“What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work in the vineyard today.’ And he answered, ‘I will not,’ but afterward he changed his mind and went. And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, ‘I go, sir,’ but did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him (Matthew 21:28-32).

In the mind of a first century Jew, prostitutes and tax collectors were the worst sinners in the world. They were the outcasts, the rodents of society. Things haven’t changed much in our time. Prostitution, in the minds of most, ranks among the greatest of disrespectable sins. But Jesus had some shocking words for the respected individuals of his time: “The tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.”

Moral People Are Unforgiven People

In Luke 18, Jesus told another parable. It was about two men, a Pharisee and a tax collector, who each went into the temple to pray. The Pharisee’s prayer was rejected, while the tax collector’s prayer was received.

It’s easy to miss how shocking Jesus’ parable was because “Pharisee” has become an insult to modern minds, while “tax collector” really doesn’t carry any connotations at all. But in Jesus’ time these two types of people would have been understood in a completely different way.

Pharisees went to church every Sunday. And, when they got there, they were the ones who led the public prayer. They contributed their tithes. They memorized the Torah and kept God’s law. Pharisees were well-respected, righteous men. Paul, looking back on the time when he himself was a Pharisee, said, “As to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:6, emphasis added). Pharisees were blameless under the law.

Tax collectors, on the other hand, were scoundrels. They were often grouped with prostitutes (Matthew 21:31) and sinners (Matthew 9:10). They were lewd in speech and licentious in behavior. They were greedy. They were self-centered. Tax collectors represented the polar opposite of Pharisees.

To put things in perspective, if Jesus’ parable in Luke 18 were given a modern twist, it might look something like this:

Two men went into the sanctuary to pray, one a pastor and the other a pimp. The pastor, standing by himself, prayed, “God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this procurer. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.” But the pimp, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!”

The pastor kept the law. He didn’t cry out for mercy because he didn’t need mercy. People who aren’t sinners don’t need mercy. If a police officer gives you a speeding ticket when you weren’t speeding, you don’t ask for mercy; you demand justice! Law keepers don’t need mercy. They just need law, and they’re safe.

But lawbreakers need mercy. The pimp cried out for mercy because it was his only hope. It was the only thing he could do. He knew his wicked past. He knew, if God was just, he had no hope. He deserved God’s wrath, and he had no excuse. The cry of the pimp was a helpless cry. There was nothing he could do; he was a sinner. His only hope was that somehow God would withhold his vengeful hand.

And Jesus, commenting on this story, said the pimp went back to his house justified rather than the pastor. The sinner was forgiven, but the saint was cast out. “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14). God forgives humble people. When sinners humble themselves and ask for forgiveness, God is merciful. But the problem with moral people is they don’t need forgiveness, so they don’t ask. People who don’t need forgiveness aren’t forgiven because Christ did not die for righteous people.

Christ Died for the Ungodly

Christ’s death was not incidental; it was planned. Having existed from eternity in perfect fellowship with the Father and having all of his admiration, he put on flesh for the very purpose of being put to death. Jesus became a man so that he could die.

Not only was it planned, Christ’s death was planned with a clear purpose: so that sinners might be spared. Those who, attempting to avoid God’s wrath, boast in their own righteousness reject the need for the cross. Anyone who is righteous doesn’t need a savior. Like the pastor, they just need the law, and they’ve got heaven. But sinners need a cross, and it is for them that Christ bore the wrath of God.

Jesus didn’t die for us because we’re good people. It wasn’t because he thought we didn’t deserve to die. It was precisely the opposite. We deserved to die, but he died instead. People who think they’re deserving of God’s love make a mockery of the cross — and, in doing so, make a mockery of God.

If you’re not ungodly, Christianity is not for you. You should find another religion, and there are plenty of them which accept godly people. But Christianity is for sinners. Paul said, “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

Don’t Be an Imaginary Sinner

In order to be forgiven, you must be a sinner. God can’t forgive people who don’t need forgiveness. Martin Luther said, “Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong” (Sämmtliche Schriften, Letter 99). And don’t just be an imaginary sinner. Imaginary sinners receive imaginary forgiveness, and imaginary forgiveness cannot save you from the reality of God’s wrath. If you want real forgiveness, you must be a real sinner.

Jesus said prostitutes go into the kingdom of heaven before priests. The priests Jesus was talking to were imaginary sinners. They may have performed the sacrifices to atone for sins, but in their pride they denied their need for a sacrifice. They were just pretend sinners.

Priests who play religious games and paint their faces with righteous smiles will not see the kingdom of heaven. But prostitutes who come to Jesus’ feet broken before him will be met with outstretched arms.

Greater Joy for Greater Sinners

It is a good thing to be a sinner. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul called his righteousness garbage (Philippians 3:4-9). But the reason Paul called it garbage was not because it was non-existent. The argument he presented was not, “I have no righteousness, therefore it’s worthless to me.” Rather, his argument was, “I have lots of righteousness, but knowing Christ is way better than having righteousness of my own, so it’s trash to me.”

There is a joy that comes from knowing Christ as a sinner that doesn’t come from standing before God as a righteous person. Jesus took this even further, not only saying sinners can have greater joy than the righteous, but that greater sinners can have greater joy than lesser sinners. Luke tells us of a time Jesus visited the house of a Pharisee named Simon. While he was there, a woman came in, knelt, and began weeping at Jesus’ feet (Luke 7:36-50). Luke described her as “a woman of the city, who was a sinner.”

Simon, upon seeing this, said, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” Simon expected that if Jesus had known how sinful she was he wouldn’t have allowed her to touch him. But Jesus replied, “Her sins, which are many, are forgiven — for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little loves little” (v. 47).

Don’t miss what Jesus is saying here. She loves much because she has been forgiven for much sinfulness. But those who aren’t forgiven much don’t love much. If you are a small sinner, you will be a small lover of God. You cannot have maximal joy in God unless you are maximally sinful. Be a great sinner, but be a greater lover.

The Unique Joy of Sinful People

It is interesting, is it not, that Jesus said that, when people are raised from the dead to spend an eternity with God, they won’t be married (Matthew 22:30). That’s interesting because the reason God said he created Eve was: “It is not good that man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). So what’s the difference? Why was singleness bad for Adam before the fall but good for those who will be raised from the dead to live on the new Earth?

It’s because marriage was meant to teach us about our relationship to Jesus until the time that we could understand it more fully. The church is Christ’s bride, and marriage exists as a parable pointing to that. But when the church is raised from the dead and presented to her bridegroom, the parable of marriage will no longer be necessary. Marriage merely exists as a picture of what our union with Christ will one day be. Until then, it remains as a picture, but one day it will be a reality and we will have no more need for a picture.

But between Adam and the resurrection there was a fall. That means it wasn’t God’s intention in creation that it remain as it was for Adam and Eve forever. His plan was to redeem it and replace the picture of marriage he gave to Adam and Eve with a relationship with his Son. Don’t forget that Adam walked with God before the fall (Genesis 3:8). Adam talked to God and knew him personally. But he didn’t know him fully; he didn’t know him in every way for which God had created him. We will be better off in the resurrection than Adam was before the fall. We will have greater joy in God because of our sinfulness and his great salvation.

The Difference Between a Prostitute and a Priest

I titled this article “Homosexuals Go Into the Kingdom Before Republicans”. I know that’s a provocative title, and I had misgivings about whether it was a helpful title. This isn’t a partisan ploy. I’ve got no interest in discussing what party you should vote for. But, ultimately, I decided to go with the title because I think it is faithful to what Jesus said.

When Jesus said, “The prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you,” he was talking to the chief priests. Prostitutes are guilty of sexual immorality, just like homosexuals. That’s an easy parallel to draw. The reason I chose Republicans, and that was the more difficult choice, was because Republicans (and I know this isn’t universally true) generally make a big issue out of gay marriage. I imagine this is very similar to the attitude the chief priests would have had toward prostitutes. Republicans are, in the minds of many, moral people. In the 1980s there was a whole organization called the Moral Majority, and most of its members were Republicans. On the other hand, homosexuals are seen as immoral; they’re unclean. But Jesus came to make the unclean clean. He didn’t come for the healthy but the sick. Do you think homosexuals are any more sinful than you, O, Republicans? Then they will enter the kingdom of God before you.

The difference between a prostitute and a priest is not the degree of sinfulness; it is the degree of disrespectable sinfulness. The priests in Jesus’ day were just as sinful. They just didn’t sin in such a way that they were chastised. They sinned in such a way that they were honored. But prostitutes were looked down upon by everyone. They couldn’t come to Jesus and say, “I am sinless.” The only thing they could do is cry out for mercy. And that’s precisely why they enter the kingdom first.

Those Who Go on Sinning Stop Repenting

One last thing must be said. In Romans, Paul said the sexually immoral have been given over to their passions because they have suppressed the truth about God (Romans 1:24-27). Many have rejected God so long and so fiercely that God has given them up to their desires. Unrepentant prostitutes and homosexuals will be judged. And they will not always be able to repent. There does come a time when God will abandon those who have rejected him, and, like Esau, they may find themselves unable to repent. The author of Hebrews said,

See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears (Hebrews 12:15-17).

Homosexuals and prostitutes must repent in order to be forgiven. Unrepentant people are unforgiven people. And there can come a hardening over your heart so hard that you may find yourself one day unable to repent. Esau sought repentance through tears, but he did not find it. Do not harden your heart. If you are a great sinner, go to Christ! He will forgive you if you turn to him! Do not delay any longer. He is your only hope, and he is offered to you now, not later. Do not sell your birthright for a single meal.