins. It has little to say to that person, or little to say to the person who thinks that everything
is God, the pantheist, everything is God, then what do I need? Or that everything is electricity?
The materialist. Then Lewis has this last line. He says, it's hour comes when these wholesale
creeds have begun to fail us. And I think that's the advantage of the lag time. The lag time,
in ministry to young men and women, you have to sometimes wait it out. You have to wait it out
while a person is thinking it through. And sometimes you have to know how to stay close,
but also to step back. And to wait it out and to trust that over the long haul, the gospel
makes the most sense to your second thoughts, maybe not your first thoughts. At first thought,
the first boy felt, no, I don't want to go. But as he thought it over, it made sense. The gospel
wears well over the long haul. Heavenly Father, we're grateful for this text. What a challenge it is to
have the opportunity to have a ministry to the next generation. And sometimes we want to speed it
up. And sometimes when we meet the young rebel or the person who's too easily compliant, we realize
that we need to step back and wait it out. Lord, give us the wisdom to know how to stay close
and to step back and to preserve that journey, that freedom journey as a young man or woman makes
her discovery of your grace and realize that it's also for them. So Lord, bless us in that task.
We thank You for this parable. We thank You that You're on our side in this in Christ's name we pray. Amen.