There Is Still Time to Go
A reflection on Matthew 21:28–32
The difference between the two sons in today’s parable is revealed by what they do after their father speaks. One refuses, then thinks again and goes to the vineyard. The other offers a respectful answer and stays where he is. Jesus places a difficult question before his listeners: how much of our obedience exists only in words?
That question reaches beyond the obvious difference between promise and action. We can say our prayers, fulfil our duties and outwardly live a faithful life while remaining inwardly unwilling to be changed. Familiarity with faith can sometimes make this harder to see. We may mistake the shape of a faithful life for the surrender at its heart.
The first son offers a more hopeful picture of repentance. His refusal is real; the parable does not excuse it. Yet his first answer is not his final one. He allows the father’s request to reach him again, and this time he goes. Conversion often takes this quiet form: returning to a task we have avoided, admitting a fault, or listening seriously to someone we had dismissed.
Jesus then speaks of tax collectors and prostitutes who believed John, while the religious leaders remained unmoved even after seeing their response. The challenge is sharper than a warning against hypocrisy. Those who seemed furthest from God recognised an invitation that others, confident of their own standing, could not receive. Even the sight of changed lives did not persuade them to reconsider.
Christ’s call to the vineyard is given today. We cannot answer it through our reputation, our intentions, or what we said yesterday. But neither are we held captive by yesterday’s refusal.
The Father speaks again, and there is still time to go.