Matthew 21:28-32
Dear Friends, Today’s events from Matthew emerge just after Jesus’s glorious entry into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey. The cleansing of the Temple escalates the already intense hostility between Jesus and the religious leaders. The impact of these events set the scene for even deeper conflict. With today’s parable of the two sons, Jesus is not subtle in accelerating the tension.
An important point to remember right at the beginning is that the order of the challenge to the two sons eliminates a strong prejudice held over the centuries that the people of Israel are the 1st son and the Church is the 2nd.This is not the case in this parable or any authentic Christan teaching. It is not a matter of chronology. What is at stake is something more profound and more permanent in the life of a believer: doing the will of the Father.
The contrary actions of the two sons highlighted in today’s parable point out the contradiction between the leaders’ program and the all-inclusive mercy of the God revealed by Jesus. Jesus’s point about the tax-collectors and prostitutes entering the kingdom before the chief priests and elders was intended as a challenge to those who thought themselves to be God’s chosen and, therefore, the favored sons and daughters. Later on, this was going to be a test for the Christian Jews to accept Gentiles into the early church. It also questions our acceptance of the ever-expanding invitation of the gospel for the supposed outcasts of our day in whatever manner they invade our complacency.
The parable is a vessel of self-awareness. It does not take much insight to see that we share the ambiguity of commitment that Jesus discloses in the two sons. The perennial fickleness of the human heart is never far from us. When it comes to true discipleship, doing takes priority over saying. There is no denying that we play the role of both sons at different times in our lives. The struggle for us is to constantly search for the singleness of purpose. We need to make our yes to God more faithful and more determined in our daily lives.
Jesus’s question, “Which of the two did the will of the father?” (Mt 21:31) is a challenge to the listeners and to us. He is asking which son is truly righteous? With whom do we identify?
A true spiritual life helps us come to grips with the problem of personal ambiguity. Prayer opens the eyes of heart to the experience of the Hound of Heaven. This is the beautiful poem revealing God’s grace in relentless pursuit of us in our perennial resistance to God’s call. God’s love continually seeks to make our yes ever more generous and consistent. Faithful and committed personal prayer lets us gradually grow in awareness of our personal ambiguity. God’s wondrous and merciful love is always present to us no matter the distractions, attachments or illusions of our fractured heart. We need to simply accept our poverty which enables us to respond to the unending call to new life. This is our yes to Jesus. This is our conversion. It is not a one-time event. It is an on-going process of a steady struggle to be faithful in commitment to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
It is especially fitting that we use our weekly presence at the Eucharist as a time of renewing our yes to God for the entire week. Our weekly encounter with the Eucharistic Christ is always preparing us for the special and, so often, surprising moments of grace that await us during the week.
As we get to know ourselves, we become more familiar with our tendency of self-deception. Our strongest inclinations are to work out a comfortable compromise where our yes is a minimum for God and a maximum for us. By faithfulness to prayer, we learn the geography of the human heart. We learn to identify the great chasm between the good intention in the mind and the lived reality. We learn that anyone who chooses to change their heart for the better, will be welcome into God's reign.
God is patient with us but just like the disciples, there comes a time we when must walk with Jesus to Jerusalem. It is in faithfulness to prayer that we will free us from a troubled heart caught in the enigma of commitment or self-indulgence. Faithfulness to Jesus leaves us with only one longing in our heart, a free and generous yes to the gospel message.
An important point to remember right at the beginning is that the order of the challenge to the two sons eliminates a strong prejudice held over the centuries that the people of Israel are the 1st son and the Church is the 2nd.This is not the case in this parable or any authentic Christan teaching. It is not a matter of chronology. What is at stake is something more profound and more permanent in the life of a believer: doing the will of the Father.
The contrary actions of the two sons highlighted in today’s parable point out the contradiction between the leaders’ program and the all-inclusive mercy of the God revealed by Jesus. Jesus’s point about the tax-collectors and prostitutes entering the kingdom before the chief priests and elders was intended as a challenge to those who thought themselves to be God’s chosen and, therefore, the favored sons and daughters. Later on, this was going to be a test for the Christian Jews to accept Gentiles into the early church. It also questions our acceptance of the ever-expanding invitation of the gospel for the supposed outcasts of our day in whatever manner they invade our complacency.
The parable is a vessel of self-awareness. It does not take much insight to see that we share the ambiguity of commitment that Jesus discloses in the two sons. The perennial fickleness of the human heart is never far from us. When it comes to true discipleship, doing takes priority over saying. There is no denying that we play the role of both sons at different times in our lives. The struggle for us is to constantly search for the singleness of purpose. We need to make our yes to God more faithful and more determined in our daily lives.
Jesus’s question, “Which of the two did the will of the father?” (Mt 21:31) is a challenge to the listeners and to us. He is asking which son is truly righteous? With whom do we identify?
A true spiritual life helps us come to grips with the problem of personal ambiguity. Prayer opens the eyes of heart to the experience of the Hound of Heaven. This is the beautiful poem revealing God’s grace in relentless pursuit of us in our perennial resistance to God’s call. God’s love continually seeks to make our yes ever more generous and consistent. Faithful and committed personal prayer lets us gradually grow in awareness of our personal ambiguity. God’s wondrous and merciful love is always present to us no matter the distractions, attachments or illusions of our fractured heart. We need to simply accept our poverty which enables us to respond to the unending call to new life. This is our yes to Jesus. This is our conversion. It is not a one-time event. It is an on-going process of a steady struggle to be faithful in commitment to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
It is especially fitting that we use our weekly presence at the Eucharist as a time of renewing our yes to God for the entire week. Our weekly encounter with the Eucharistic Christ is always preparing us for the special and, so often, surprising moments of grace that await us during the week.
As we get to know ourselves, we become more familiar with our tendency of self-deception. Our strongest inclinations are to work out a comfortable compromise where our yes is a minimum for God and a maximum for us. By faithfulness to prayer, we learn the geography of the human heart. We learn to identify the great chasm between the good intention in the mind and the lived reality. We learn that anyone who chooses to change their heart for the better, will be welcome into God's reign.
God is patient with us but just like the disciples, there comes a time we when must walk with Jesus to Jerusalem. It is in faithfulness to prayer that we will free us from a troubled heart caught in the enigma of commitment or self-indulgence. Faithfulness to Jesus leaves us with only one longing in our heart, a free and generous yes to the gospel message.
