g The Answer - `They say unto Him,

THE WICKED

HUSBANDMEN

He will destroy'.

h Jesus saith - `The kingdom of God taken

from you and given to a people

producing fruit'.

Question and statement regarding

`The stone'.

A 45. Chief Priests and Pharisees.

Perception - `He spake of them'.

c They feared the multitude.

d They held him as a prophet.

It will be observed that, like so many parables, this one of the Two Sons was given partly as a result of the

questions of the chief priests and elders. They asked, `By what authority, and who gave the authority' to the Lord to

perform the miracles that attested His Messiahship. His reply took them back to the testimony of John the Baptist.

We often lose sight of the prime object of John's baptism. Matthew 3 is devoted to the beginning of John's ministry,

and the concluding verses show us that its goal was the manifesting of the Son of God. This is plainly expressed in

the account given in John's Gospel. John 1:19-34 tells of the questions put to John by the Jews, and John's answers.

John said:

`This is He concerning Whom I said, After me cometh a man, who has become before me, because He (was)

before me. And I knew Him not, but in order that He might be made manifest to Israel, I am come baptizing in

water ... He who sent me to baptize in water, He said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit

descending and abiding upon Him, the same is He who baptizeth in holy spirit, and I have seen and testified that

this One is the Son of God' (Author's translation).

John 1:35-51 gives us some examples of those who received this testimony. The Pharisees, however, set this

counsel aside, not being baptized of John. Luke 7:29-35 shows us the two classes that are set forth under the image

of the two sons:

`All the people that heard Him, and the publicans, justified God, being baptized with the baptism of John. But

the Pharisees and the Lawyers frustrated the counsel of God with regard to themselves, being not baptized of

him' (Author's translation).

The two sons in Luke 15 set forth the same people and lesson. We must be careful to keep within the limits of

the divine Word. Much of our failure to understand the Word results from that mischievous practice of taking that

which is true of the particular as true of the whole. Many words are addressed to `this generation'. Matthew 11:16,

`Whereunto shall I liken this generation?'; 12:39, `an evil generation seeketh after a sign'; 12:41,42, `The men of

Nineveh, and the Queen of the South shall rise in judgment with this generation'; 12:45, `The last state of that man

is worse than the first; even so shall it be with this wicked generation'; 16:4, `A wicked and adulterous generation

seeketh after a sign'. So in Mark and Luke. In Luke 7:31, the Pharisees' attitude toward John the Baptist and the

Lord is introduced by the words, `Whereunto then shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they

like?' In Luke the Pharisees are likened to peevish, refractory children. In Matthew 21 they are likened to a

disobedient son.

`But how does this seem to you? A man had two sons: coming unto the first, he said, Son, go, today, work in my

vineyard. And he answering said, I (will) do it, and went not. And coming unto the second he said the same.

And he answering said, I will not; but afterwards repenting he went. Which of the two did the will of the father?

They say, The latter. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, the tax collectors and the harlots go before you

into the kingdom of God. For John came unto you in a way of righteousness, and you believed him not; but the

tax collectors and the harlots believed him; but you having seen it, did not afterward repent so as to believe him'

(Author's translation).

The difference between the words of Matthew 21:31, `go before', and those of 21:41, `miserably destroy', must

be kept clear. `Go before', as used by Matthew, never means going before to the exclusion of others, 2:9; 14:22;