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It will be observed that, like so many parables, this one concerning 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. Matt. 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 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."
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."
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." Matt. 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 Matt. 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, to-day, 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 afterwards repent so as to believe him."
The difference between the words of Matt. 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: 21; 21: 9, 31; 26: 32 and 28: 7