Text: Matthew 21:1-32
This passage is a parable. A parable tells a story about something we understand in order to teach us something we need to learn. The religious authorities in Jesus’s day were not pleased that He spent so much time with the people they thought were bad and ungodly. So, Jesus told this parable about the two sons.
The authorities understood the story, then Jesus told them the application. True, the “bad people” were living bad lives (like the first son who said, No). But later they listened to John the Baptist, they repented, and they were now loving God and following Jesus, like the first son changing his mind. The authorities were like the second son. They said they loved God, but in their hearts they did not. They rejected John’s call for repentance and Jesus’ message of God’s saving grace.
We are all bad people. We might say we believe in God, and we might do
religious things. But in our hearts we are naturally against God. The Bible gives us the message of the forgiving grace in Christ. We simply need to trust that God will save us without our efforts. If we believe, only trust, that Jesus lived, died, and was raised for us, then we will be saved. We should then gratefully love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind.
This passage applies similarly to what we considered yesterday. Salvation is a free gift. Just receive it by faith, by trust. But on the job, you must work diligently, and through that God will provide your needs. That is a proper worshipful response to God’s grace.
Meditate on verse 32. What is God teaching you in this verse?
Father, the Lord of heaven and earth, help me seek Your righteousness
through Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.