A Brief Comment on Matthew 21:28-46

Jesus is making the point that the Father is concerned with our actions, not just our words. His listeners in this passage were mainly chief priests and elders of the people (presumably Pharisees). Pharisees generally professed to be believing Jews, but their frequent conflicts with Jesus show this was not actually the case.

Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea were two notable exceptions to the rule that Pharisees were not believing Jews. Nicodemus didn't immediately understand Jesus' teaching about needing to be born again in John 3, but John 19:39 also states that he helped care for Jesus' body after Jesus was crucified. That clearly isn't something that an enemy of Jesus would have done, so it appears that he did come to faith in Christ. Joseph of Arimathea was the one in whose tomb Jesus was laid after he was crucified. This isn't something that one of Jesus' enemies would have done for him, either. Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin, and Scripture records that he did not consent to Jesus being crucified.

Jesus' listeners were correct in saying that it was the first son who did the father's will. The Expositor's Bible commentary makes the observation, in verse 31, that we cannot appreciate the shock value of Jesus' statement without considering the low position tax collectors and prostitutes held in ancient Israeli society. The Expositor's Bible commentary states, "The scum of society, though it says no to God, repents, performs the Father's will and enters the kingdom, where as the religious authorities loudly say yes to God but never do what he says. Their righteousness is not enough. Thus the parable makes no distinction between Jew and Gentile but between religious leader and public sinner".

Tax collectors were generally Jews who collected taxes for the Roman government. Because they were working for Gentiles and for the people who were occupying Israel, tax collectors were considered to be traitors. There was a certain amount that the Romans required them to collect, but the tax collectors would often collect a larger amount and keep the extra money for themselves. Jews despised the tax collectors for doing this. The Romans were well aware of the practice but didn't really care how much was collected, as long as the required amount would be passed on to Rome.

Jesus makes the application for the passage in verse 32, saying that the Pharisees did not believe John (meaning John the Baptist), but tax collectors and sinners did believe him. John the Baptist had been calling people to repentance and preparing the way for Jesus' ministry. The Pharisees should have rejoiced to see people come to repentance, but they did not. Nor did they feel any remorse for not believing John, or for their attitude towards sinners who came to repentance.

Jesus also tells the parable of the landowner in verses 33-46. The landowner symbolizes God the Father in this parable. The vineyard could symbolize both tasks and resource that we are given, and we are accountable to God for how we handle them. The landowner sent his slaves to the tenants. The tenants here symbolize the Israelite people but can refer to people in general. The slaves that the landowner sent represent the Old Testament prophets. Jesus said that they beat one, killed another and stoned another one. This is very often what actually happened to the prophets that God sent to the Israelites before Jesus' birth. And God sent prophet after prophet, just as the landowner sent another larger group of slaves.

The master had every right to expect that they would respect his son. The tenants should have known that both the slaves and the son came representing the landowner. Therefore it’s only logical that they would bear the consequences for anything they might do to the slaves or the landowner's son. Instead, they formulated a plan to kill the son, because he was to inherit the vineyard. They would then take his inheritance for themselves. The logic of how they would get the land if they killed the son eludes me, but the thought that the Israelite people could kill the prophets and the Son of God and escape punishment is equally illogical. Jesus said the landowner's son was taken out of the vineyard and killed, just as Jesus was led outside of Jerusalem, where he was crucified.

Jesus then asks his listeners, "What will he (the landowner) do to those vinegrowers?" They rightly state that landowner would bring them to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard to other vinegrowers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons. This is very much in line with the parable of the talents in Matthew 25, when Jesus said, "For everyone who has, more will be given....but from the one who does not have, even what he has will be taken away" (Matthew 25:30). Verse 45 states that the Pharisees understood that Jesus was talking about them. But this led them to respond like those wicked tenants, rather than in repentance. They were fearful of seizing him in public, though, because the people held Jesus to be a prophet. Evidently, even in this situation, they were more worried about what the people thought of them than what God thought of them.