28"But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, "Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' 29He answered and said, "I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. 30Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, "I go, sir,' but he did not go. 31Which of the two did the will of his father?"
They said to Him, "The first."
Jesus said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.
Jesus is being very blunt with them. It is obvious that Jesus is saying that they are telling their Father in heaven that they will do His will, but are actually not doing His will. To make it worse, Jesus said that even after they saw that John came in the way of righteousness, they still did not relent and believe.
In a way I feel a little sorry for these chief priests and elders. There are always people out there trying to teach false doctrine. And when I hear it, I reject it. Could it be possible that the words I hear from others that differ from what I believe, may be the way of the righteous? Is it possible that I am like these chief priests and elders who saw the way of the righteous and still did not relent and believe him? How do you know when you see the way of the righteous?
Yes, we know to take whatever Jesus says to be true. But they already admitted that they didn’t recognize Jesus’ authority. So how would they be expected to take Jesus’ word for it?
It is probably a good thing that this verse is right after the previous verse. Because there is where my refusal of believing someone’s teaching is different from the chief priests: I look toward God for what I should believe. The chief priests are not trying to determine what they believe, but how others would react to whatever stance they would take.
God will let us know the way of the righteous. And when we see it, we should relent and believe. For as the two sons, it is better to do God’s will starting a little late than to stubbornly cling to what you think is God’s will now and never end up actually doing God’s real will. And the only way to keep in tune with what God wants of you is to keep learning so you can be like the first one who later learned to relent. For as soon as you settle in to thinking you know what is right and what is wrong, you become like these chief priests and elders who stop listening for God. Their actions become their own will rather than God’s.