They say unto him, The first— It seems that the Pharisees did not perceive that by this answer they condemned themselves, till Jesus made a direct application of the parable in that sharp, but just reproof, Verily, I say unto you, that the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For, Matthew 21:32, though you pretend that you do not know whence the baptism of John was, John came unto you in the way of righteousness; he clearly proved his mission from God, and ye believed him not,—gave no credit to the testimony he bare to me; and consequently would not go into the vineyard; but the publicans and the harlots believed him; they received his testimony, and obeyed the Gospel; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him; when you had persons of the most abandoned characters reformed by his sermons, (which doubtless was a strong proof of his mission from God,) you did not repent of your opposition to that holy man; nor of your disobedience to his instructions; at least, your remorse was not of such a kind as to make you afterwards believe him. Dr. Heylin renders the last clause, And though you saw that, yet you did not repent, so as to believe him.
The moral reflection suggested by this passage of the history is, that the openly profane are more apt to repent than hypocrites; which experience shews also to be true. The reason is, persons openly profane have nothing by which they can defend themselves against the terrors of God, when once they begin to fasten upon their consciences; whereas hypocrites, having a form of godliness, screen themselves therewith from all the attacks which can be made upon them by the strongest arguments, drawn whether from reason or from the word of God.