“Whether 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.”
My Notes
What Does Matthew 21:31 Mean?
Matthew 21:31 lands like a detonation in the middle of the temple courts. Jesus has just told a parable about two sons — one who said "I will not" work in the vineyard but later repented and went, and another who said "I go, sir" but never showed up. He asks the chief priests and elders which son did the father's will. They answer correctly: the first.
Then Jesus springs the trap: "The publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you." Tax collectors — traitors who collaborated with Rome. Prostitutes — the most socially despised women in Jewish society. These people, Jesus says, are ahead of the religious establishment in God's kingdom. Not beside them. Before them.
The Greek proagousin means "go before" in the sense of leading the way, entering first. The religious leaders said all the right words but never followed through. The sinners said nothing impressive but responded to John the Baptist's message with genuine repentance. Jesus is declaring that God evaluates obedience by what you do, not what you profess. And a changed life that started in the gutter outranks a polished life that never actually moved.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Which son do you identify with more honestly — the one who said no but eventually obeyed, or the one who said yes but never followed through?
- 2.Are there areas of your faith where you've been saying 'I go, sir' without actually going? What's holding you back?
- 3.How does it feel to hear Jesus say that people with messy pasts enter the kingdom before religious insiders? Does it offend you or comfort you?
- 4.What would genuine repentance — not just feeling bad, but actually changing direction — look like in your life right now?
Devotional
This is one of those verses that should make the comfortable uncomfortable and the ashamed hopeful.
If you've spent your life saying the right things — showing up to church, knowing the vocabulary, performing faith in all the expected ways — Jesus is looking past the performance to the actual fruit. Did you go into the vineyard? Did your beliefs change how you live? Or are you the second son — polite, agreeable, and ultimately stationary?
But if you're the woman who feels disqualified — whose past is messy, whose history would make the church ladies whisper, whose resume of sin feels too long to be forgiven — Jesus says you're first in line. Not because sin doesn't matter, but because repentance does. The tax collectors and prostitutes who heard John's message and turned around are further along than the Pharisees who nodded at truth and never let it touch them.
This verse demolishes the hierarchy we build in our heads — the one that puts polished people at the front and broken people at the back. Jesus reverses it completely. What He's looking for isn't your starting position. It's your direction. Are you moving toward Him? That's all that matters.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Whether of them twain did the will of his father?.... This is the question put by Christ, upon the preceding parable to…
But what think ye? - A way of speaking designed to direct them particularly to what he was saying, that they might be…
The Parable of the Two Sons, and the Explanation of it Peculiar to St Matthew
St Luke omits the parable, perhaps as…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture