Every Sunday the insiders give lip service to working in the vineyard. They have learned all the right things to say. They say, “We will work”, yet, when the work presents itself to them they do not do it. There are a whole cadre of outsiders who said no to doing the work of the kingdom, but find themselves doing the good that they said they would not do. These outsiders are helping the weak, healing the hurting, welcoming the stranger, etc., when the insiders are doing their own thing. These did not say the right thing, but they did the right thing, i.e. the Kingdom thing.
“What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ He answered, ‘I will not’; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, ‘I go, sir’; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. (Matthew 21:28-31 NRSV)
