← All entriesparable

The two sons

Matt 21:28–32 · Passion week in Jerusalem

Scripture

Matthew 21:28–32

ut what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. 29He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. 30And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. 32For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him.

King James Version · public domain

Mateu 21:28–32

dhe qysh u duketë juve? Një njeri kishte dy bij; edhe erdhi tek i-pari e i tha, Bir, shko sot e puno ndë vreshtët t’im. 29Edhe ay upërgjeq e tha, Nukë dua; po pastaj upendua, edhe vate. 30Edhe erdhi tek i-dyti, e i tha po ashtu; Edhe ay upërgjeq e tha, unë vete Zot; edhe nukë vate. 31Cili nga këta të dy bëri dashurimn’ e t’et? I thonë, I-pari. Jisuj u thot’ atyre, Me të-vërtetë po u them juve, se kumerqarët’ edhe kurvatë venë më përpara se ju ndë mbretërit të Perëndisë. 32Sepse Joani erdhi te ju ndë udhë drejtërie, edhe nuk’ i besuatë; po kumerqarët’ e kurvatë i besuanë; edhe ju si patë, nuk’ upenduatë pastaj, që t’i besoni.

Kristoforidhi, Dhiata e Re Toskërisht 1879 · zotërim publik

Summary

A father tells his two sons to go work in the vineyard. The first refuses outright but later repents and goes; the second answers respectfully, "I go, sir," and does not go. When the Lord asks the chief priests and elders which of the two did the father's will, they are forced to condemn themselves, and He draws the conclusion plainly: the tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before them.

The Fathers read the two sons as two responses to the call of God. The first stands for the sinners, the tax collectors and harlots, who lived in open refusal of the Law but were moved to repentance by the preaching of John and of Christ; some extend this also to the Gentiles. The second stands for the leaders of the people, who professed obedience and prided themselves on the Law yet withheld the obedience of deeds. The point, as the Fathers stress, is that the Father seeks the work, not the word: it is doing His will, not the fair-sounding promise, that counts. St. John Chrysostom presses how the rulers are made to pass sentence on themselves out of their own mouths, so that their condemnation is shown to be just.

The vineyard the tradition takes as the service of God, the keeping of His commandments, the same vineyard that runs through the parables of this chapter and back to Isaiah's song of the vineyard. Origen reads the parable in its moral and inward sense, finding in it the soul's own divided will, the no that hardens and the no that turns to yes; what saves is not the first impulse but the turning, the metanoia that makes the deed follow. The closing word, that the rulers saw John's righteousness and "did not afterward repent," warns that empty profession hardens, while late repentance outruns it and opens the kingdom.

The Two Sons (Matthew 21:28–32)

Public-Domain Patristic Commentary

A man has two sons and bids each go work in his vineyard. The first answers, "I will not," but afterward repents and goes; the second says, "I go, sir," and goes not. "Whether of them twain did the will of his father?" When the chief priests and elders answer, "The first," they pronounce sentence on themselves, and the Lord drives it home: "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."

This parable is found only in Matthew, set within the Lord's exchange with the priests over His authority. The Fathers read the two sons in two complementary ways: as the Gentiles (who refused God in idolatry, then repented and labored) and the Jews (who promised obedience at Sinai, then failed); or simply as sinners (who repented at John's preaching) and the self-righteous (who professed the law but rejected John). Either way the lesson is one: it is the doer, not the sayer, who does the Father's will. Gathered below are four Fathers, two from the East and two from the West, each quoted verbatim from a public-domain translation, several as preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew (St. Thomas Aquinas, trans. J. H. Newman, 1841).

St. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407)

From his Homilies on the Gospel of Matthew (Homily 67, on Matthew 21:28–32), NPNF translation. Public domain.

On the two sons as the Gentiles and the Jews:

Again He convicts them by a parable, intimating both their unreasonable obstinacy, and the submissiveness of those who were utterly condemned by them. For these two children declare what came to pass with respect to both the Gentiles and the Jews. For the former not having undertaken to obey, neither having become hearers of the law, showed forth their obedience in their works; and the latter having said, "All that the Lord shall speak, we will do, and will hearken," in their works were disobedient.

On how the law itself condemns them, and how He makes them self-condemned:

And for this reason, let me add, that they might not think the law would benefit them, He shows that this self-same thing condemns them, like as Paul also says, "Not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified." For this intent, that He might make them even self-condemned, He causes the judgment to be delivered by themselves.

On why the Lord spoke of harlots, and the charge He adds:

For if He had said simply, harlots go before you, the word would have seemed to them to be offensive; but now, being uttered after their own judgment it appears to be not too hard. Therefore He adds also the accusation ... "John came," He says, "unto you," not unto them, and not this only, but also "in the way of righteousness."

On how the harlots entered, not as harlots, but by repentance:

For it was not of grace only, that harlots entered in, but also of righteousness. For not, as continuing harlots, did they enter in, but having obeyed and believed, and having been purified and converted, so did they enter in.

On the hope this holds for everyone, that none should despair:

But let no one be like this; but though he be sunk down to the extremity of wickedness, let him not despair of the change for the better. For it is an easy thing to rise up out of the very abysses of wickedness.

Origen (c. 185–254)

As preserved in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On whom the Lord addresses in the parable:

In this parable the Lord spoke to such as promise little or nothing, but in their works shine forth; and against those who promise great things but do none of these things that they have promised.

On the Jews not being shut out forever:

The Jews are not shut out that they should never enter into the kingdom of God; but, "when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, then all Israel shall be saved."

St. Jerome (c. 347–420)

From his Commentary on Matthew, both directly and as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the purpose of the parable:

Thus much prefaced, the Lord brings forward a parable, to convict them of their irreligion, and shew them that the kingdom of God should be transferred to the Gentiles.

On the first son as the Gentiles and the second as the Jews:

He speaks to the Gentile people first, through their knowledge of the law of nature; "Go and work in my vineyard" ... He answers haughtily, "I will not." ... But when, at the coming of the Saviour, the Gentile people, having done penitence, laboured in God's vineyard, and atoned by their labour for the obstinacy of their refusal, this is what is said, "But afterward he repented, and went." The second son is the Jewish people who made answer to Moses, "All that the Lord hath said unto us we will do."

On the second reading, of the sinners and the self-righteous:

Whence others think that the parable does not relate to Gentiles and Jews, but simply to the righteous and to sinners. These by their evil deeds had rejected God's service, but after received from John the baptism of repentance; while the Pharisees who made a shew of righteousness, and boasted that they did the law of God, despising John's baptism, did not follow his precepts.

On the true reading of the text, by which they condemn themselves:

It should be known that in the correct copies it is read not "The last," but "The first," that they might be condemned by their own sentence.

St. Rabanus Maurus (c. 780–856)

From his Commentary on Matthew, as compiled in the Catena Aurea on Matthew. Public domain.

On the kingdom understood as the present Church:

Yet the kingdom of God may be understood of the Gentiles, or of the present Church, in which the Gentiles go before the Jews, because they were more ready to believe.

On John preaching the way of righteousness:

John came preaching the way of righteousness, because he pointed to Christ, who is the fulfilling of the Law.

Note on sources and other Fathers

The Fathers agree on the lesson and divide gently on the allegory. All read the parable as the Lord's trap of mercy: He draws the verdict from the priests' own mouths so that, as Chrysostom says, "He might make them even self-condemned," and only then unfolds the hard word about the publicans and harlots. On the two sons, Chrysostom and Jerome both give the reading of Gentiles and Jews: the first son refused (the Gentiles in idolatry) yet repented and worked, while the second promised at Sinai ("All that the Lord hath said we will do") yet failed. Jerome adds the second, simpler reading, of the sinners who repented at John's baptism against the Pharisees who despised it, and notes the textual point that the priests must answer "The first," sealing their own condemnation. Origen draws out both the moral aim of the parable, that it is the doer and not the boaster who is approved, and the wider hope of Romans, that the Jews are not shut out forever but shall be saved when the fulness of the Gentiles has come in. Chrysostom closes with the hope that runs through the whole parable, that no one "sunk down to the extremity of wickedness" should despair, since Rahab, the thief on the cross, Matthew the publican, and Paul the persecutor were all changed.

The Catena on Matthew carries a long series of comments under the name of Chrysostom that belong in fact to the Opus Imperfectum in Matthaeum, a later work not by Chrysostom himself; because that attribution is uncertain, those passages are not quoted here, and the genuine Chrysostom above is taken from his Homily 67. Gregory the Great also touched this parable.

Patristic sources