Thursday after the Sixth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on July 11, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Matthew 21:28-32 (NKJV)
21:28 “But what do you think? A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, ‘Son, go, work today in my vineyard.’ 29 He answered and said, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he regretted it and went. 30 Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, ‘I go, sir,’ but he did not go. 31 Which of the two did the will of his father?”
They said to Him, “The first.”
Jesus said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. 32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him.”
Devotion
Psalm 14:3 tells us that “They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, no, not one.” If that is true, then St. John the Baptist’s message concerning the way of righteousness—a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins (Luke 3:3)—was required not for some, but for all people. In the story of the two sons, both are disobedient and require repentance. However, only one of the sons by his repentance does the will of the father.
Jesus told this parable to the Jewish leaders of which St. Luke (7:29-30) says, “And when all the people heard Him, even the tax collectors justified God, having been baptized with the baptism of John. But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him.” These leaders refused to repent or to receive a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. They rejected the proclamation of salvation by repentance and faith in Jesus. But more than that, when they saw that message work repentance in great sinners, they still did not repent. And thus they remained outside the way of righteousness.
Let us repent of our sins and trust in the only Son, who not only said He would do the will of His heavenly Father, but in every way accomplished it. Through repentance and faith we come into the way of righteousness.
Collect: Lord of all power and might, Who art the Author and Giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of Thy Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and of Thy great mercy keep us in the same; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
