26th Sunday of Ordinary Time -- A2002
Matthew 21:28-32
Deacon Lee Hunt (St. Monica)

Doing What We Say We Will

My four children are their 30s and they still reveal past secrets to my wife and me. Today's gospel reading reminded me of one of our daughter's revelations. While in her teens, she had told us on Sunday that she was going to drive to church, but actually had gone out for breakfast. "Yes" she was going to go to church, but "no" she didn't. She was like the second son in today's gospel reading.

The reading is a parable about God's gracious invitation and the different human responses to that call. The parable is not about two sons. It is about two kinds of religious people:
 

  • The first group appears faithless, but in the end these people follow the law written upon their hearts by God and they move closer to him.
  • The other group claims to be faithful, but these people do not actually live according to their beliefs. They distance themselves from God.


    • Jesus told this parable to the chief priests and elders, people from whom one expects a loyal response. These religious leaders should have responded with a "yes" to Jesus' message. However, this gospel reveals the irony that the very ones, who should have known better, are blind to Jesus, while the ordinary and illiterate folk embrace him.

    Which kind of people are we? Better yet, what kind of religious people do we want to be? How do we respond to Jesus' invitation to the kingdom of heaven? Do we believe Jesus and act accordingly, or do we say "yes," but exhibit no follow through?

    Since God gives all of us a free will, we continuously have to make choices of drawing closer to him or pulling farther away. For you see, when we feel that God is farther away, it is not God who moved; we did. Therefore, it benefits us to examine our lives to see in which direction we are moving or if we are stuck and not moving at all. Let's examine where we are right now in our lives.

    To enter the kingdom of God, we must say "yes." This requires a change of heart or a conversion experience. This conversion cannot be only a one-time event. We must have many such changes of heart to keep moving toward God. Otherwise, we might just stall out again and perhaps start drifting backwards.

    Most people do not like change. But daily we must say "yes" and then actually walk the talk. Here's a partial list of some suggestions that can cause our hearts to change:
     

  • We can pray daily in the morning to ask God for help. In the evening, we can thank God for his working in our lives during the day -- we didn't do it all by ourselves.
  • We can read daily scripture readings or listen to them proclaimed and explained during daily Mass.
  • Since our ability to understand our faith increases as we mature, it is important to continually update our faith by reading books and attending classes.
  • We who are married can rejuvenate our faith and our marriage by attending a Marriage Encounter weekend.
  • I will guarantee you that we will experience the face of Christ when we serve the needy in our parish and the wider community.
  • By driving 22 minutes west of here to the Red Plains Monastery, we can spend a spiritual retreat with the Sisters of Benedict.
  • Finally, RENEW begins next Sunday. Join a RENEW group and grow in your faith with other parishioners. This is Prayer Commitment weekend for RENEW, so please join us in praying for its success across the whole archdiocese and particularly in our parish.


    • Each of us has received a gracious invitation to the kingdom of God. If we respond with a "yes," then we must follow up on our response with actions so as to draw closer to our Lord.