Which of the Two Obeyed His Father?

Friday, August 09, 2013             Which of the Two Obeyed His Father?

“Then Jesus explained his meaning: “I tell you the truth, corrupt tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the Kingdom of God before you do” (Matthew 21:31b).

Parable of the Two Sons - Matthew 21: 28-32

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus made his triumphant entry into Jerusalem and immediately cleared the Temple: “My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:13b). Jesus then healed the blind and lame and began to teach in the Temple. The religious leaders witnessed all of this and demanded of Jesus, “By what authority are you doing all these things? Who gave you the right?” (Matthew 21:23b). Jesus responded by asking them what they believed was John’s authority to baptize the people. The religious leaders refused to acknowledge John was a Prophet of God, and Jesus challenged them with the Parable of the Two Sons.

In 1995 the movie “Mr. Holland's Opus” was released. The lead character, Glenn Holland, played by Richard Dreyfuss, was a young musician with a burning desire to create great music like Mozart or Beethoven. To support himself while pursuing his music, he took what he thought would be a temporary job teaching music in a high school. Several years later he would say, “It's almost funny. I got dragged into this gig kicking and screaming, and now it's the only thing I want to do.” Like the people who were baptized by John the Baptist, Mr. Holland is an example of someone who learned to read the signs in their life and make appropriate decisions. The religious leaders confronted by Jesus in today’s reading are like the second son in Jesus’ parable. John the Baptist was the last in a long line of prophets God sent to Israel telling them they were missing the mark; they were not fulfilling the purpose for which they were created. However, these religious leaders refused to listen to John, even when the tax collectors and prostitutes did. The religious leaders went to the Temple everyday to worship, but they refused to believe John and repent of their sins.

Every circumstance in our lives carries within it the possibility of drawing us closer to the heart of God, closer to fulfilling the purpose for which we were created. For three years, these religious leaders were aware of Jesus’ miracles, healings, casting out of demons, and teaching of God’s extravagant love for all people. They chose to ignore these signs of the coming Kingdom of God.

Christians are those who like the tax collectors and prostitutes, see the signs of the Kingdom of God and surrendered their lives to Christ. As the followers of Jesus, we now have been commissioned by Jesus to do the works he had been doing, and to do even greater things. (John 14:12-14) We have been commissioned to live so that others will see, within our lives, the signs of the Kingdom of God. Has anyone ever asked you, “By what authority are you doing all these things?” Has anyone ever asked you “Who gave you the right?”

  

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  In addition to this BLOG they are distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

·        Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com. The Kindle version will follow soon.

·        The second edition First Think – Then Pray has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

·        Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.