28 "Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, 'Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.' 29 "The son answered, 'I don't want to.' Later on he thought better of it and went. 30 "The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, 'Sure, glad to.' But he never went. 31 "Which of the two sons did what the father asked?" They said, "The first." 32 John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn't care enough to change and believe him.
The parable of the two sons is a biting parable which confronted the people of Jesus day - and confronts us, who are trying to be religious, moral, good, and God fearing - with the disturbing truth that it is not enough to just talk the talk. It is necessary to walk the walk. That means we may have to do something we don’t want to do, something we are not inclined to do, something we may even say no to, then have a change of heart, and go do it.
All too often even our religious beliefs help us to not change our minds and believe something new and different. To not get “a new heart and a new spirit.” Ezekiel. 18:3
“It is not easy to ‘change our minds
and believe’ something we don’t want
to believe.
We do it slowly, cautiously, reluctantly,
if we do it at all. Most of the time we
try not do it at all.”
Prayer thought for the week: “Lord, open my heart and mind to that which I find difficult to believe. Give me a new spirit so your love will always shine through me.”
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