Gospel Mt 21:28-32
Jesus said to the chief priests and elders of the people: “What is your opinion? A man had two sons. He came to the first and said, ‘Son, go out and work in the vineyard today.’ He said in reply, ‘I will not, ‘ but afterwards changed his mind and went. The man came to the other son and gave the same order. He said in reply, ‘Yes, sir, ‘but did not go. Which of the two did his father’s will?”
They answered, “The first.” Jesus said to them, “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you. When John came to you in the way of righteousness, you did not believe him; but tax collectors and prostitutes did. Yet even when you saw that, you did not later change your minds and believe him.”
Homily
I knew a man who put up his home as a guarantee for a supposed friend of his. Unfortunately the person was no friend and when the loan for which the guarantee given was due, that person disappeared. The home was lost, the guarantee had a stroke and died and his family was left in ruins. Persons who do not fulfill their freely undertaken obligations cause problems, sometimes very serious, for others.
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In the gospel given for our meditation this weekend, we have the example of a young man who does not fulfill an obligation which he has freely taken on. We know the story very well. A father asks his son to go to the vineyard for him. He says “Yes” but then does not go. We are not told that this son made provisions to cover his absence from the vineyard. He shows no concern for his father’s business. His attitude says that the losses which his absence could precipitate do not concern him.
Jesus uses the parable to show the chief priests and the elders, that as first sons, those to whom the law was given and to whom the prophets were sent, they really had no concern for the Father’s business. The Father’s business was detailed for them in the deuteronomic code. They had said “Yes” to this code but had found ways to circumvent what the code mandated. Jesus goes on to tell them that tax collectors and prostitutes, considered by the chief priests and elders to be beyond salvation, were nonetheless gaining salvation before them because they had changed their lives at the preaching of John the Baptist and began doing what the Father asked. They were the ones who were truly concerned about the Father’s business.
This Gospel reading asks each of us whether or not we are about the Father’s business. It is very easy for us to think that because we do the external things which give to others and sometimes to ourselves the impression that we are good Christians; that we are fulfilling the obligations which good sons and daughters of God have freely undertaken because of our baptism and confirmation. It is important for us to remember that the Father’s business goes beyond the fulfilling of external obligations. It involves the living of the spirit of the deuteronomic code or the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount. This spirit is revealed in the care and concern shown for others, especially the poor and the marginalized, in real practical ways. This is how saints like John Bosco and Mother Teresa lived and it is to this that you and I are called. This however necessitates in us an ongoing conversion. We do have however the examples of the saints, men and women like ourselves, human beings with their faults and failings, but who all the same were able with God’s grace to overcome these faults and failings and make God’s business their primary concern. As the calypsonian sang; “We can make it if we try just a little harder” remembering of course that we must always call on God for his grace.
Prayer
All powerful and ever-loving God, You want a world of harmony, justice and love. You call us to be your arms and legs and mouth and ears in this enterprise. Give us the grace we implore You to be converted from our selfishness and self-centredness so that we rate our own concerns after your concerns and seek to build your Kingdom wherever we find ourselves. We ask this through the intercession of Mary our Mother and Jesus, your Son. Amen
