“Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you” (Matt. 21:31b). In the next verse, as support for this statement, Jesus cites the recent example of these undesirable elements of society responding to the preaching of John while many of the pious Jews (especially the leaders) refused to believe or obey. Why did this irony exist? One would think that the especially religious would be lining up to hear John and Jesus while the publicans and sinners “passed by on the other side.” One problem with the ”religious” is they become complacent—precisely because they are spiritually-minded. They run the risk of becoming entrenched in their own man-made traditions (Matt. 15:1-9), becoming self-righteous (thinking they are better than others—Luke 18:9-11), and failing to evaluate themselves (2 Cor. 13:5). In fact, a common problem of people today, also, is to think, “I’m all right. I’m already religious.”
Thus, the very ones who should have delighted in hearing John and Jesus frequently turned away because in their preaching they ignored traditions and taught basic, fundamental doctrine. But some of the harlots and tax collectors listened. Why? One reason might have been that they had no pious pretensions to live up to. They knew they were sinners. They knew they had violated God’s law and were counted by others as unredeemable. Another reason was that they knew enough about the self-proclaimed “righteous” to recognize the hypocrisy that existed. The observations Jesus made about the Pharisees in Matthew 6 were undoubtedly already noticed by their social “inferiors.”
One reason the tax collectors and harlots may have listened to John and Jesus is that they recognized them as genuine rather than hypocritical. They lived what they preached. Second, these servants of God did not share that attitude of exclusiveness. Even though Jesus was actually higher and holier than, say, the woman at the well, that difference did not serve as a barrier to Him for speaking to her (John 4). Third, John and Jesus offered hope instead of condemnation.
Everyone, regardless, of his past, can respond to the invitation to have sins forgiven. How refreshing to realize that one can escape the weight and drudgery of one’s sins. Who wants to live under the oppressive idea: “There’s no way out; what you have been is what you will be”? The better message is: “You can change. You can have forgiveness. You can be spiritually whole. You can be granted eternal life.” Anyone who is weary of sin can answer the invitation that Jesus offers: “Come unto Me, call you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).