“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’” ‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go. “Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered. Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.”

Matthew 21:28 – 32

Thus Jesus taught on his second day in the Temple during that Week of Weeks.  He taught, as he usually did, in parables. The first, as noted above, was about two sons of a father, neither of which wanted to go to his fields to work.  One said he would but had no intention of doing so and the other son who did not want to go either but upon reflection went after all, having repented of his unwillingness to obey the desires of his father,  The parables and stories that follow carry the same message.

Matthew records the many parables from 21:28 to 25:46, the equivalent of about 4 full chapters, a large portion of his Gospel.  As we ponder these parables we see what is on the heart of Jesus.  Basically, all contain the surprise that those whom you would have expected to repent and give God the glory by believing in Him and living for Him did nothing of the kind but refused to repent.  The mercy and grace of God, full salvation, is now poured out on all believers, thus extending the Kingdom of God to all mankind.

Jesus’ atoning work on Calvary, just a few hours away announced that all who will, from every corner of the earth, for all time, have equal access to the mercy of God if they truly bow and repent of their sins and make Jesus King of their lives together with all such believers on the earth.

A key verse to me is 24:14, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and the end will come.”

The Kingdom is here, now in March of 2016!  Is Jesus Christ my king?  Are his followers my kingdom-fellows? That is the issue that lay heavily on the heart of Jesus as he moved toward the Cross and Empty Tomb.  He established the unshakable Kingdom that will remain after earth is but a memory.  By grace we are citizens of the Kingdom of God.