The Rumbling Heaven-bound Horde

Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you” (Matthew 21:31).

The very people the religious elite despised were the ones being welcomed into God’s kingdom first. Why? Because they were convicted and converted. True transformation works from the inside out, not the outside in.

This passage always reminds me of Mrs. Turpin’s vision in Flannery O’Connor’s short story *Revelation*. She sees a vast company of unlikely souls making their way into the next world. It is not a “respectable” sight—not a quiet or dignified procession—but a crowd of people rumbling toward heaven. Among them are “battalions of freaks and lunatics,” shouting, clapping, and leaping like frogs.

I hope to be there too—shouting, clapping, and leaping like a frog among that rumbling, heaven-bound horde.

Jesus, teach me to fear God more than impress man. I place my trust in you.