The Parable of Two Sons 两个儿子的比喻
The Parable of Two Sons seems straightforward enough: the moral of the lesson is that action speaks louder than words. However, Jesus follows the parable with a startling declaration to his audience: "Tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you!" The story takes a serious turn. We invite you to read more in Fr. Joseph Ruan's latest bilingual Sunday Scripture reflection, included below in Chinese and then in English:
Scripture Reflection in Chinese
常年期第二十六主日（甲年）
今天是常年期第二十六主日。福音中，耶稣向司祭长和民间长老讲述两个儿子的比喻：父亲叫他们到葡萄园工作，一个拒绝了，后来却悔悟去了；另一个答应了，后来却没有去。耶稣问他们，哪一个履行了父亲的旨意，他们回答：“大儿子。”（玛21:28–31）故事似乎到这里就可以结束了，教训也似乎十分清楚：做人应当言行一致，答应的事，应当付诸实行。然而，耶稣接着说：“税务员和娼妓要比你们先进天国。”（玛21:31）这句话突然把听众带进了故事。他们原本正在判断两个儿子，如今却发现，耶稣所说的正是他们自己。
要明白这句话的分量，需要留意耶稣随后所作的解释：若翰来了，税务员和娼妓相信了他，司祭长和长老却没有相信；即使看见这些人相信，他们仍不肯回心转意，承认自己先前的拒绝有误，转而相信若翰（玛21:32）。因此，这个比喻所触及的，远比一般的言行一致更深。那些曾以自己的生活拒绝天主的人，开始接受天主的召叫；那些熟悉经书、肩负宗教职责的人，却固步自封，没有接受眼前的邀请。耶稣请他们辨认的，是天主的恩宠正在何处结出果实，也请他们省察，自己为何仍然停在原处。
比喻开始时，父亲称呼儿子：“孩子！”随后才吩咐他今天到葡萄园工作（玛21:28）。这个称呼使整段对话带着父子关系的温度。儿子还没有工作，就已经是父亲的孩子；父亲把工作交给他，也是在邀请他关心家中的事，承担属于这份关系的责任。由此看来，进入葡萄园，不只是完成一项任务，也意味着儿子以实际行动回应父亲。信仰生活同样如此：天主先以慈爱召叫我们，又使我们在服务、正义和爱德中，活出与祂的关系。
第一个儿子回答：“我不去。”这句话显露了他的抗拒。若故事停在这里，他就是一个拒绝父亲的儿子。然而，耶稣说，他后来悔悟，就去了（玛21:29）。这个“后来”，使原本看似确定的结局重新敞开。福音没有描述他内心经历了怎样的挣扎，却让我们看见，他没有继续受自己先前的决定支配。他知错能改，用脚步作出了新的回答。父亲的话曾被他拒绝，后来却真正进入了他的生活。
回头往往需要这样的谦卑。人有时已经知道自己错了，却因为说过的话、维护过的立场，而一意孤行；也可能因为害怕失去面子，迟迟不肯道歉。最初的错误，就这样成了后来更多错误的理由。大儿子的转变使我们看见，人不必为了维护自己而一直错下去。承认错误，并没有使他失去儿子的身份，反而使他重新活出这份身份。他走进葡萄园时，先前的拒绝仍然是事实，但拒绝已经不再是他与父亲关系的最后一句话。所谓迷途知返，在这里有了具体的样子：他起身去做父亲交托的事。
另一个儿子回答：“主，我去。”可是，他没有去（玛21:30）。耶稣没有交代原因，我们也不必揣测他是否从一开始就在敷衍。经文清楚呈现的是，他说了合宜的话，却没有让这句话改变自己的安排。父亲听见了答复，葡萄园却等不到他的脚步。这个儿子的处境尤其容易使熟悉宗教生活的人警醒：我们可能习惯赞同福音，知道应该怎样回答，也能够解释何为正确，却在具体的选择上继续照自己的意思生活。听懂了、赞同了，甚至受到感动了，都还需要身体力行，使所信的成为所行的。
耶稣让司祭长和长老亲口判断，哪个儿子履行了父亲的旨意。他们答对了，却没有把这个判断用在自己身上。比喻中，他们承认一个拒绝过父亲的人可以回头；现实中，他们却没有因税务员和娼妓的相信，而重新审视自己对若翰的拒绝（玛21:31–32）。他们能够辨认故事里的悔改，却没有接受发生在眼前的悔改所带来的召叫。福音也由此追问我们：我们读经时，是否很容易想到别人应该改变什么，却很少反躬自省，让经文纠正自己的判断？
耶稣特别强调，他们看见了以后，仍然没有回头相信若翰（玛21:32）。罪人的悔改，本来是一件使人赞美天主的事：破碎的生命开始得到修复，远离天主的人重新聆听祂的话。然而，别人的改变也可能触动我们不肯放下的优越感。一个人开始悔改，我们便需要重新认识他，不能抱残守缺，永远以他的过去定义他。那个曾被我们责备的人，也可能在某一刻，比我们更认真地回应天主。此时，我们能否为他喜乐，能否见贤思齐，承认自己也需要学习？天主施恩给别人，也可能正在借此召叫我们回头。
因此，“税务员和娼妓要比你们先进天国”是一句严肃的警告，也是一份仍然敞开的邀请（玛21:31）。他们走在前面，是因为相信了若翰，接受了悔改的召叫；他们的罪并没有因此被说成无关紧要。司祭长和长老也不能凭借身份与知识，代替对天主的信从。耶稣此刻仍向他们说话，正催促他们接受同一份救恩。读经一帮助我们明白：恶人弃恶从善、遵行正义，就能获得生命；义人若离弃正义，也不能靠过去的善行保障自己（则18:25–28）。人的过去需要诚实面对，天主今天的召叫也需要今天的回应。
父亲说：“你今天到葡萄园里去工作吧。”（玛21:28）“今天”使整个比喻带着迫切感，也带着希望。已经答应的人，不能无限期地推迟；曾经拒绝的人，也不必认定一切已经太迟。我们生命中，或许都有一处尚未进入的葡萄园：一段明知需要修复却始终搁置的关系，一项应当承担却反复推卸的责任，一种知道伤害别人却不肯停止的做法。天主的召叫，往往就在这些具体的事情上等待我们的回应。回头从这里开始，信德也在脚踏实地的行动中获得可见的形体。
然而，认识自己的迟疑与抗拒，还需要求天主赐下改变的力量。读经二使我们仰望讲述这个比喻的耶稣：祂“空虚自己，取了奴仆的形体”，并且“自谦自卑，服从至死，而且死在十字架上”（斐2:7–8）。祂以整个生命承行天父的旨意，也以自己的交付，为罪人打开与天父和好的道路。保禄劝勉信友怀有基督的心情（斐2:5），正帮助我们深入理解回头所需要的谦卑：放下对自己的维护，接受真理的纠正，关心别人的需要。我们与基督结合，就能从祂领受重新起步的力量，在日常生活中学习舍己为人。
今天的福音结束时，司祭长和长老已经作出判断，他们自己的回应却仍摆在面前。耶稣的邀请同样临到我们：先前的拒绝可以被悔改更新，已经说出的承诺需要以行动完成。在感恩祭中，我们领受那位完全承行父旨意的基督，回答“阿们”，宣认信德，也把自己的软弱带到祂面前。走出圣堂以后，那件一直推迟的善事、那个需要关怀的人、那份等待承担的责任，就是这句“阿们”需要抵达的地方。父亲今天仍在召叫，我们可以依靠基督的恩宠，起身走进祂的葡萄园，在每一天的生活中忠信不渝。
Scripture Reflection in English
Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year A)
Today we celebrate the Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time. In the Gospel, Jesus tells the chief priests and elders a brief parable about two sons. A father asks both to work in his vineyard. One refuses but later changes his mind and goes; the other agrees but never goes. When Jesus asks which son did his father’s will, they answer, “The first” (Mt 21:28–31). The lesson seems straightforward: our actions should match our words. Yet Jesus continues with a startling declaration: tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of them (Mt 21:31). Suddenly, those listening are drawn into the story. They thought they were judging two sons; now they discover that Jesus is speaking about them.
Jesus explains why: John came to them, and the tax collectors and prostitutes believed him, but the chief priests and elders did not. Even after seeing others believe, they did not reconsider their refusal and believe John themselves (Mt 21:32). The parable therefore reaches beyond the familiar lesson of keeping our promises. People whose lives had contradicted God’s commands were beginning to respond to his call, while those entrusted with religious leadership resisted it. Jesus asks them to recognize where God’s grace is bearing fruit and to examine why they themselves remain unmoved.
At the beginning of the parable, the father addresses his son as his child before asking him to work in the vineyard (Mt 21:28). The request arises within a relationship. The son belongs to the family before he does any work, and the father invites him to share responsibility for what belongs to their common life. Entering the vineyard means responding to that relationship through action. This helps us understand our own calling. God first draws us to himself in love, then calls us to express our relationship with him through service, justice, and charity.
The first son answers bluntly: “I will not.” If the story ended there, we would know him simply as the son who refused his father. But Jesus tells us that he later changed his mind and went (Mt 21:29). That word “later” opens a future that his refusal seemed to have closed. The Gospel does not describe his inner struggle. It shows us that his first decision did not have to govern every decision that followed. He recognized his mistake and gave a new answer through his actions. The father’s request, initially rejected, eventually shaped the course of his day.
Returning requires this kind of humility. Sometimes we know that we are wrong, yet continue defending a position because we have already argued for it. Sometimes we delay an apology because we fear losing face. An initial mistake then becomes the reason for further mistakes. The first son shows us that we do not have to keep going in the wrong direction simply to protect our pride. Acknowledging his fault did not make him less of a son; it allowed him to live more faithfully as one. When he entered the vineyard, his earlier refusal remained part of his history, but it was no longer his final answer to his father.
The other son responds respectfully, “I go, sir,” but does not go (Mt 21:30). Jesus gives no explanation, so we need not assume that he intended to deceive his father from the beginning. What matters is that his respectful answer never became an act of obedience. His father received an assurance, but the vineyard received no worker. Here the parable speaks particularly closely to those familiar with religious life. We may readily agree with the Gospel, know the appropriate responses, and explain what is right, while continuing to make our choices on our own terms. Understanding, agreement, and even deep emotion still need to become faithful action.
Jesus invites the chief priests and elders to identify the obedient son. They answer correctly, yet fail to apply their judgment to themselves. Within the story, they recognize that someone who has refused his father can turn back. In the events before their eyes, however, the faith of tax collectors and prostitutes does not lead them to reconsider their rejection of John (Mt 21:31–32). They recognize repentance in a parable but resist its challenge in real life. This raises a searching question for us: when we hear Scripture, do we readily think of someone else who needs to change, while rarely allowing it to correct our own judgments?
Jesus emphasizes that even after seeing what happened, they did not change their minds and believe John (Mt 21:32). The repentance of sinners should have been a reason to praise God: people who had wandered far from him were beginning to listen. Yet another person’s conversion can also challenge our sense of superiority. When someone changes, we must be prepared to see that person anew instead of defining them forever by their past. Someone we once rightly corrected may now respond to God more faithfully than we do. Can we rejoice in that? Can we humbly learn from them? God’s grace at work in another person may also be his invitation for us to turn back.
The declaration that tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom ahead of the religious leaders is therefore both a serious warning and an invitation (Mt 21:31). They are going ahead because they believed John and accepted his call to repentance. Their sins have not become insignificant, and the chief priests and elders cannot substitute religious standing or knowledge for faith. Jesus is still speaking to them, urging them to receive the salvation offered to them. The first reading supports this message: those who turn from wickedness and act justly can live, while those who abandon righteousness cannot rely on their past goodness to secure their future (Ez 18:25–28). We must face our past honestly, while responding faithfully to God in the present.
The father asks his son to work in the vineyard “today” (Mt 21:28). That word carries both urgency and hope. Those who have agreed cannot postpone their response indefinitely; those who have refused need not assume that it is already too late. Each of us may have some part of the vineyard we have yet to enter: a relationship we know needs healing, a responsibility we repeatedly avoid, or a harmful practice we know we must stop. God’s call often meets us in these ordinary circumstances. Repentance begins there, and faith takes visible form through concrete action.
Recognizing our resistance, however, also brings us to ask for the grace to change. The second reading directs our attention to Jesus, the one telling this parable. He emptied himself, took the form of a servant, and became obedient even to death on a cross (Phil 2:7–8). He fulfilled the Father’s will through the gift of his whole life and opened the way for sinners to be reconciled with God. Paul’s invitation to share the mind of Christ illuminates the humility that repentance requires: relinquishing our self-defence, accepting correction, and attending to the needs of others (Phil 2:3–5). In communion with Christ, we receive the strength to begin again and to grow in self-giving love.
At the end of the Gospel, the chief priests and elders have given their judgment, but their own response remains before them. Christ’s invitation also reaches us: an earlier refusal can give way to repentance, and a spoken promise can become faithful action. In the Eucharist, we receive the Son who perfectly fulfills the Father’s will. Our “Amen” professes our faith as we bring our weakness before him. Beyond the church doors, that “Amen” finds expression in the good we have postponed, the person who needs our care, and the responsibility awaiting our attention. The Father is still calling today. Through the grace of Christ, we can rise, enter his vineyard, and persevere in the work he entrusts to us.
Fr. (Joseph) Guozhang Ruan was born and ordained in China. After serving in parish ministry in the Diocese of Mindong, Fujian, he pursued advanced studies in moral theology in Rome, earning a doctorate from the Pontifical Lateran University. Since coming to the United States in 2004, he has served in several parishes in the Archdiocese of New York. He is currently the Director of the Chinese Apostolate for the Archdiocese of New York and Parochial Vicar of Holy Rosary Church on Staten Island. His ministry focuses on serving Chinese Catholics, promoting evangelization, and fostering greater understanding between the Church in China and the universal Church.
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