This chapter continues to explain God’s will. The foundational corner stone of the Kingdom is about to be laid. Jerusalem was built as a shadow of the coming Kingdom. All shadows must disappear. Christ came and started His public ministry at 30. His ministry lasted about 3 years. And in AD 70, Jerusalem fell. King David’s life is a shadow of Christ. He reigned Israel for 40 years as I mentioned before.

When Christ entered Jerusalem, He was welcomed by sinners and children, not by church or political authorities. He came to replace the old with the new. He judges people and their abominable acts in the temple. He announces death on the fig tree, which symbolically represent the old covenant. He rebukes the false Jews/Christians who reject Sola Gratia and refuse to have faith in God.

In this chapter, the parable of two sons (v. 28-32) and the parable of the landowner (v.33-41) speak about the false believers.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard His parables, they understood that He was speaking about them. (v. 45)

The parable of two sons remind me of Cain and Abel or Esau and Jacob. Regarding Esau and Jacob, God said:

I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you say, “How have You loved us?” “Was Esau not Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet I have loved Jacob; but I have hated Esau, and I have made his mountains a desolation and given his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.” (Malachi 1:2-3)

This was mentioned again in Romans 9 where Paul explains the doctrine of predestination.

As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means! For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” So then it depends not on human will or exertion,^b but on God, who has mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. (Romans 9:13-18)

God is not responsible for their eternal damnation because they say they can keep the Law with their own hands. And by their actions and what is in their heart, they are judged. Thus, God remains as the just judge.

Let’s look closely at the parable of the two sons.

But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go work today in the vineyard.’ But he replied, ‘I do not want to.’ Yet afterward he regretted it and went. And the man came to his second son and said the same thing; and he replied, ‘I will, sir’; and yet he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even have second thoughts afterward so as to believe him. (Matt 21: 28-32)

Why did the first son change his mind and go to the vineyard as his father commanded him? I can only conclude that the son knew what was in his father’s mind. We often do not want to listen to our parents but eventually do what they ask us because we understand the reason behind it. We do not listen to them just because of the fear of punishment. The other son, on the other hand, says yes to his father but disobeys because he trusts in his own ideas, not understanding his father’s will.

Christ enters Jerusalem to announce judgements on the false sons of God, who reject the only Son of God. They say they can keep the Law by their hands. They reject God’s ways. They reject Sola Gratia. They are judged by their own works. Therefore, God is just and punishes the evildoers.