Today, I am reading and commenting on  Matthew 21-22.

When I started to read this passage I thought I might write about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the clearing of the temple, but I was really struck by what Jesus said after He told the parable of the two sons.  First, there is the outright message of the parable that it better to initially reject God and then later reconsider and do His will are better than to verbally acknowledge God but do not do His will.   However, what really struck me was when Jesus condemned the religious leaders who did not repent and turn to God even after seeing the impact doing so had on “lowlifes”.  I have usually hear this interpreted, not incorrectly, as Jesus telling us yet again that those we as a society view as reprobates and losers are more open to God’s word than those we view as upright and models of behavior.  As I said, that is not incorrect, but I realized today that Jesus was also saying that we should be inspired to do better by the way they respond to God’s love.  Those of us who have been transformed by the Holy Spirit should be inspired by the transformation those who are society’s “losers” go through when the Holy Spirit touches their hearts.  When we see what God has done for them, we should see how far we still are from His ideal and be inspired to allow the Holy Spirit to do even more work in our lives.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.