Preaching Paths 27 September 2026

Sally A. Brown, Professor Emerita, Princeton Theological Seminary

The context of the dialogue and parable in today’s text, Mt 21:23-32, guides our interpretation. Jesus’ triumphal entry has taken place amid shouts of the Messianic cry, “Hosanna to the Son of David!”—much to the dismay of the Jewish Temple leadership. Jesus has overturned the tables in the Temple sacrifice market. Now, the next day, he has returned to teach at the Temple. Crowds have gathered—a tense situation in Roman-occupied Jerusalem.  The chief priests demand to know by what authority Jesus acts and speaks. If he says “God’s authority,” he is blaspheming; if he says, “my own,” their authority will prevail; he’ll be cast from the Temple. But in keeping with rabbinic custom, Jesus counters their question with a question of his own: “Was the source of John the Baptist’s ministry divine or merely human?” This is a brilliantly strategic move. Jesus’ ministry was anticipated and validated by John; Jesus accepted John’s baptism and continued carrying the same message: “The kingdom of the heavens is at hand.” If these leaders admit to John’s God-given authority, they will have automatically validated Jesus’ authority, too. Yet, if they answer, “only human authority,” they’ll alienate the masses and be ousted. Jesus’ critics are stymied.

Jesus follows with a parable, honoring his interrogators with the introduction, “What do you think?” The parable’s symbols are traditional and clear. A vineyard stands for the chosen people; the father signifies God. The “two sons” (Gr. is “children”) is a familiar OT motif (Cain/Abel, Jacob/Esau, and others). The father sends both children to work in his vineyard. The rebellious, nay-saying child refuses at first, yet does as the father has asked; the typically obedient, compliant child says “yes,” but fails to follow through. Asked, “Which did the will of the father?” Jesus’ critics give the obvious answer: “The first.” Clinching the argument, Jesus declares that tax collectors and sinners will enter the kingdom ahead of his sophisticated interrogators. They resisted John’s divinely-inspired summons to repent, while tax collectors and prostitutes took John seriously and changed their hearts. Jesus concludes, “You saw this; yet you did not change your hearts and believe.”

Preachers need to avoid two pitfalls in handling this text. First, it is all too easy to portray the Jewish leadership as prime examples of faithlessness, thus sponsoring tacit, but toxic, anti-Semitism. Jesus does NOT say that the Jewish leaders of his day would never enter the reign of God, only that notorious but repentant sinners would precede them (v 31). A second pulpit error would be to identify ourselves with Jesus and cross-examine the congregation. (“Which are you??”) Not only do we sound self-righteous, but attempting to shame listeners into action is seldom effective.

One might begin, instead, with the fact that religious leaders (preachers included) are under the microscope here. Hypocrisy on the part of leaders has done incalculable damage to the credibility of faith—all faiths. We can begin by acknowledging that this text asks us (preachers included!) to do some uncomfortable, personal soul-searching. Truth be told, we are not one child or the other; we find both in ourselves. Haven’t we ourselves been the “yes-Father” no-shows of the parable? Perhaps it is the selfless faith of another that calls us to account. A friend of my father’s held a top-tier position in a prominent company; yet, he chose to live on 20% of his income, giving the rest away. When preachers acknowledge their own mixed record, they give their listeners space to thoughtfully explore parallels in their own journey of faith. Jesus seeks to save, not to condemn. By grace, our stumbling path will lead us home, with transformed “tax collectors and sinners” leading the way.