Mat 21:28 `And what think ye? A man had two children, and having come to the first, he said, Child, go, to-day be working in my vineyard.'
Mat 21:29 And he answering said, `I will not,' but at last, having repented, he went.
Mat 21:30 `And having come to the second, he said in the same manner, and he answering said, I go , sir, and went not;
Mat 21:31 which of the two did the will of the father?' They say to him, `The first.' Jesus saith to them, `Verily I say to you, that the tax-gatherers and the harlots do go before you into the reign of God,
Mat 21:32 for John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye did not believe him, and the tax-gatherers and the harlots did believe him, and ye, having seen, repented not at last--to believe him.
Mat 21:33 `Hear ye another simile: There was a certain man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and did put a hedge round it, and digged in it a wine-press, and built a tower, and gave it out to husbandmen, and went abroad.
Mat 21:34 `And when the season of the fruits came nigh, he sent his servants unto the husbandmen, to receive the fruits of it,
Mat 21:35 and the husbandmen having taken his servants, one they scourged, and one they killed, and one they stoned.
Mat 21:36 `Again he sent other servants more than the first, and they did to them in the same manner.
Mat 21:37 `And at last he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son;
Mat 21:38 and the husbandmen having seen the son, said among themselves, This is the heir, come, we may kill him, and may possess his inheritance;
Mat 21:39 and having taken him, they cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him;
Mat 21:40 whenever therefore the lord of the vineyard may come, what will he do to these husbandmen?'
Mat 21:41 They say to him, `Evil men--he will evilly destroy them, and the vineyard will give out to other husbandmen, who will give back to him the fruits in their seasons.'
Mat 21:42 Jesus saith to them, `Did ye never read in the Writings, A stone that the builders disallowed, it became head of a corner; from the Lord hath this come to pass, and it is wonderful in our eyes.
Mat 21:43 `Because of this I say to you, that the reign of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth its fruit;
Mat 21:44 and he who is falling on this stone shall be broken, and on whomsoever it may fall it will crush him to pieces.'
Mat 21:45 And the chief priests and the Pharisees having heard his similes, knew that of them he speaketh,
Mat 21:46 and seeking to lay hold on him, they feared the multitudes, seeing they were holding him as a prophet.
It may not be that every single 'harlot and tax-collector' will come into the reign before the first 'chief priest and pharisee' (witness Saul/Paul) but they do have the advantage, though almost nobody really believes it. I think this is what the statement "it is better to be cold than luke-warm" means.