A Man Had Two Sons...

Matthew 21:28 " But what think ye? A man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to-day in the vineyard. 29) And he answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented himself, and went. 30) And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. 31) Which of the two did the will of his father? They say, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you."

This parable touches me deeply for some reason.  Is it because I have sons?  Is it because I have learned so much from each of them.  Lessons learned --often-- the hard way, by all of us.  I believe it is something deeper.

Motives.  What motivates people?  Some folks do things to gain things from other people.  Maybe their motives aren't pure and simple.  As in --if I do this for them, they will do this for me...or I'll get this in return. 


Some people are motived by money, some by love/feelings, or perhaps by honor and doing what is right.

"How did that make you feel?" the doctor asks me.
Funny you should ask...
How do certain things make you feel?  And how do you react?

Have you ever believed you were right?  Absolutely right?  I remember being young, and in being young I had a lot of answers.  There is the truth: "When I was young I had all the answers, now I'm older, I realize I don't even know all of the questions."


We aren't told the motives of either of the sons only the heart of the reason.
 
 Jesus has just rebuffed the chief priests and elders who demand "by whose authority do you do this?"  Telling them that if they didn't believe John was sent by God, they wouldn't believe Jesus either.  Then he uses this parable to show them the difference between pride and humility: the difference between love and duty.

They understand that the first son did the will of the father, and that the one who said, but did not do-- did not do the will of the father.  They got the gist of that, but not the application. So, in verse thirty-one and two Jesus gives them the meaning, and goes on to tell them another parable:

Matthew 21:33  "Hear another parable: There was a man that was a householder, who planted a vineyard, and set a hedge about it, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into another country..."

Matthew 21:40  "..When therefore the lord of the vineyard shall come, what will he do unto those husbandmen? 

Jesus tells the parable of the unrighteous husbandmen to further illustrate the contrast of the situation.  What is God going to do with those who reject his son?  Those who refuse to see the Saviour as the Saviour, and these chief priests and Pharisees judge rightly when they answer:

Matthew 21:41  "They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those miserable men, and will let out the vineyard unto other husbandmen, who shall render him the fruits in their seasons."

 Somewhere they miss the application of what their response should be.  Then Jesus quotes unto them Psalms 118:22  "The stone which the builders rejected Is become the head of the corner..." At this point they finally get the point, and they are not happy.

Matthew 21:45  "And when the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he spake of them. 46)  And when they sought to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, because they took him for a prophet."



What does that mean to you?  Or to me?  It gives us two options, since actions speak louder than words in this parable...
                       Option number one: "I go, sir."  Or Option number two: "I go not." 
 What these chief priests and Pharisees failed to understand was that Jesus is more than just a prophet, he is the Son of God. They were so filled with themselves they didn't heed what he was warning them of, that unless they accepted him they would lose their place that they were so proud of. 
We today can do the same thing.  We can fail to understand that while, yes, we can in this life say, "I go not," some day we will pay the price of all who fail to honor God and His Son in this life. 

While we enjoy the benefits and blessings that God bestows on all inhabitants of this earth as Matthew 5:45 says, "...for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust."  We all enjoy these blessings of good things that come into our life, if when we end this part of the journey still saying to God, 'No thanks, I won't go,' then those blessings will cease.  There will be no more the presence of God, nor of his goodness.  Only the evil will be left. 
Don't let 'I go not," be your final answer.  

Halelujah, what a Saviour!

'Fast Food'?

"What are you doing with that?" I ask as my son grabs a distressed old convenience store cup out of the trash on his way out the door.
"Well," he says, "my cats are out of cat food so I'm taking them some."
"Funny," says I, "when I was young we never fed our cats any cat food." (We only gave them milk from our cows.) "Maybe they'd eat more mice if we didn't feed them cat food..."
"These cats sit around and meow at you if you don't give them cat food.  I think they must put msg in it," he says rueful-like.

People occasionally speak about 'the good old days'.  How good the food was, not just good tasting, but good and healthy for you...They often speak as well about how much better things were --back then.
 I have noticed though, it is what a person grows up with that more often trips their trigger.  I don't care for instant potatoes, or instant anything. I had real potatoes and real food when I was growing up.  I know of people who are so used to the fast food approach that is what they like--the other stuff tastes off to them. 

John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."

Quite a few years ago I taught a children's class in which one of the lessons was on patience and waiting.  For example, we mix up our cookie dough, put it on the pans and into the oven, but we still must wait for it to bake...

Where did we, the nation of America go?  Many are lamenting the demise of what is often termed the greatest country.  America has often been seen as the country that is 'on the go'.  The country of 'If you build it, they will come'.
So was it just yesterday, or last year, or even six years ago that America began slipping down the tube? 
I enjoy history.  I enjoy reading, writing, and the research as well. It seems a strange twist that life continues to funnel these things into my files--information that points to several sources of our current problems.
Horace Mann had many things going for him.  He was raised in poverty, very little education other than being self-taught, yet, amazingly enough he overcame these obstacles, became a lawyer, served in the Masschutes House of Representatives, and Senate, and was appointed Secretary of Education...

In the beginning of this country the early founders believed that an education was a necessity and they sought an education for their children in order that their children could learn to read the Holy Scriptures.  By the time that Horace Mann came on the scene in the early 1800's apparently, education was coming up short.

 We began homeschooling in the 1980's, and our youngest child finished a few years ago in approximately 2008/2009.   When we began homeschooling one of the assignments for my children's history class was that of writing reports.  They would choose a person and do research, write a report, then read their report to the rest of the children.  Some of the reports covered Jamestown leaders i.e. John Smith as well as Plymouth Plantation and their Separatist leaders.  However, by the time our last son was given the assignment we could no longer find (in our local library) information on the Pilgrims, or any of these people.  What happened in the twenty plus years?

Many people back in the day of Horace Mann castigated him not for untiring work in education reform, but the type of reform. There were several issues, and many fought his work, but in the end he had the power and authority of the government behind him.   In some cases he had children marched to the school house in front of guns, and in some parents actually snuck in and 'rescued' their children from the school house.  As is usually the way through bullying he finally had his way. The irony of it all...were parents against education?  Hardly, but this is a key--parents have often felt that their children were their property, not the property of the state.  It was the parent's duty, calling, election to make sure their children were educated, and properly educated.  Not the state, nor the government.

Horace Mann and his ilk are held up as doing good for the welfare of the children and society.  He was the perpetrator of the idea of 'removing religion' from education...just teach them 'principles' of religion he said.  You can't teach principles of Christianity with out Christianity itself and have the principles work.  A good read is John Taylor Gotto's: "The Underground History of American Education". 

This is an eye-opening subject, one that needs investigating.  There needs to be not just a waking up and wringing of the hands, but a look at what made us great because that is what will make us great again.  Amidst the chaos there are too many voices of the ignorance.  It is difficult having studied American History to understand how a person can honestly believe that America was not a Christian nation, founded on Christian principles.  History series such as "Wallbuilders" by David Barton, and "The Silencing of God" by Dave Miller, PHD, document our religious heritage.  But public schools have taken our actual history, and substituted a different version.

What happened to America?  Read these, and watch the videos.  You will come to a greater understanding of how we have went from a nation of over-achievers to a nation of dumber than rocks.  It didn't happen overnight, but it has happened by purpose.

We have become a nation that prefers fast food, a nation of 'give it to me, and give it to me now'.  When sex and pornography became a right and a god, why are we shocked that homosexuality followed along?  When murdering babies became acceptable will we be shocked when killing people of any age for one reason or another is acceptable as well? Birth defect? Age? Health problems?  No one and nothing will be exempt..

You see, when God is no longer the standard for moral decisions; you substitute human wisdom for moral decisions. 

When we forget that Jesus said, John 14:6  "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one cometh unto the Father, but by me."...and so many of the other things Jesus said...those principles that should have been taught along with the religion...we've forgotten way, way, way, too much.