Parable for America

Jesus told many parables.  It is difficult to say precisely how many because there are quite a few places where it is hard to know whether to label a passage as a parable.  But the total number is likely a bit over 30.  The brilliance of these parables is difficult to appreciate when you're merely browsing them.  But when you spend time savoring them (or teach them to others), you begin to appreciate their depth and didactic force.  Jesus used questions and stories to help people not merely learn, but discover truth.

Some of the parables are so well known they have become part of the popular vocabulary.  The stories of the Prodigal (Lost) Son, the "Good" Samaritan, and the Sower have been preached and taught so often that it is hard to discover a fresh angle when we go back and read them again.  Meanwhile there are many less well known parables.  These less discussed parables are like untapped gold mines.  In at least one case, I believe the message of the parable is something the American church needs to hear more than the punchlines of the more well known parables.  I'm going to refer to this parable as the "parable for America," but it is more commonly labeled the parable of the two sons.

Perhaps the traditional label of the parable is one reason it is so oft ignored.  When you say "parable of the two sons" to most Christians, they think immediately of the parable of the prodigal son.  [An aside:  Even the labels and names we attach to these parables say a lot about what we choose to acknowledge and ignore].  This parable is shorter, but poignant, and told at a strategic moment in Jesus life and ministry.  It follows the most common structure of Jesus’ parables—a story of a master figure with two contrasting subordinates.  In this case they are both sons, which gives the story a superficial similarity with the longer parable in Luke 15.  But the point is a bit different.  Here it is from the NIV:

“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.

Essentially there are two components to the story.  The first is what the sons said they would do, and the second is what the servants actually did.  One son said the right thing, the other did the right thing.  Jesus asks those listening which son was pleasing to God.  They understood and knew that what was done was decisive, not what was said.

American Christians say the right things.  We sure can talk some good faith!  We say we're committed, and even deeply (and mistakenly) believe we are.  But the test of faithfulness is in whether we do the will of God.  Far too many believe we have done God's will if we show up at church.  Participating in worship isn't what God needs from us, it is what we need from God - so we can do His will.  We don't begin to be the obedient son until we present ourselves as living sacrifices to Him, prepared to do what He asks.  I don't get bonus points for being a preacher/pastor.  In fact, as I compare my life and ministry to those faithful to the Lord in Scripture, I realize my yoke is particularly easy and my burden is very light.  Maybe it is because I'm still discovering what vineyard I ought to be working in.