Ezek 18:25-28; Ps 24(25):4-9; Phil 2:1-11; Matt 21:28-32
Theme: Faith without Commitment
A Man Has Two Children…
In the gospel, Jesus tells a parable with which he confronts the attitude of the chief priests and the scribes who present themselves as the real children of God, but in fact, they are far from it. “A man has two children”, so begins the parable. At the end of the parable, we see these two children to represent two groups of people: the chief priests and the elders of the people (those who consider themselves ‘the most righteous’) and then the tax collectors and the prostitutes (those who are considered as ‘the worst of sinners’). The Father (God) loves both so much that he can confidently ask them to go and work in his vineyard; he goes to the first, and then to the second. No matter how evil we think we are, God does not cease to refer to us as ‘children’. No matter how ruined we think others are, they still have a place of children in God’s heart. Every one of us has opportunity from God to do good for God’s name. Even the worst sinner, continuously receives God’s invitation: “go and work in my vineyard”. We all have God’s invitation to do good in life, no matter the situation in which we find ourselves, no matter the level of our weakness or living in sin.
Actions and Not Words
In the parable, there are two moments: the moment of receiving instruction from the father; and then the moment of acting on the instruction. In receiving instruction from the father, one says “I will not, and the other says “I will”. But it is interesting that the real son of the father is not discerned by the verbal responses of these two children to the instruction of the father. Their “I will not” and “I will” is not in anyway a yardstick of knowing who values the father. It was rather their final action based on the instruction received. It is not the one who says “I will” but ends up not working in the vineyard, who does the will of the father, but the one who says ‘I will not’ but ends up doing the work. The idea of action justifies commitment is not strange to us. But above our words, Jesus wants us to see that our will and desire must be justified by our actions. It is not enough to have a disposition to do the will of God; it is not enough to give our sincere promises to do good; if our good dispositions and sincere promises do not materialize in obedient actions, they become useless.
What makes the difference between the two children? The “Afterwards” (ὕστερον)
While we are not told in the parable why the son who says, “I will” later fails not to do it, Jesus says that the one who responds, “I will not”, later does the will of the father because ‘he has a change of heart’. ‘A change of heart’ makes all the difference. In reflecting on the instructions of the father, the child found reasons he must do what the father asks. The scripture says, “he answered, ‘I will not go’ but afterwards, he regretted (he changed his mind) and went”. For every Christian, there is always a “afterwards”. The gap between the “I will not” and the “he changed his mind and went” is this ‘AFTERWARDS’. The gap between ‘accepting to do good’ and the actual doing the good is this great “Afterwards”. Every sinner and every saint have an ‘afterwards’ moment of his/her life. When you hear the words of the Lord, and you get inspiration to do good; and you make this wonderful resolution to live a good life, what happens ‘afterwards? Does the decision bring you to the actual living it out? The ‘afterwards’ of the “I-will-not” child brought him to the actual doing of the father’s will, while the afterwards of the “I-will” child, brought him to not doing what he promised to do. Does your own ‘afterwards’ bring you to a better life in God, or does it take you farther away from him?
The ‘Afterwards’ of a saint and a sinner
In the first reading, we see this aspect of ‘afterwards’ of once-a-good-man, and that of once-an-evil-man. The ‘afterwards’ of our lives creates a difference between how we were and how we are. A sinner can afterwards become a saint, while a saint can afterwards become a sinner.
The thief at the right-hand side of Jesus remained a criminal until after his humble submission to the Crucified Christ. Our ‘afterwards’ creates the difference between what we were and what we are, what we did and what we are doing, who we were and who we are now. In the first reading, a saint who renounces his integrity and afterwards dies as a sinner, is judged as a sinner, not minding his past good deeds. A sinner who renounces his sinful ways and begins to do good is judged by what follows after he renounced his sinful ways, viz, his holy deeds. God does not rely so much on our past lives. God is more interested in what we are doing now. There is no ‘pension time’ in our worship of God. Our relationship with God is not “Let me be active this year, then afterwards, I relent’. We must never relent in doing good nor take a break from living a righteous life. Let our past and our ‘afterwards’ be marked with continuous living in the presence of God and actual working in his vineyard, doing good with the opportunities we are given in life. Let the actions of people not change you from doing that which is good. As St. Paul urges us, our life must be free from competition but of always considering others to be better than ourselves.
Fr. Nnamah Henry Chukwuezugo