Poignantly, Jesus told this story as a judgmental statement on the attitude of His critics. The chief priests and elders, who had for so long put on a show of being submissive to God’s authority, were now being exposed as not being obedient at all. They had looked down their long boney noses at those who outwardly did not keep the law. Think of the incident Jesus told where, “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector’ ” (Luke 18:11). Or “When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?’ ” (Mark 2:16). The religious elite saw themselves as being righteous because they gave the outward appearance of obedience to the law.

Jesus made absolutely clear that such superficiality will not protect them from the authority of God, as preached through John the Baptist. In other words, from the very beginning of the preaching the Kingdom of God, though they made of show of feigned interest in the message of John’s and Jesus’ preaching, they had no intention of obeying it. That is Jesus’ point!

The tax collector and prostitutes, to name just a few examples, who came repenting and believing, were considered to be obedient. What a slam against the duplicity of the religious leaders and all who pretend outward religiosity, but inwardly are gripped with pride and rebellion. The Lord Jesus pulls no punches here. The down and outers who repent and believe will find favor with God long before the hypocritical religious leaders. What’s more, even after they saw the restoration and reformation of such obvious “sinners” they refused to acknow­ledge their cold-heartedness. It would have been a loss of pride to consider themselves in need of the same repentance as prostitutes and crooked tax collectors. Oh the tragic, yet, rich irony of grace!