Son, Go Work in My Vineyard - Matthew 21:28

Matthew the apostle wrote how the chief priests and elders of Jerusalem asked Jesus, “By what authority do you do these things? and who gave you this authority? And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did you not then believe him? But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet. And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things” and in chapter twenty-one and verse twenty-eight of his book, Matthew shares how Jesus began to tell another story of, “a certain man” who “had two sons” where we read:

But what think you? A certain man had two sons;

and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.

The verse reads, “But what think you? A certain man had two sons;” Matthew began with the word, “but” or “moreover and” “what think you” which means “what do the chief priests and elders in Jerusalem suppose, determine or judge”? “A certain man” or “a male human being” “had two sons” which means “was father to two boys”. Matthew shared how Jesus began to tell the “chief priests and elders in Jerusalem” a new story about a “man with two sons” .

The verse continues, “and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.” Matthew added the words, “and he came” which means “and the man with two sons arose and appeared” “to the first” or “to the first son”, “and said” or “and uttered, declared and proclaimed”, “Son” or “my male child”, “go work to day” which means “depart and leave to labor, exercise, perform and produce” “in my vineyard” or “within the man's field of grape vines”. Matthew wrote how the man asked his “first Son” to go into his “vineyard” to work.

When we consider Matthew's words in this verse, we see how Jesus began another story concerning the Kingdom of God. This time He employed the example of a man who had two sons and asked the first one to go into his “vineyard” to work. This idea will lead to the way God calls people to work in His field today. We shall see what this first son says and does in the next verse, but suffice it for now to understand that Jesus desires for every person to come to Him as “Savior and Lord” and then He discharges them into His field. May all who read these words yield to the One whose “vineyard” is the world.

Next time Matthew writes the how the Son answered the father, “I will not”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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