If There's Hope for Tax Collectors . . .

In Jesus’ parable, the first son was instructed to go and work in the vineyard. His response grates on the ears: “I will not. Nope. Not gonna do it.” But then, he changed his mind. He did go and work in the vineyard. He did what his father wanted.

After telling this story to the chief priests and elders, Jesus supplies the interpretation. The defiant son is compared to tax collectors and prostitutes. Let’s be clear: tax collectors and prostitutes are disobedient, but are also dearly loved by God as lost children or straying sheep.

To the chief priests and elders, tax collectors and prostitutes are unclean, impure, perhaps even irredeemable. Their life choices are a big, public “I will not” to God Most High.

Yet something happens when tax collectors and prostitutes hear John preach. Maybe you recall reading Mt 3:

In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. Matthew 3:1–2, 5–6 (NIV)

When John calls all people to turn from disobedience b/c the kingdom of heaven was near, tax collectors and prostitutes listened. They came in droves to hear the message of the Kingdom and receive the baptism of repentance.

John’s message from God left no doubt in their minds about the way of righteousness: they believed John’s message. They understood they were headed the wrong way and needed to change their behaviour. It was striking. Among all the people listening to John, the tax collectors and prostitutes changed from saying to God “I will not” to say “I will”.

That’s key. “Changed minds” is at the heart of repentance. We’ve all done it: push and push a door that won’t open. Until you see the sign says “pull.” So you change strategy: stop pushing and pull the door open. That’s repentance: turn from what isn’t working to something that will.

The tax collectors and prostitutes did it: changing behaviour b/c of newfound hope in God’s mercy is at the heart of Matthew’s gospel.

Jesus holds up the example of tax collectors and prostitutes b/c they changed their minds. After their initial refusal to obey God, they listened to John and changed their minds. After initial defiance, they did what their heavenly Father wanted.

John the Baptist’s mission and Jesus’ mission are connected. They both proclaim the coming of the kingdom of heaven on the authority of God, the Creator and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth. Jesus makes that clear when challenged in the temple courts.

You see, Jesus is not talking to tax collectors and sinners in the temple. The temple is the domain of the chief priests and elders. They consider themselves respectable and pure.

The chief priests and elders are intrigued by Jesus and a little worried about him. When they approach Jesus, the events of the previous day are still dancing in their minds. The priests and elders saw Jesus ushered into the city. He was on a donkey in the swirl of a crowd chanting, “Hosanna to the son of David”.

In their memory, the priests and elders see coins cascading off the tables and rolling all around the courtyard. Their ears still ring with Jesus’ accusations that the temple is supposed to be a house of prayer but they “made it a den of robbers.”

The words sting b/c the chief priests are in charge of the temple. Elders aren’t priests, but are wealthy members of the Sanhedrin – the religious authority in Jerusalem. They’re the rulers. They set the standards for Jerusalem and the temple.

Other than priests and elders, only a king of Israel has authority to make changes in the temple and religious festivals. Not an outsider like King Herod, but a king chosen by God like David, the psalm-writer who brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Or Solomon, who built the first temple.

The expectations of a Messiah are awakened by the Passover, celebrating freedom from slavery in Egypt.

The crowds chanted from Ps 118 – a messianic psalm.

Kids shouted “Hosanna to the Son of David!”

And Jesus took steps to purify the temple, overturning tables and driving out the buyers and sellers so all nations, incl. the blind and lame can come close to God and pray.

Would anyone dare do that if they were not the Messiah?

That’s the question behind the priests’ question about Jesus’ authority: Are you the Messiah? Instead of asking outright, the priests and elders go roundabout:

“By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?” Matthew 21:23b (NIV)

Jesus answers with his own question:

John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?” Matthew 21:25a (NIV)

Jesus ties his own mission and his own authority to John’s mission and John’s authority.

The chief priests and elders weren’t settled on John’s authority. They weren’t comfortable with Jesus’ authority. He wasn’t what they expected from the Messiah, but the events of the weekend made them wonder: could he be the Messiah?

Jesus’ parable of the two sons puts pressure on the priests and elders. If tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of them, maybe the leaders are missing something. If the tax collectors and prostitutes compare to the first son, do you think the priests and elders are the second son?

Like the priests and elders, the second son was the picture of obedience to his Father’s face. Respectful and polite, when he was told to go and work today in the vineyard, his answer is what every parent hopes for, “I will sir.” Except, he didn’t go.

The implication, was, for all their public displays of obedience – and later Jesus tells his disciples to obey them as teachers of Moses’ law – the priests and elders aren’t doing what God wants. They’re missing out on the kingdom of God.

Jesus issues a challenge, a call to respond:

John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. Matthew 21:32 (NIV)

It's gut check time for the priests and elders. How do they respond to the parable? Do Jesus’ words convince them to repent and believe?

The chapter 23 is sad. Jesus’ preaching to the chief priests and the elders shows the opening and closing of the kingdom: opening the kingdom to those who repent and believe and closing the kingdom to those who don’t repent.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them. They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet. Matthew 21:45–46 (NIV)

They hear the parable but harden their hearts.

It’s a reality check for all of us. It’s hard to abandon our own illusions of goodness and throw ourselves on God’s mercy. Whether we’ve been going to church a long time or a short time, the question doesn’t change much: Will you repent and believe?

It’s always a danger, even as we grow in obedience, knowledge, self-control, and love to trust our own efforts at goodness instead of depending 100% on the mercy of God.

Jesus came b/c ever since Adam & Eve, human goodness doesn’t meet God’s standards: not mine. How ‘bout you?

God himself became human; Jesus lived perfect obedience.

It led to being rejected, beaten, and crucified. At the cross, Jesus took all our guilt and shame upon himself. He took our punishment and died in our place.

Three days later, he rose from the grave, victorious over sin and death

Like John the Baptist, Jesus shows the way of righteousness. Entry to the kingdom of God a gift for those who believe him . . . even tax collectors and prostitutes.

Jesus’ teaching hits close to home for Matthew. He was a tax collector before Jesus called him. You find the account in Mt. 9:

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. Matthew 9:9–10 (NIV)

Last month, the children’s song was about a tax collector named Zacchaeus. You don’t find Zacchaeus’ story in Matthew’s gospel, it’s in Lk 19.

We know very little about Zacchaeus: he’s a chief tax collector, he’s short, and he’s wealthy. His story illustrates the transformation of repentance. As with Matthew, Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ home for dinner. It wasn’t a popular move.

All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” Luke 19:7–10 (NIV)

A “will not” person becomes an “yes, I will sir” person.

It’s a transformation! Zacchaeus turns from hoarding wealth to giving money away.