To understand today's gospel we need to be aware of the context. Jesus has just entered Jerusalem in triumph, cleansed the Temple and cursed the fig tree. All of these actions speak of Jesus fulfilling his messianic mission. The triumphal entry fulfils Scripture and foretells the resurrection while the cleansing of the Temple is a visitation of the Messiah to his Temple, where he proclaims judgement upon it. His messianic ministry is further manifested as: "The blind and the lame came to him in the temple and he cured them." (Mtt 21: 14) The chief priests and the scribes see all of this and its implications. They ask angrily: "Do you hear what they are saying?" (Mtt 21: 16) Thus, the chief priests and the elders are pushed to challenge Jesus' pretension to messianic authority. Jesus does not apologize or back down. Instead, he refers to John the Baptizer as his precursor, fulfilling the role of Elijah, and gives us the parable of the two sons that we hear today. Jesus condemns the Jewish authorities for saying "yes" to God but then doing nothing. If they had been converted by John the Baptist then they would accept Jesus as the Messiah, just as the people have. The people they regard with contempt, the tax collectors and prostitutes, have listened to John the Baptist and been converted. Their "no" to God has become a "yes." The challenge for us is to question the quality of our own response to the grace given in the Gospel and the sacraments. Each of us needs to be alert such that my initial "yes" to Christ is truly an ongoing "yes." If I have contempt for others and am judgmental towards them perhaps I may be falling into the attitude of the chief priests and elders.
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