Jesus rebuked the religious leaders and said that it is more likely that God would accept notorious sinners than that he would accept them.

Matthew 21:28-32

28 Then Jesus said to the chief priests and elders, “Tell me [RHQ] what you think about what I am about to tell you. There was a man who had two sons. He went to his older son and said, ‘My son, go and work in my vineyard today!’ 29 But the son said to his father, ‘I do not want to go and work in your vineyard today!’ But later he changed his mind, and he went to the vineyard and worked. 30 Then the father approached his younger son and said what he had said to his older son. That son said, ‘Sir, I will go and work in the vineyard today.’ But he did not go there. 31 So which of the man’s two sons did what their father desired?” They answered, “The older son.” Jesus explained to them what that parable meant by saying, “Think about this: It is more likely that other people, including tax collectors and prostitutes, whom you think are very sinful, will enter where God rules, than it is that you Jewish leaders will enter. 32 I say this to you because, even though John the Baptizer explained to you how to live righteously, you did not believe his message. But tax collectors and prostitutes believed his message, and they turned away from their sinful behavior. In contrast, you, even though you saw what they did, refused to turn away from your sinful behavior, and you did not believe John’s message.”