26th SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A)

A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’

Mt 21:28-32

In Mt 21:18-22 the question of Jesus revealed the unbelief of the Jewish leaders in John the Baptist. This unbelief is pressed home in the parable of the two sons: one of them obeys the father and the other does not. This is applied to the tax collectors and prostitutes who obeyed John, and the Jewish leaders who did not.

As in other places in the Gospels, a parable of Jesus seems to have been used here for a different purpose from that which Jesus himself had used it. The origi-nal parable (vv. 28-30) was probably used to illustrate the difference between saying and doing. Compare it to 7:21 and 12:50. This kind of teaching may have been the original setting of the parable.

v. 28. “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’

“What is your opinion?”: This is a Matthean introduction. See 17:25.

Vineyard: See v. 33 where vineyard stands for Israel. In 20:1 working in the vineyard means serving God in this age, for a reward in the age to come.

v. 29. He said in reply, ‘I will not,’ but afterwards he changed his mind and went.

He changed his mind (metameletheis): He repented. Only Matthew among the four evangelists uses this word. See 27:3.

v. 30. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir,’ but did not go.

Yes, sir. “Sir” here is the word which is also translated “Lord” (kyrie). It is the son who does not go who say “Lord”. See 7:21 where it says that it is not eve-ryone who says “Lord, Lord” who does the will of the Father.

v. 31. Which of the two did his father’s will?” They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.

Tax collectors and prostitutes. They believed and obeyed John. Therefore, they precede the chief priests and the elders (v. 23) into the kingdom.

Kingdom of God. This is unusual in Matthew who prefers kingdom of hea-ven. See 12:28; 19:24; 21:43.

v. 32. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.

This verse explains v. 31.

You did not later change your minds: The same expression was used in v. 29.