The Dailiness of Repentance

By Samantha Rodriguez

“‘What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, “Son, go and work today in the vineyard.” “I will not,” he answered, but later he changed his mind and went. Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, “I will, sir,” but he did not go. Which of the two did what his father wanted?’ ‘The first,’ they answered. Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.’”—Matthew 21:28–32 (NIV)

Something I love about reading the passages where Jesus interacts with the Pharisees is seeing how He uses parables to get their attention. Oftentimes, in these parables, He uses stories about relatable and understandable scenarios the Pharisees can answer questions about. In today’s story, Jesus presents them with two kinds of people: one son who says he will not obey but then ends up obeying, and another son who says he will obey but does not keep his word. He then asks the Pharisees a simple question, “Which of the two did what his father wanted?” The Pharisees easily answer by saying the first son. What Jesus says next probably felt like a slap in the face. He says, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you.” WOW! Jesus is really telling these Pharisees that they will not be entering the kingdom of God and, instead, the very kinds of people they judge and despise and look down upon are.

Why is that? Why are the Pharisees compared to the disobedient son? Jesus doesn’t leave them without explanation. He continues to say that John the Baptist came to “show [them] the way of righteousness” and they did not believe or repent. John preached to prepare the way for Christ. He preached, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” (Matthew 3:2 NIV). Jesus doesn’t even point to Himself as the One they didn’t believe. That’s crazy to think about. He’s exposing their lack of faith in the messenger before Him because if they couldn’t even have faith in John’s message, they clearly couldn’t and didn’t have faith in Jesus’ message.

What does this matter to us today? We could talk about people being “Pharisees” around us today, but there’s something deeper to be taken from this Scripture: the importance of repentance and belief. Yes, there will be people who act like the Pharisees—people who believe they’re righteous and perhaps even involved in church and everything, but who don’t have a heart of humble repentance and obedience to the Lord. Instead of looking for that in others, we must look for it within ourselves. It’s easy to get wrapped up in the works we do for God and soon forget that we’re doing them just to look good. We might grow a Pharisee mentality without even realizing it because we think our works can make us the best Christian, and we begin to judge others who don’t have it all together or who struggle with different sins than we do.

Repenting and believing in Christ as our Savior is what brings salvation. Daily coming to the feet of Jesus and asking Him to clean us and guide us is what makes us look more like Him—that’s what we call sanctification and spiritual formation. Today, let’s pray the Lord would help us to develop a humble heart that practices repentance and obedience daily!

Pause: How can we develop a humble heart that practices repentance and obedience daily?

Practice: Make a list of things to repent from and invite God into those areas of struggle or weakness in your life. Then, make another list of things you want to do today to obey and worship Him—and do them!

Pray: Heavenly Father, Jesus my Lord, thank You for Your grace. Thank You for being bold in truth and love. Reflecting on how often I can be judgmental or prideful makes me realize how desperately I need You and Your compassion. Thank You for saving me and making me new! Thank You for helping me to walk in humility daily. I pray that today You would keep my eyes fixed on You and my heart dependent on You. Show me ways I can love You and others in obedience to Your commands without getting distracted. I am here to worship You! Amen.