Jaroslav Pelikan began his book Jesus through the Centuries, writing, “Regardless of what anyone may personally think of believe about him, Jesus of Nazareth has been the most dominant figure in the history of Western culture for almost twenty centuries.”1 That’s a huge statement, but it is most definitely not an overstatement, is it? I mean, even our calendar is oriented around the incarnation of the Son of God. But surprisingly, a number of professing believers seem to miss the centrality of Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, in the history of God’s redemptive plan, and in the Christian life. It’s easy for believers to think that what is most central in Christianity is bringing about some social good, figuring out how to walk through life with peace, or even learning to treat others well. But as great and glorious as those things are, each of them takes a back seat to the preeminence, glory, and centrality of Jesus Christ in the Christian faith. Christianity is about a person, the God-man, Jesus Christ. He stands at the center of the Scriptures. The Scriptures are about him. Eternal life revolves around how we respond to him. The mission of the church is to make disciples of him, teaching all peoples to obey everything that he has commanded.
Therefore, we should not find ourselves surprised when we work our way through the Scriptures to find that the point of any passage of Scripture revolves around who Jesus is and what he demands. And that’s what we’re going to see this morning as we look at Matthew 21:28-46.
This text is made up of two parables. Parables are stories that utilize everyday life realities but make a powerful spiritual point. When addressed toward others, parables often have a way of sucking someone in, only for that person to realize that he is in the crosshairs of the one telling the parable. For example, remember when Nathan the prophet confronted David about his adultery? He told David a parable about a man who took another man’s sheep, and when David pronounced stern judgment on the man in that parable, Nathan responded by noting that he was indeed the man who Nathan had been describing. Christopher Ash describes a parable in this way: Imagine you’re walking into a building to go attend a play. You’re running late, the play has started, and you’re not sure where to go. Finally, as you walk around, from door to door, you hear some voices on the other side of a door and assume you’ve found the door that will take you to the play. And, knowing you’re already late, you open the door and run through it only to find out that you’ve just walked out onto the stage at the very moment when the audience is anticipating the villain’s arrival. All you wanted to do was be a spectator, but now you’ve stepped right onto the stage itself.
That is indeed a great description of how parables work, isn’t it? You’re listening to a story, get sucked in, maybe even pronounce judgment on one of the characters in the parable, only to then find out that this character represents you. That is what Jesus does with these two parables in regard to the chief priests and elders. He’s not now simply responding to their confrontation but is taking it to them, revealing their actions and thoughts and the judgment they deserve.
This, of course, should not be surprising after what we saw in the beginning of chapter 21. As you may remember, with the events that transpire in the beginning of this chapter, the days of Jesus keeping his identity a secret are done. He boldly proclaims that he’s the promised Messiah by his entrance into the Jerusalem, he boldly proclaims his authority by overturning tables and driving money-changers out of the temple, and he boldly expresses his authority in confrontation with the chief priests and elders.
And now we find that Jesus is authoritatively pronouncing divine judgment on these two groups (the chief priests and elders) through these parables. And as he does so, it is a helpful reminder to us that at the center of the Scripture, of history, and of salvation stands a person—Jesus of Nazareth—and how we respond to him is the most important reality in our lives.
The first note then I want us to see from this text is that:
The first of Jesus’ two parables in our text is about a father and two sons. It’s the kind of story we can easily understand. The father owns a vineyard and needs work done in the vineyard. Therefore, he goes to his first son and tells him, “Son, go and work in the vineyard today” (v. 28). Surprisingly, the son says, “I will not,” but then later he changes his mind and goes and does what his father had commanded, working in the vineyard (v. 29). The father then goes to his second son, saying the same. The second son answers that he will indeed go, obeying his father. However, the son then ended up not doing it.
Jesus then asks the chief priests and elders, “Which of the two did the will of his father?” (v. 31). And they rightly answered, “The first,” which was indeed true. Obviously it would have been good for the first son to answer like the second, but when it actually came down to who did the will of his father, there was only one who actually went and worked in the vineyard—the first.
That’s the parable, but then Jesus reveals that the story was about the chief priests and elders (as we noted, they thought they were spectators and now they’ve stepped onto the stage itself), saying, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. 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” (vv. 31-32).
You see, the chief priests and elders were like the second son. They were no doubt teaching about God’s promised Messiah coming, holding out hope, and even telling others to embrace him. But when he actually came, they rejected him. They said all the right things, but they didn’t do the Father’s will—they didn’t believe Jesus.
The prostitutes and tax collectors, on the other hand, who would’ve been considered the morally lowest of society obviously weren’t looking for the Messiah, were giving no verbal indication of hoping he’d come, but when he did come and John announced that they should prepare for him by repenting, believing, and being baptized, they did believe.
Consequently, prostitutes and tax collectors who believed in Christ were going to know eternal life while the chief priests and elders who didn’t believe in Christ were not going to know eternal life. On that note, when Jesus says that the prostitutes and tax collectors would enter the kingdom before the chief priests and elders, I don’t think we should read that as if Jesus is saying that the unbelieving chief priests and elders would have eternal life, they’d just have to enter the Lord’s kingdom after these others. Rather, I think he’s saying that they won’t enter at all. The reason I say that is because of two factors in the book of Matthew. First, Jesus is going to make clear in verse 43 that the chief priests and elders will have no part in the kingdom but will face judgment, something he’d also illustrated with the cursing of the fig tree. But, second, throughout the book of Matthew, Jesus has used the language of last and first. The first will be last and the last first, we’ve read a couple of times. For example, in 19:16-30, Jesus had the encounter with the rich young ruler, noting that it’s harder for a rich person to enter the kingdom than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. And after that, he’d told the disciples, who’d left everything to follow him that they’d have eternal life, as “many who are first will be last, and the last first” (19:30). That wasn’t his way of saying that the rich young ruler, who’d turned away from Christ, would enter the kingdom and have eternal life, simply at a later time than his disciples. Being last there indicated not entering the kingdom and not having eternal life. Therefore, when Jesus says that the believing prostitutes and tax collectors will enter before the unbelieving chief priests and elders, it’s Jesus’ way of saying that only those who believe in the Son will have eternal life.
But just in case the chief priests and elders have missed that they will face judgment for not believing in the Son, Jesus makes it explicit in a second parable where we see that:
In this second parable, we’re told of man who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a winepress in it, built a tower for it, and then leased it to some tenants as he went to another country. Now the idea here is that it would take a little while for this vineyard to actually start producing. But once it would produce, these tenants would be able to keep a portion for themselves and the owner of the vineyard would come back or send someone to collect a portion for himself.
Well, in the parable, the season for fruit drew near, so the owner of the vineyard sent some servants to his vineyard to collect his portion. Instead of providing the portion, however, the tenants beat, stoned, and killed these servants. So, the owner of the vineyard sent more servants, and they did the same thing to them. Finally, the owner thought to himself, “They will respect my son” (v. 37). But instead, when the son came, they killed him, thinking somehow this would allow them to seize the vineyard.
It’s a very clear story where the bad guys are easy to identify. Consequently, when Jesus asks the chief priests and elders, “When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” (v. 40), they rightly answer, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits of their seasons” (v. 41).
Again, this is the moment where the chief priests and elders, trying only to be spectators in the story, find themselves having stepped out onto center stage as Jesus identifies them with these wicked tenants. He notes that the Scriptures foretell that the stone rejected by the builders will become the most important stone in the building, the cornerstone (of course referencing himself), meaning, of course, that he is the stone that they’re rejecting. He is God’s promised Messiah, and they’re choosing to reject him as such.
Consequently, Jesus tells them, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” That is, they will not inherit eternal life, but those who believe will. And they don’t miss this, as verse 45 tells us that they rightly perceived that “he was speaking about them.”
They have rejected Jesus, and this is not without its consequences. They themselves have already affirmed that the wicked tenants deserved a “miserable death,” but at the time they failed to see that they were these wicked tenants. Just as the tenants murdered the servants, so the chief priests and elders stand in a long line of religious leaders who persecuted and killed God’s prophets. And now they will do the same to God’s only begotten Son. But, again, it will have consequences. They will be crushed by the stone they’ve rejected, to use the language of verse 44.
That is to say, unless one bows the knee to Jesus Christ as Lord, confessing him to be Lord and God, that person will face his wrath on the day of judgment, not inheriting eternal life but facing eternal torment.
You see, we celebrate at Christmas the coming of God the Son taking on flesh. We celebrate his incarnation. But that moment also provides a moment of great accountability. The Son’s incarnation split history wide open. Paul tells the men in Athens in Acts 17 that there were times of ignorance (prior to the coming of Christ) that God overlooked, “but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). After his coming into the world, no man will be pardoned in ignorance. All men everywhere are commanded to bow their knee in faith to the one who will judge the world, to the one whom God raised from the dead – Jesus Christ.
The religious leaders will have no part of God’s kingdom precisely because they reject his Son whom he sent into the world. There is no salvation apart from bowing the knee to Christ in faith but only terrible judgment.
Now, this leads us to one final point, namely:
That is to say, every moment from the time that God created the first man and the first woman has been leading toward the exaltation of Jesus Christ. Jesus makes this clear, citing himself as the fulfillment of Psalm 118:22-23 in verse 42. In Psalm 118, the psalmist speaks of the king or the nation being rejected but God prizing them, raising them up, and making them the centerpiece of his work. Jesus is saying that this psalm is ultimately fulfilled in him. He is both the true Israel and the true king of Israel. He is the centerpiece in God’s redemptive work. Everyone that God has done in the redemptive plan has been toward the end of exaltation Jesus Christ. It’s all been to show that he is the cornerstone and that “this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes” (v. 42).
This is what we can’t miss. Human history is about the exaltation of Jesus. And interestingly, we hear of the centrality of Jesus from the lips of Jesus himself. Christ’s centrality and supremacy is not something that the church came up with, but it comes from Jesus himself. It’s Jesus who makes clear that he’s at the center of all things. He is the one that confesses that he is the cornerstone. And if we read the rest of Scripture, this shouldn’t be surprising to us. After all, it is Jesus who prays in John 17:24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” Who prays that way? Only the Son, who understands that all things are leading toward his exaltation.
We read, for example, in Philippians 2:9-10, “Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
You see, when we ask questions like, “Can someone be saved without believing in Jesus?” we’re showing that we don’t understand the centerpiece of Scripture and the supremacy of Jesus Christ. Our salvation doesn’t stand front and center in Scripture so that faith in Christ is some hoop we jump through in order to achieve the real goal of salvation. Rather, salvation is a benefit we get from committing ourselves to the real goal of exalting the Son as we bow our knee to him in faith and confess him as Lord. I mean, the exaltation of Christ is so central in God’s redemptive plan that, according to the text just cited (Philippians 2:9-11), even unbelievers who will be damned and face eternal torment will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus Christ is central and supreme. The gospel centers upon his work—proclaiming his life, death for our sins, and resurrection from the dead. Our worship is about exalting Christ, even as we edify one another. Indeed, we edify others best by exalting Christ. Our mission is to teach others to make their entire lives about enjoying and obeying Christ. He is so central in living the Christian life itself that Paul can say “For to me to live is Christ” (Philippians 1:21).
Therefore, let us examine our lives this morning and ask ourselves if we’re making Christ our great pursuit. Is our goal to know him better, love him more, and obey him in every detail of our lives? If not, we’ve misunderstood Scripture and the command that comes to each of us. Or perhaps we’ve understood it perfectly well, but we’ve simply been negligent in pursuing Christ. And if that’s the case, then there is hope. We can repent and look to the crucified and risen Christ in faith, knowing that in him we can know forgiveness of sins. Let us even now glory in his redeeming work for us as we come to the table. Amen.