“For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.” Matthew 21:32 ESV
Self-righteous people in authority do not like their authority challenged or questioned. This was also the case in Jesus’s day with the chief priests and elders who felt their positions of authority were threaten by Jesus, so they challenged Him on His authority. Jesus said He would comply if they were able to answer a simple question that religious leaders of the day should have known. Jesus asked them, “The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” (Mt. 21:25a ESV) Their answer would make most of today’s politicians proud. They did not want to be called out by Jesus or the people if they answered one way or the other, so they said they did not know. They had their self-righteous authority to protect in front of the people.
Jesus quickly dismantled that authority in a parable He told to all who were standing by. Jesus said, “What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” (Mt. 21:28-31a ESV) The religious rulers provided the obvious answer which also condemned them, it was the first one.
The chief priests and the elders thought they were righteous by their positions and outwardly following all the rules and regulations of the law. But Jesus compared them to the second son who said he would obey and go and did not. The religious rulers claimed to be righteous with their laws and ceremonies but continued to live in disobedience to God. Jesus criticized them for rejecting John the Baptist’s message of the way of righteousness in the coming Messiah. They thought their own righteousness was good enough.
Many people in 2024 see the way of righteousness through self-righteousness. How good they are compared to most certainly gets recognition. Being religious by going to church occasionally, or contributing to the needs of others add to the resume of claiming righteousness. In Jesus’s parable those who rejected him in their lives, tax collectors and prostitutes, but later repented, had discovered the way of righteousness is through Him. If you have rejected Jesus even as you see those around you accepting Him and have not changed your mind as the religious rulers, today is the day for you to be as the first son and repent, following Christ, the way of righteousness.
Read Matthew 21:23-32: Matthew 21:23-32 ESV – The Authority of Jesus Challenged – And – Bible Gateway
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