Devotional: It’s What You Do Matthew 21:28-32

When I was a child the boys had a saying: “Sticks and stones may break my bones but talk don’t bother me.” Now, this was usually said when two of the boys would be having an altercation. The angry boys would say some horrible things to their adversary and some awful things about them too. Sometimes these altercations ended up in a physical fight. More often nothing was done. It was just a lot of talk and no action. I wish that the young people today were more like us. We talked ugly to each other and we said some nasty things to one another. We even had some words to say about our opponent’s family members and friend, but rarely did they actually fight. I don’t remember any of the boys killing the other boy; and certainly not a friend. How do we respond when we hear the words that someone else is saying?

Jesus once again is having an altercation with some of the religious leaders and scribes. It’s the same ole thing. Jesus heals on the Sabbath (v. 14). The chief priests are in charge of the temple and they want to know who gave Jesus the authority to do His ministry in the temple. Jesus asks the chief priests and elders of the people about the baptism of John. They are not able to answer the question, and Jesus refuses to tell them about the source of His authority. Instead, Jesus tells them this parable about a man and his two sons.

The father tells the first son to go in the vineyard. The son politely tells his father that he will, but he does not go (v.30). The father tells the second son to do the same thing. This son refuses, but after thinking about it decides to go. Jesus asks, “‘which of the two did the will of his father’” (v. 31). The religious leaders rightly answers that the son that changed his mind and went to work in the field is the one that did the will of the father.

Sticks and stones don’t bother me, but your talk don’t bother me. The gospel is preached and there is an open invitation to all people to come to Jesus and enter into the kingdom of God. It does not matter how religious we are. It does not matter our status and our position. What matters is that we believe in Jesus. If we obey the Father’s summons we are given entrance into the kingdom of God. Ultimately, it is not what we say initially. It matters that at some point we change our minds and believe in Jesus.

Prayer: Lord we thank you for waiting on us to believe the gospel and be saved. Amen.