A Son Who Does the Father's Will

Matthew 21:28-32
Zion Lutheran Church
Mission Valley TX

A Son Who Does the Father’s Will

A father asked each of his two sins to go to work in the vineyard. The first son says no, but later changes his mind and goes to work. His actions spoke louder than his words. The second son told his father, “I will, Sir,” but then never got around to it. His actions also spoke louder than words, but for a different reason than with his brother. So, Jesus asks, posing the question to those who hear the parable, who did the will of the Father: Son #1 or Son #2?  

Logic says Son #1 is the answer. After all, Son #2 never got out the door, even after starting things off so well with a nice, polite answer to his father. Perhaps he got busy; maybe he was winning his X-box game and lost track of time; maybe he just forgot. Whatever the reason, his promise is broken and his feet never got dirty in the fields of the vineyard. Pretty easy to see how he failed do the father’s will.

Contrast him with Son #1. Yes, Number One started out pretty rough – his extremely curt ,rude and disrespectful, “I will not,” earned him no favors. But, his conscience became troubled. Our translation says “he had a change of mind.” So, Son #1 heads out to the fields to do what his father had originally asked, and do what he originally refused to do.

So – who would you say did the will of his father, and why?

You probably say it’s the first – after all, that is the answer given in the parable. As to the “why,” we like to focus on what we do. We speak about job performance, school accomplishments, academic achievements and so on. So, it is tempting to take that same mind-set and focus on what it is that this son has done. He has finally gone out into the vineyard and done what was expected – not asked, but expected as a son. That must be the reason he did the father’s will, right?

Let’s talk about what he did. Did he really do the will of his father? Speaking for myself, when I tell my children to do something, my will is that it is done the first time, lovingly and as I asked. He dishonored his father by not going out the first time (4^th Commandment). He did not help improve or protect his father’s business, therefore he “stole” part of the harvest from being successfully completed (7^th Commandment). By dishonoring his father, he also dishonored his Heavenly Father, breaking the first and second commandments. So, did he really do his father’s will?

But, he went, you say. Yes, he did. His mind was changed. But, how was it changed? The Greek sentence structure helps understand what it is that caused that change of mind to go work: he was feeling regret and remorse. This is the same word that is used to describe Judas Iscariot’s change of mind when he saw Jesus arrested. Remember: when he saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests. In both instances, of the son and of Judas, the motive wasn’t love; it wasn’t repentance; it wasn’t the desire to help his father. It was guilt that he had not done what his father wanted. So, thus moved by his troubled and burdened conscience, Son #1 hit the fields. 

So, let me ask you again: which of the two did the will of the Father? Neither.

But there is one who does do the will of His Father. He’s not a hidden character in the story. He is as obvious as the narrator Himself: that is the Son, standing in the midst of the Jewish leaders, who is speaking the parable to them. Here is the Son of God, who is come into human flesh, so that He can rescue and redeem the world of sinners. The will of the Father is that His Son would set aside His full divine power so that He could live as a boy, a teenager, and a man. As a human, this Son would experience every temptation you and I wrestle with. He experiences physical pain and mental sorrow and spiritual attack just as we do. He is rejected by His own people and abandoned by His own disciples. He is arrested, whipped and beaten, and crucified. He is abandoned by His own Father in Heaven. He dies miserably, alone and abandoned in the sinner’s death that is the damning consequence of the fallen world’s sin. He is buried in a pauper’s grave.

Why does this Son do all of this? Why does this Son give up everything for the sake of those who want nothing to do with Him? Where Son #1 acts only out of guilt, Jesus acts out of His great love for you. Where Son #2 failed to do what he pledged to do, Jesus is willing to go all the way to His own death, giving Himself as an innocent sacrifice for sinful people. He does this for you. He does this for the times like, the two sons in the parable, when you dishonor God with your actions and inactions. He does this for the times when you fail to support your neighbor and his property and possessions. He does this for the times that you fail to show love and compassion to those around you. He does this for when you fail to do what God asks of you, or when you break your promises you make to God Himself. He dies for those moments when you think you can somehow do this all on your own strength, merit and worth. He dies for the times when you sin against your brother and sister in Christ. Jesus does all of this so that He is able “to give Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,” (Gal 1:4).

Which Son does the will of the Father? Jesus.

But, that’s not the end of the story. That you may know this and believe that Jesus died for you, He also rose from the grave, demonstrating that that Jesus accomplished the Father’s will for you. With your sins paid in full, your redemption price paid completely, your justification declared perfect in the eyes of God, Jesus said this: “For this is the will of my Father: that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day,” (John 6:40).

Enabled by the Spirit of God to believe in Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you do the will of the Father when you know, believe, trust and rely on Christ alone for your salvation. Baptized into Christ, you have put on Christ Himself who enables you to do the will of His Father as you love your neighbor as Christ first loved you. Forgiven by the death and resurrection of Christ, you seek to do the will of God as you forgive those who have hurt and harmed you. Having received the mercy of God in Christ, you do the will of God by demonstrating mercy to the weakest and least among us who, you remember, in the eyes of God are the greatest in the kingdom.

So, let’s answer the question one last time: Who did the will of the Father? Not Son #1; not Son #2. It was Son #3 - Jesus.

Who does the will of the Father? You, sons and daughters of God, you have done the will of God by believing Jesus perfectly fulfilled the will of God for you, thus enabling you to share His love with those around you in His name.