Twenty sixth Sunday of Year A

Eze 18:25-28; Phil 2:1-11 and Matt 21:28-32

This Sunday the Church draws our attention in a most special way to the importance of realizing what God wants from us and obediently carrying them out.  In our first reading, God through his prophet Ezekiel, confronts and responds to Israel's accusation of his being unjust by allowing them suffer in the hands of their captors and enemies. He condemns their blame-shifting attitude and pointed out to them that they are the ones at fault and to blame for their predicaments. The simple reason being: "When the upright man renounces his integrity to commit sin because of this he dies of the evil that he himself committed." In order words, God simply means that renouncing of the part of integrity is "capital disobedience" (a grave sin), the effect or consequence of which is death. 

However, it is not over for the sinner. If we return to the part of integrity in obedience to the will of God, we have life once again. This was Israel's case throughout their biblical history. Owing to their disobedience, they suffered slavery and deportation to Egypt, Persia, and Babylon. However, when they realized themselves and
returned to God with a pledge of obedience, He restores them. In order words disobedience brings alienation from God, while obedience draws us closer to God.

In the second reading and for the second time in two weeks, Christ is emphatically presented to us as the epitome of obedience to the will of God. However, before hitting this point, Paul first of all highlights what God wants from us as a community. He says: "...Be united in your convictions and in your love...God does not want competition among you, no conceit...instead, everyone must be self effacing. Always consider the other better than yourself..." He advances a reason for this. "...That is one thing that will make you happy." 

Finally, this is how Paul concluded the first part of our second reading: "In your minds you must be the same as Christ Jesus..." The big question that begs for answer is: "Be the same as Christ" in what way or sense? Simple! Be the same as Christ in obedience and humility period! In other words, we can only be Jesus' brothers, sisters and parents if only we listen to his word, put them into practice in accordance to the will of God (Luke 9, 19-21).

The gospel is a parable about the contrasting attitudes of two sons. The first son said 'no' but after he came to his senses, he did his father's wish. The second son said 'Yes' but later, he did nothing.

The question is: who is better between these two sons? The one who said 'no' but at the end he fulfilled his father's wish? Or the one who said 'yes' but later, he did nothing. 

May be our answer would be the one who said 'no' but at the end he did fulfill his father's wish. But I will give you a situation for you to choose which is better. Who is better, a discourteous husband who does not drink or a drunkard who is very kind when sober? Who is better, a nagging wife who runs the home efficiently or a disorderly wife who is affectionate? Who is better, a popular teacher who does not stick to her lesson or the terror from whom the students learn a lot?; a church going Catholic who is a dictator at home or a fallen-away Catholic who is close to his children?;  a couple married in the church that have regular quarrels or a couple that lives together without the blessing of the sacrament of marriage but is happy?; a son who uses drugs or a son who is a playboy?; a pious Christian who always pray but unbecoming in his lifestyle or a person who does not pray but very accommodating?; and a lot of more comparisons.

May be we try to make a choice but we have to admit in the first place that none of these are acceptable ways of conduct. I can say that no one is better than the others in the sense that, like for example, in the case of the two sons, the two sons both caused the father, pain, the one, at the beginning and the other one, at the end. Both could have been better sons by giving a whole-hearted "Yes" spontaneously and joyfully and by carrying out the order efficiently and not the other way around by which the 'no' of the first son turned into 'yes' and the 'yes' of the second one became a 'no'. The true Christian should be better than both. What he says, he does. There should be consistency in his words and actions. What he teaches is what he acts.

The key to the correct understanding of this parable, therefore, is that it is not really praising anyone. None of the two sons was the kind of son to bring full joy to his father. Both could have been better sons by giving a whole-hearted "Yes" spontaneously and joyfully and by carrying out the order efficiently and not the other way around by which the 'no' of the first son turned into 'yes' and the 'yes' of the second one became a 'no'. The true Christian should be better than both. What he says, he does. There should be consistency in his words and actions. What he teaches is what he acts.

It is like the story of a businessman who was ordering 500 ballpoint pens from an office equipment salesman. The latter was writing the order in his notebook, when suddenly the buyer exclaimed: "Hold on! I'm canceling the order." The salesman left the store wondering why the wholesaler suddenly changed his mind. "Why did you suddenly cancel that order of ballpoint pens?" asked the surprised bookkeeper. The businessman angrily answered: "Because he talked about ballpoint pens to me for half an hour, using every convincing arguments and then he wrote out my order with a pencil! His practice did not agree with his profession."  A man's words must be followed out by actions. No one likes a person of empty promises. We are very cautious of politicians who promise exceptional benefits before an election. 

"Seeing is believing" is an old adage. People will patronize a company that lives up to its advertisements. The teacher who promptly corrects and hands back his test papers is esteemed by his students. The quiet woman who gets things done well would be far more of an inspiration to the young than a talkative one who is constantly boasting about her accomplishments. McArthur is appreciated because he kept his words: "I shall return."

Any of us can be any of these two sons, and behave likewise, especially the first son, changing our minds to do the will of God, our father. There are obviously sometimes we repeat the script of the second son when we make a lot of promises as quickly as quick itself only to leave them unattended. This is mostly in the context of our relationship with God. We can recall how many times we had gone for confession and ended with these words "..."by the help of our grace, I will not sin again" and how many times we had gone contrary to that, even when the grace of God is ever sufficient for us (2 Cor.12:9).  How many of us stood by our New Year resolutions?  How many of us still remember to keep to the vows of our baptism that we renewed on the eve of Easter? 

Conversion is ongoing, onward not backward. It is a process. It is never too late, even for tax collectors, prostitute or for those who might find themselves in any bad past habit of sins. Saint Augustine, and many other saints, who were once sinners but later became saints, are good models for us. Even Paul whose Letter to the Philippians we read today, in the second reading, was once a persecutor of the faith, before he became a promoter of the Good news of Christ to the Gentiles.

This gospel is teaching us to consider the relationship between words and deeds. We must strive to translate our noble promises into noble performances, to carry out our fine words into fine deeds. This gospel tells us that there are two very common types of people in this world. First, there are the people whose profession or words is much better than their practice. They think that they are good because they follow all the laws. They will promise anything, make great protestations or solemn declaration of piety and fidelity. "I'm a catholic because I was baptized as a Catholic." But their practice lags behind.

Jesus told this parable in the temple in Jerusalem just days before they would arrest him and put him to death. For three years he had been preaching to the people, inviting them to repent and believe the Good News. He had discovered that, in fact, it was public sinners like the tax-collectors and prostitutes who responded to his invitation. The religious leaders, the scribes and Pharisees, even after they perceived the divine origin of the message of Jesus, still opposed it instead of accepting it. They had greeted John the Baptist with the same attitude. They knew John's teaching was from God but they would not admit it. As Jesus said to them, "even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him" (Matthew 21:32). Religious people are sometimes so bent on proving that they are right that they fail to hear the voice of reason and the voice of God.

The parable likens the tax-collectors and prostitutes to the son who first said no but later did what the father wanted, and the Pharisees and scribes to the son who enthusiastically said yes but did not go. One group has no fine words but they have good deeds. The other group has fine words but no corresponding good deeds. They represent two kinds of people and the different ways they try to relate to God. 

There are those who have no fine words: like those who profess no faith, who do not go to church, who do not pray. But sometimes when there is injustice in the city they will be the first to rise up and condemn it. When there are people out in the cold they will be the first to donate a blanket. Wherever there is famine or earthquake or hurricane disaster they will deny themselves a packet of cigarettes to contribute to help the victims. These people have no fine words to say to God or about God but when they do things such as these, they are doing what God has commanded us all to do.

Then there are those of us who have the fine words: who come to church every Sunday and say to God "Amen! We believe." We wear badges and medals as ways of professing our faith. But sometimes when it comes to concrete action in support of what we know to be the will of God, we are found wanting. If we carry on like this, then we should heed the warning that those other folks are going into the kingdom of God ahead of us.

To conclude, we need to point out that today's parable is really the parable of two bad sons. Which of the two boys would you have as an ideal son: the one who bluntly says no to his father's face or the one who says yes and does not follow up on it? The answer is none of the above. Ideal sons and daughters are those who say yes to their parents and then go on to do what is commanded. This is what we should aim to be — men and women who profess our faith in word and deed – knowing that "Not all those who say to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21).

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