<p>21:29&nbsp;<em>And he answered and said: I will not-&nbsp;</em>Not so much a bald refusal as &lsquo;I don&rsquo;t wish to, I don&rsquo;t have the desire to&rsquo;.</p><p><em>But afterward he repented and went</em>- This Greek word for &quot;afterward&quot; is used three times in Matthew 21 (and only 9 times elsewhere in the NT). The Jews are criticized for not repenting &ldquo;after&rdquo; they had seen the whores repent at John&rsquo;s teaching (21:32); and &ldquo;afterward&rdquo; (AV &ldquo;last of all&rdquo;), after sending the prophets of which John was the last, God sent His Son to appeal to Israel (21:37). The son who initially refused to work therefore speaks of those in Israel who refused to hear the prophets and John, and yet &ldquo;after&rdquo; all that appeal, responded to the Lord Jesus.</p><p><em>&quot;</em>Afterward he repented&quot; is exactly the same words in :32. Afterwards- after the Lord's ministry- they did&nbsp;<em>not&nbsp;</em>repent. The Jews who initially responded to John are therefore are the son who said he would work but never did. The same Greek word for &quot;afterward&quot; is also found in :37: &quot;Last of all s.w. &quot;afterward&quot; He sent unto them His Son&quot;. The Lord's coming was intended to bring the disobedient son to repentance- and to go work in the vineyard.&nbsp;</p><p>He went-to work in the vineyard. The motivation of the man to labour was because he had repented and been forgiven. His motive was not simply obedience out of respect to his Father, but rather now was it gratitude for forgiveness.</p>