Matthew 21_28-32 Delayed vs Pretended Obedience

After the chief priests and the elders refused to answer Jesus concerning the source of John the Baptist’s ministry, Jesus presented them with a question centered around a parable. In this parable one son rebels and then repents while another son pretends to be an obedient son but doesn’t actually obey. Jesus then asks which son did the will of the father. Clearly, it was the first. But then Jesus hits them with a shocking pronouncement, ‘The tax collectors and prostituted would enter the Kingdom before these self-righteous, hypocritical religious leaders! May we all guard ourselves from pretending to be righteous when our hearts are far from God!