Near the end of His ministry, Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly on the back of a colt. For many Israelis, this scene represented their hope that the Messiah had finally come to restore Israel's sovereignty. Rome will be driven out and Israel will enjoy the peace promised to them by the prophets.
Unfortunately, Jesus' goals were very different from people's expectations. Despite the huge crowds who greeted Him with waving palm branches and shouts of “Hosanna,” Jesus moved on a trajectory that ultimately led to the cross. This means that His time in Jerusalem will involve significant confrontations with the religious authorities. After all, many of the voices that shouted, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” when Jesus rode into the city, shouted “Crucify Him” less than a week later.
It is in the midst of this turmoil that Jesus offers the little-known parable of the two sons.
Cursing the fig tree
Jesus almost immediately begins a clash with the religious authorities by clearing the temple of money changers (Matthew 21:12–17). This act puts the Sanhedrin on edge and increases tension between Jesus and the religious establishment.
The next morning, on the way into the city from Bethany, Jesus curses a fig tree that is full of leaves but bears no real fruit (Matthew 21:18–22). Matthew presents the story as Jesus being hungry and frustrated by the barren fig tree, but there is more to it than that. The fig tree represents Israel, which showed all the foliage of spirituality without any fruit.
The curse that Jesus placed on the fig tree symbolized His judgment on Israel. This short story gives context to Jesus' parable, which explains more clearly why Jesus judges Israel.
Fig tree
One man had two sons:
By man we mean, as can be seen from the meaning of the parable, God; under the first son are publicans and harlots, i.e. in general people are sinners; under the second son are the Pharisees, scribes, and those who generally considered themselves righteous.
Go, today work in my vineyard:
The vineyard is, of course, the Church of God; work in the vineyard means labors of piety in the church of God, fulfillment of the will of God, commandments, virtues - in general, a good, pious life.
I don’t want: to the demands of God, expressed in the law and in the prophets, sinners with their very lives seemed to answer: I don’t want, because they did not fulfill these requirements, did not live in accordance with the commandments of God.
Then, repenting, he went : after the preaching of the Baptist, publicans and harlots, i.e. sinners in general (of course, not all, the general is taken instead of the specific) began to fulfill the will of God.
I went and did not go: the Pharisees and scribes and in general the imaginary righteous, apparently, obeyed the divine decrees, commandments and laws, as if they were saying - I am going; but they did not actually go, because they did not have repentance, without which it is impossible to justify themselves, and they even appeared as opponents of the kingdom of God.
Which of the two fulfilled the will of the Father?
The co-questioners, not understanding the meaning of the parable, answered rightly: the first , and the Lord revealed to them the meaning of the parable, aimed at condemning them, so that they pronounced a sentence on themselves, saying - the first. - They are coming ahead of you: they turned out to be more ready and worthy to enter the kingdom of Christ or the Christian church. “If He had simply said: Harlots will first enter the kingdom of God, then His words would have seemed heavy to them. But now that they themselves have declared their opinion, His words do not seem so heavy to them. For this He also gives a reason; which one?
John, He says, came to you, and not to them, and, moreover, by the way of righteousness , for you cannot accuse him as a careless and useless person; he led a blameless life and had great care. However, you didn’t listen to him even then. This is followed by another condemnation, i.e. that the publicans believed. For this there are further accusations: you, having seen this, did not come to your senses afterwards to believe him, whereas you should have done so before. And this does not deserve any forgiveness. Why are publicans given great praise, but you are condemned? For John came to you, and you did not receive him ; he did not come to the publicans, and they accepted him, and you were not taught by their example...
The words: they go ahead of you are not said because the Jews will follow the tax collectors, but because they, if they want, can enter the kingdom of God. For nothing excites rude people more than jealousy (John Chrysostom)
By two sons, some of the most ancient in (including St. John 3latoust) also mean - by the first the pagans, by the second the Jews: “the first, without making promises in obedience and not hearing the law, in fact showed obedience, and the latter said: all , when God spoke, let us create and listen; but in fact they did not show obedience to the law (John Chrysostom). The meaning of the parable, interpreted by the Lord himself, of course, does not contain this thought, but nevertheless it does not contradict the general view of the Old and New Testaments, and this adaptation contains edification.
The Parable of the Two Sons
When Jesus comes to the temple again, the chief priests confront Him. They want to know where He gets His authority from. They basically ask Him: “Who do you think you are?!” After a short conversation, when Jesus refuses to tell them where He gets His authority, He tells this parable:
... There was a man who had two sons. He approached the first one and said: “Son, go and work in the vineyard today.” “I won’t,” he replied, but later changed his mind and left. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He replied: “I will, father,” but did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted? “The first,” they answered... (Matthew 21:28-31).
Every parent knows a child who willingly – even happily – agrees to do homework, but never bothers to do it. He contrasts this with the second child, who initially refuses to do the work but changes his mind and does it.
No matter how nice your children are when you ask them to do something, they are only obedient when they do it. The priests know this to be true and answer accurately.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, tax collectors and harlots are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the taxpayers and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent or believe Him” (Matthew 21:31b–32).
God sent John the Baptist to prepare Israel for the coming of the Messiah. But where the religious leaders were skeptical of John's message, the sinners of Israel responded to John's message. Most of Israel's religious establishment demonstrated their obedience, but they refused to acknowledge what God was doing.
Christ's judgment on Israel was based on the fact that their traditions and high expressions of worship did not translate into actual submission to God.
Interpretation
In this parable, the Lord tells how a father told one son to go work in his vineyard. The son immediately refused, but then agreed. The father also suggested it to his second son, who agreed, but did not go himself. Which of them fulfilled the will of their father?
Who is behind the images of the parable?
The “man” is Jesus Christ. In the Gospel of Matthew, the Lord often called himself the “Son of Man.”
“Sons” are the Jewish people. But also by sons we must mean the entire human race that lives on our planet.
The Vineyard is the Church of Jesus Christ.
And so a man (Jesus Christ) invites his two sons to work (Salvation).
The purpose of this parable is to show the spiritual blindness and ignorance of the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. After all, they should have been the first to recognize John the Baptist as the prophet Jesus Christ. They know all the prophecies, but they did not understand this, unlike the common people. They learned to understand what the weather would be like tomorrow, but there was no sign of the times that the Messiah and prophet of the Most High had come to Earth.
“Publicans and harlots go ahead of you into the Kingdom of God.” At that time, publicans and harlots were the most despised people, but they had a greater chance of Salvation.
The second purpose of this parable is to teach some moral lessons, including to us Christians, who will subsequently read the words of this parable.
The two sons in the parable cannot be called exemplary. Using their example, Christ shows two types of people (Israelites of that time). The first was unacceptably rude to his father, as he refused to help him. But then he repented and went to work in his father’s vineyard. The first son refers to the simple Jewish people, who may have lived a sinful life, but later repented and came to the Lord.
The second son is deceitful and hypocritical. By this Jesus Christ means these religious leaders whom He called blind. These are the high priests, scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, elders of the people and other religious Jews, who first of all looked not around themselves, but into the mouths of their religious leaders. But they promised to obey God and His Word. But when the prophet of the Most High came, they rejected him. When the Messiah came and declared that He was the Christ, that He was the Messiah who was to come, they nailed Him to the cross.
How does this parable apply to us?
So what is the meaning of the parable of the two sons? This story should confuse us. Our promises of faithfulness may have the best intentions, but promised obedience is not necessarily obedience. Like the fig tree, we may convince ourselves that the appearance of brightness is proof of our devotion, but Jesus seeks the fruit.
Fortunately, the parable of the two sons reminds us that it is never too late to do what Jesus asks of us!
Have you ever encountered broken promises from others? How did you feel?
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One man had two sons; and he, going up to the first, said:son! Go today and work in my vineyard.
But he answered: I don’t want to; and then, repenting, he left.
And going up to the other, he said the same thing.
This one said in response: I’m going, sir, but I didn’t go.
Which of the two fulfilled the will of the father? They tell Him: first.
Jesus says to them: Truly I say to you,
that publicans and harlots go ahead of you into the Kingdom of God,
For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him,
and the publicans and harlots believed him;
But you, having seen this, did not repent afterwards to believe him.
— Matthew 21:28-30
INTERPRETATION OF THE PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS
One man had two sons:
By man we mean, as can be seen from the meaning of the parable, God;
under the first son are publicans and harlots, i.e. in general people are sinners;
under the second son are the Pharisees, scribes, and those who generally considered themselves righteous.
Go, today work in my vineyard:
The vineyard is, of course, the Church of God;
work in the vineyard means labors of piety in the church of God,
fulfilling the will of God, commandments, virtues, -
In general, a good, pious life.
I don’t want to: to the demands of God, expressed in the law and the prophets,
sinners with their very lives seemed to answer:
I don’t want to, because they didn’t fulfill these requirements, they didn’t live in accordance with God’s commandments.
Then, repenting, he went : after the preaching of the Baptist, the tax collectors and the harlot,
those. sinners in general (of course, not all, the general is taken instead of the specific)
began to do the will of God.
I went and did not go: the Pharisees and the scribes and in general the supposed righteous,
apparently obeyed divine decrees, commandments and laws,
as if they were saying - I’m going; but they didn’t actually go, because they had no repentance,
without which it is impossible to justify oneself, and even became opponents of the kingdom of God.
Which of the two fulfilled the will of the Father?
The co-questionnaires, not understanding the meaning of the parable, answered fairly:
first , and the Lord revealed to them the meaning of the parable aimed at condemning them,
so they pronounced a sentence on themselves, saying - first. —
Coming ahead of you:
turned out to be more ready and worthy to enter the kingdom of Christ or the Christian church. “If He had simply said: Harlots will enter the kingdom of God first,
then His words would seem heavy to them. But now that they themselves have declared their opinion,
then His words do not seem so heavy to them. For this He also gives a reason; which one?
John, He says, came to you, and not to them, and, moreover, by the way of righteousness ,
for you cannot accuse him as a careless and useless person;
he led a blameless life and had great care.
However, you didn’t listen to him even then. After this comes another condemnation,
those. that the publicans believed. For this there are further accusations: you, and having seen this,
you didn’t come to your senses afterwards to believe him, when you should have done so before.
And this does not deserve any forgiveness. Why are publicans given great praise?
and for you - condemnation. For John came to you, and you did not receive him ;
he did not come to the publicans, and they accepted him, and you were not taught by their example...
The words: they go ahead of you are not said because the Jews will follow the tax collectors,
but that they, if they want, can enter the kingdom of God.
For nothing excites rude people more than jealousy
(John Chrysostom)
Under the two sons are some of the most ancient in (including St. John 3latoust)
they also mean - by the first pagans, by the second Jews:
“the first, not making a promise in obedience and not hearing the law,
by deed they showed obedience,
and the latter said: everything, as God spoke, we will create and listen;
but in fact they did not obey the law
(John Chrysostom).
The meaning of the parable, interpreted by the Lord himself, of course, does not contain this thought,
but nevertheless it does not contradict the general view of the Old and New Testaments,
and this adaptation contains edification.
source: https://www.smisl-zhizni.ru/pritchi/68-pritchi-iisusa-hrista/1225-dva-sina
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