From: Matthew 21:28-32
The Parable of the Two Sons
(Jesus told the chief priests and the elders,) [28] "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.' [29] And he answered, 'I will not'; but
afterwards he repented and went. [30] And he went to the second and
said the same; and he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go. [31] Which
of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus
said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the harlots
go into the kingdom of God before you. [32] For John came to you in the
way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax
collectors and the harlots believed him; and even when you saw it, you
did not afterward repent and believe him.
Commentary:
32. St. John the Baptist had shown the way to sanctification by
proclaiming the imminence of the Kingdom of God and by preaching
conversion. The scribes and Pharisees would not believe him, yet they
boasted of their faithfulness to God's teaching. They were like the son
who says "I will go" and then does not go; the tax collectors and
prostitutes who repented and corrected the course of their lives will
enter the Kingdom before them: they are like the other son who says "I
will not", but then does go. Our Lord stresses that penance and
conversion can set people on the road to holiness even if they have
been living apart from God for a long time.
Source: "The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries". Biblical text
taken from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries
made by members of the Faculty of Theology of the University of
Navarre, Spain. Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock,
Co. Dublin, Ireland.