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When The Last Go First - Matthew 21:23-32
 
"Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you" (Matthew 21:31).
Friends, we one can just imagine the life of tax collectors and the prostitutes in Jesus' audience and the context at that time. Such individuals were seen as people in the corrupt system; and they are not always welcome; they are not friends of many in the society. But here Jesus is saying there is an element of goodness in everyone, and God sees beyond us. So let's pick it from where we stopped last Sunday: "...So the last will be first, and the first will be last" (Matthew 20:16). From this gospel passage we learned what it means to enjoy God's grace regardless of our class or status because God is the God of all time and of all people. After all, to Him, there is no "first class" in His kingdom. We are treated equally, and no one gets more Jesus because they have been around for a long time. However, that's the case of the religious leaders who challenged Jesus in this Sunday's gospel saying, "By what authority are you doing these things?" Because they feel threatened by His audacity to disrupt a system they have enjoyed for so long. And they have forgotten who this God is and are blindfolded to see Him for who He is!
Yes, that's how it starts. Jesus flipped tables in the Temple a day before this incident, and He's angry. The following morning He walks back into the same temple, and to those religious leaders one would expect them to respect His opinion, the same folks blocked the entrance.They failed to ask, "Are you okay? What made you angry?" They only ask Him a credential question: "Who licensed you? Who ordained you? Where is your paperwork?" Do these questions sound familiar to us in our own context too? 
Friends, this seems interesting to me, but still true in this time and age amongst us as the body of Christ in 2026. What happened to Jesus might be our own story too! In our faith journey we might also be pushed to the wall to answer some questions about our identity. People might push to frustrate us. We might be asked, by what right/authority do you do/speak about this or that? What do you know? Just to bully us. That's okay. But to those of such minds, Jesus doesn't play their game. He uses illustrations of John the Baptist they all know very well to drive home his points. Those who challenged Him choose image management over the truth; so they do the most political thing in their response: "We don't know" is their answer when they were asked if John's baptism is from heaven or from humans. However, to let them see a true picture of who He is, Jesus tells them a very story about two sons.  
A father says to his two boys, "Son, go work in the vineyard today." The first Son says, "No. I will not." Flat-out No! Maybe angry. Maybe hurt. Maybe not in the right mood. But later, he changes his mind — maybe he is stung with regret — and he goes. The second Son says, "Yes, sir. Absolutely, father. I will go." Very polite. At the same time very hypocritical and sounds very pious. And if you will, the second son might sound like many of us:) But he doesn't go."Which one did the will of his father?" Jesus asks. It's obvious. The first. And then the punchline that would have cleared the Temple courtyard: "Truly I tell you, tax collectors and prostitutes are going into the Kingdom ahead of you." Why? Because when John the Baptist came — that strange prophet down by the river, eating locusts in the wilderness, saying "Repent! the kingdom is near" — the prostitutes and the tax collectors, the people who had spent their lives saying No to God, actually said, "Yes, you're right. We need to turn." And they did. And the religious leaders, who have claimed to be around for a long time, who said Yes every Sabbath in beautiful language, never in any way moved their feet. The second Son says "Yes" as some of us are with our lips-service. We have wonderful mission statements. We put up signs that say "All Are Welcome." We sing "They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love" — beautiful harmony — but we never actually allow our words to match our actions. We say Yes on a Sunday morning or evening at church by our mouth and No on Monday morning with our feet/action the moment we step out of the church entrance. That is what Jesus has seen in those religious leaders. 
Perhaps some of us might want to think like the first Son who says No because of his personal experience with his community: "I've sat with so many of you in this church, I've never seen what it means to be Christlike amongst you. "No, I won't go back to a church that shamed me." "No, I won't believe people who were not there when I needed help" and "No, I am done!" Honest No's. Painful No's. And Jesus says, this is the gospel for us today—God vastly prefers an honest No that later becomes a Yes with your feet and an honest change of mind, because God is a God of attitude and character. Unlike the second Son who has a polished/sugar-coated mouth full of Yes' but he never left the door post of the house to do anything tangible. Now from this gospel, those we often overlook, downplay or often overlook (like the tax collector/the prostitutes) or those we see as being vulnerable (even though we are all likely to be vulnerable at some points) are the ones God's light is shining. They are the ones considered, "When The Last Go First."    
Today, when God calls us He is not looking for how perfect we are (like those religious leaders), but rather He is calling us from our vulnerable situations like the "tax collectors and the prostitutes" from the ingenuity of our hearts to  go into the world today and bear our meaningful identity through His name. Now may I ask you, what is that one place He is sending and/or asking you to do that you have been saying Yes with your lips but No in your heart or by dragging your feet? God sees our hearts and our intentions matter to Him about who we are and what He knows about us. He is calling us all in being who/what we are and He is willing to join us wherever we are regardless of our circumstances. So, when we count ourselves unworthy or coming last, God is saying, "I see YOU as my first!"  "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you" (Matthew 21:31).
Thanks be to God. Amen.
With every blessing,
   
The Reverend Wilson Akinwale