It's a very short parable....that of The Two Sons....Matthew 21:28-32-. One son defiantly comes out and says he will be disobedient to his father....but comes to see he was wrong....and then is obedient. The other says he will obey....but doesn't. This comes immediately after the chief priests and the elders challenge Jesus in the temple.
You have to go back five verses earlier....Matthew chapter 21:23-27....when Jesus turns around the conversation with the chief priests and elders. What do they think about John the Baptist? Jesus tells them that tax collectors and harlots are entering the kingdom of God....before them....because they....the tax collectors and harlots....believed John the Baptist....who had righteousness on his side....and they....the chief priests and elders....saw this good thing that happened....and still didn't believe!
So....in turning this whole thing to us....examining ourselves....are we.....or I should say....is it possible that we can be....as the chief priests and elders....in that we supposedly already see the kingdom of God....for we are essentially the leaders in the church or long time committed Christians....and these people that do not even have degrees or callings....and were blasphemers mocking us not too long ago....are acting as if they are now holier-than-us?
Is it possible....and indeed it is....that these people are not acting holier-than-thou....but have actually been moved upon greatly by God's Holy Spirit....while we see this....see people actually in love with Jesus....(like we may have been at one time)....and we strike out at them....how dare them....trying to say they know more than we do?
If we should see someone who cannot but talk about Jesus.....(something like what we were like forty years ago when we first came to Christ)....and we somehow take offense at this....there is something wrong. This doesn't mean that everything does not have to be examined in light of God's Word....even evocative conversion testimonies....to make sure they are genuine....because they do....but it does mean that if we see people genuinely repenting....longing after God...."as a deer pants for the water brooks"....then we should stand back....and see if we may not be dying of thirst in need of water from those brooks?
Addendum: I have tried putting forth this same message often throughout the years in these posts. That message is to the evangelical....challenging them....this God and Savior that you proclaim does not seem that awesome....judging from the lack in your daily habits and conversation of anything the world might consider fanaticism. Woe are us....if we do not finally....humbly plead the mercy of God....and not seek to get out of this mess through our own powers of political persuasion....which is only a mess of pottage....that could never heal us of that which we are mortally afflicted!
